Science, Religion, and Mystery

Dear Editor,

 Many people believe that believing in God and "believing in science" are irreconcilable commitments and that the scientifically minded don't have a place in church. This attitude seems to be especially prevalent among youth and young adults, who are trying to figure out what is worthy of their trust and who they will be, while developmentally still prone to overly black-and-white thinking. Sadly, all of us are heirs to what historians call the "fundamentalist-modernist schism," a parting of ways largely over the teaching of biological evolution which reached its symbolic breaking point one hundred years ago at the Scopes Monkey Trial. Ever since, people are told (fallaciously) they need to choose Team Science or Team Bible.

What I've discovered, however, is that rather than sorting neatly into two opposing groups, people seem to land more on a horseshoe diagram when it comes to science and religion. At the ends—which are actually quite close together—are religious fundamentalists and scientific fundamentalists whose common characteristic is certainty. As you would expect, they argue with each other a lot. The rest of the horseshoe is made up of folks who experience wonder, awe, and reverence through some combination of religious and scientific seeking, both of which involve faith and a humble openness to revision.

A scientist who has traveled the road from a mechanical Newtonian kind of physics into the odd and uncanny world of quantum theory knows what it's like to have their working model of reality changed, all while enflaming their desire to probe more deeply into the unknown. A lifelong student of the Bible likewise experiences again and again, at the intersection of Scripture and lived experience, the unlearning and provisional new learning that are part and parcel of being in relationship with a God who is always Beyond, whose mystery elicits longing and praise.

In addition to this common humbling ("I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me which I did not know." Job 42:3), science and religion are friends because the former essentially asks and answers the question "How?" and the latter "Why?" We need both of those. If your curiosity is mostly driven by how things work, that's good! God made you that way. But eventually you're going to need some help with the big why questions, the sorts that make demands on you and give you reasons to care and to hope.

For this, God has a church, and church has a place for you.

Have your doubts? Why not come and see?

Mark Williamson

Pastor, Grace Lutheran Church

Dodgeville, WI