AUG. 22, 2006

SCIENCE

Science v. faith: Is the battle diminishing?

Is the so-called war between faith and science exaggerated? Some people of faith -- most prominently conservative Christians, including many evangelicals — interpret the Bible literally and reject the accepted scientific account of the Earth’s origin and the evolution of the human species. Biblical literalists have pushed to get their view, in such forms of Creationism and Intelligent Design, into public school science curricula, generating lawsuits, textbook debates and intense school board campaigns along the way. Now two world-class scientists have written books asserting that being Christian is compatible with their work and that no conflict exists between science and religion. The books introduce an argument that could change the dynamic of the discussion about how science should be taught in the nation’s schools.

Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, one of the National Institutes of Health, and Owen Gingerich, a retired professor of astronomy and the history of science at Harvard University and an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, have written books that integrate their perspectives as scientists and Christians into arguments for the congruence of science and religious belief. Their perspectives are a middle ground between the many scientists who eschew religious faith and those who promote Intelligent Design or believe that the book of Genesis' account of creation is scientifically accurate. (A recent survey found that 40 percent of scientists believe in God but that only 10 percent of elite scientists do; see background.)

Collins' The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, was published by Free Press in mid-July, and Gingerich's God's Universe is forthcoming from Harvard University Press in September. Both men are Protestant, but their argument that religion and science both reveal forms of truth applies to other religious traditions as well.

Controversy about the teaching of evolution in the schools is largely based on a widespread perception of an inherent conflict between science and religious belief. Many prominent scientists have rallied to the defense of evolution and astronomical and geological findings that hold that the earth is billions of years old rather than the few thousand cited by Biblical literalists.

"In my view, there is no conflict in being a rigorous scientist and a person who believes in a God who takes a personal interest in