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We had a thread titled "Is it possible for a Christian to accept evolution?" After a robust debate over evolutionary theories, I think the answer is overwhelmingly "yes", a Christian can accept evolution, as long as they are willing to acknowledge something other than a strict literal interpretation of the Bible.
I would like to turn the question around and ask if a scientist can also be a Christian. I know that the majority of American scientists are practicing Christians, and others have noted the many contributions of Catholic scholars to science. But I think it is an interesting question.
My own answer would be yes, however it requires one to accept some degree of cognitive dissonance. Because scientists are trained to work with evidence, and look for explanations in natural laws. But to be a Christian one needs to accept that some things happened that were supernatural, for which we have no hard evidence. Is it enough to tell ourselves that "well, there are still mysteries; we don't understand everything"?
Of course there can be Christian scientists, no cognitive dissonance needed. You have an incorrect and overly stereotypical view of Christians, that they reject the scientific method or that they apply supernatural explanations for all unexplained things. This is incorrect, obviously. There are only a few fields of scientific study where theological doctrines would enter the equation, such as evolutionary biology or astronomy. Even then, the amount of time where the issue would even arise is minuscule.
The scientific theory is followed by every Christian to explain and discover the unknown variables in our natural world. This is the same whether you are a theist or not.
The stereotypical notion that non-Christians are brighter than Christians is a 'blind spot' shared by many non-Christians who are unable to think critically beyond their own dogmatic opinions. Christians are as prominent in scientific fields as everywhere else. Of course, that becomes another matter if one's entire litmus test for "science" is whether or not one accepts the "theory" of evolution as absolute fact. Otherwise, here are a few quotes from prominent scientist-Christians:
"…. now I see how God is, by my endeavors, also glorified in astronomy, for 'the heavens declare the glory of God.'""I am a Christian...I believe... only and alone in the service of Jesus Christ..In Him is all refuge, all solace." Jonathan Kepler – Founder Laws of Planetary motion
"From a knowledge of His work, we shall know Him" "Christ's passion, His death, His resurrection and ascension, and all of those wonderful works which He did during His stay upon earth, in order to confirm mankind in the belief of His being God as well as man." Robert Boyle [1627-1691] - Founder of Modern Chemistry/Gas Dynamics
“There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any other profane history” --Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), Scientist/Inventor
"Education without religion is in danger of substituting wild theories for the simple commonsense rules of Christianity." First message sent by the electric telegraph:"What hath God wrought" - Samuel Morse [1791-1872] - Inventor of the telegraph [Morse's sketch of the railway telegraph above]
"Speculations? I have none. I am resting on certainties. 'I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.'" -- "A Christian finds his guide in the Word of God, and commits the keeping of his soul into the hands of God. He looks for no assurance beyond what the Word can give him, and if his mind is troubled by the cares and fears which assail him, he can go nowhere but in prayer to the throne of grace and to Scripture." Michael Faraday [1791-1867] Inventor of the electric generator and the transformer Discovered Benzene--used to make plastics, nylon and dyes –
“All human discoveries seem to be made only for the purpose of confirming more and more the Truths contained in the Sacred Scriptures.” - Sir William Herschel(1738-1822), English astronomer,
-"The more I study nature, the more I stand amazed at the work of the Creator." "Science brings men nearer to God." Louis Pasteur [1822-1895]Father of Microbiology, developed "pasteurization"
"Without my Savior, I am nothing." "I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in." "God is going to reveal to us things he never revealed before if we put our hands in his. No books ever go into my laboratory, a thing I am to do and the way of doing it are revealed me." George Washington Carver [c. 1864-1943] agricultural chemist, inventor of over 300 products
"Scientific concepts exist only in the minds of men. Behind these concepts lies the reality which is being revealed to us, but only by the grace of God." Wernher Von Braun [1912-1977]; first Director of NASA, pioneer of space exploration
You have an incorrect and overly stereotypical view of Christians, that they reject the scientific method or that they apply supernatural explanations for all unexplained things. .
Certainly we don't need to apply supernatural explanations for all unexplained things. But if you believe Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead, that would violate natural law.
Location: In Thy presence is fulness of joy... Psa 16:11
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Essential science -- true science -- is not at odds with Christianity. It is the religion of Darwin that crosses the line; saying "no God, no creator...only 'goo, zoo and you.'"
However, God, the all-wise, the omnipotent, made everything! In His wisdom He made it all, and holds it all together, the Bible teaches. This is proven out in simple things like laminin, which is the microscopic protein (cross shaped!) that holds our atoms together. In 101 ways, creation glorifies God. He is the Author, and His fingerprints are everywhere!
In this brief clip, a well-known scientist addresses the Christian roots of Science:
The stereotypical notion that non-Christians are brighter than Christians is a 'blind spot' shared by many non-Christians who are unable to think critically beyond their own dogmatic opinions.
I actually have not found this stereotypical notion to be widespread. I myself am a scientist, I like to think I am reasonably bright, I am also a practicing Christian and enthusiastically identify with your quote from Louis Pasteur, that the more one studies nature the more the grandeur of creation is revealed. Still, I feel a little discomfort every Sunday when I recite "....on the third day he arose from the dead...". I am interested in how other scientists or scientifically-minded Christians deal with this conflict.
My life experience says, "Yes, absolutely." I grew up surrounded by real-life rocket scientists (working for NASA, Hughes, Boeing, etc.) who were Christians.
Churches were full during the space race. Everyone was praying we'd beat the Russians.
Certainly we don't need to apply supernatural explanations for all unexplained things. But if you believe Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead, that would violate natural law.
You answered your own question. Christians believe in the natural law that God put in place for our Universe, but we believe that there exists a God that has dominion over those laws.
I am a Christian and I have no problems saying it is naturally impossible for the dead to rise, or water to become wine, or food to multiply.
The natural laws of this universe are just as constant whether you are a theist or not. The speed of light is the same, the stronger and weaker nuclear bonds are the same, DNA is the same structure, cloud formations are the same, tectonic movements are the same...
Science is the study of our physical world and by definition can not make any statements of truth regarding the supernatural.
Essential science -- true science -- is not at odds with Christianity. It is the religion of Darwin that crosses the line; saying "no God, no creator...only 'goo, zoo and you.'"
However, God, the all-wise, the omnipotent, made everything! In His wisdom He made it all, and holds it all together, the Bible teaches. This is proven out in simple things like laminin, which is the microscopic protein (cross shaped!) that holds our atoms together. In 101 ways, creation glorifies God. He is the Author, and His fingerprints are everywhere!
In this brief clip, a well-known scientist addresses the Christian roots of Science:
There is an example of Christian dogma and is an attempt of religion to define what is acceptable science or not based strickly on their religious intrepretation. The other thread already shown that it was possible to be a Christian and acknowledge evolution. And no where does evolution state no God no creator nor does it even deal with those topics.
OP It is more likely certain types of Christians who think scientists of the life or earth sciences cannot be scientists or that those scientists cannot be Christians.
I never knew the religon or politics of any of my profs, students, fellow students, co field workers or the authors of papers or textbooks. None of that matters.
The answer to the thread is YES. You could have a Muslim a Jew and a Christian co author a paper with an atheist.
We had a thread titled "Is it possible for a Christian to accept evolution?" After a robust debate over evolutionary theories, I think the answer is overwhelmingly "yes", a Christian can accept evolution, as long as they are willing to acknowledge something other than a strict literal interpretation of the Bible.
I would like to turn the question around and ask if a scientist can also be a Christian. I know that the majority of American scientists are practicing Christians, and others have noted the many contributions of Catholic scholars to science. But I think it is an interesting question.
My own answer would be yes, however it requires one to accept some degree of cognitive dissonance. Because scientists are trained to work with evidence, and look for explanations in natural laws. But to be a Christian one needs to accept that some things happened that were supernatural, for which we have no hard evidence. Is it enough to tell ourselves that "well, there are still mysteries; we don't understand everything"?
I would contend that evidence is very easy to acquire.
Rather than the notion that the more simple things get, the more likely a spiritual being such as God produced it, the reverse seems to be true. If anything, any God that existed would have to be the origin of physical laws (by that, I mean laws of physics), and thus matter and energy, and the rules they follow would be sufficiently complicated to arise by random chance. That is, if left to random chance there would be a 0.0000000001% chance of anything happening in a state of nonexistence. Then a similar crapshoot for every single process. But here's the interesting part. There is a pair of dice sitting on a table over there. What is the chance of it rolling itself? Last I checked, 0%.
I don't believe Christianity is a default of "we don't have the answer so let's chalk it up to faith." Once again, there were very learned Christian philosophers that seemed to have their head on straight. And there is at least a theory that the origin of science was as a Christian attempt to understand the nuts and bolts of the universe.
On the existential level, nothing we know of exists without an origin, as in the phone over here, the paper, your food, etc. Most of it comes from farms or factories. Oddly, this generation is one of the first that doesn't really understand where their food comes from, with good reason because rather than coming from farms, or even from farms to the store, it goes from farms to processing plants to delivery to the store. We would be hard-pressed to pin down the farm it came from even if we went to the factory. Regardless, everything that exists comes from somewhere. Without that, there'd be no objects, no us, just empty space.
We appear to have living things that continually evolve. This is complicated beyond belief. I am a painter (novice), programmer (novice to intermediate), baker (novice), and fermenter (intermediate, though I specialize in anaerobic fermentation). With paint and programming, I would have no idea how to create something that develops on its own. With fermentation, I use life, but I could by no means create it. It does manage to grow/change, but clearly not from my doing.
I would actually say less a singular God doing this all at once, and more a sort of divine bureaucracy that puts together this framework.
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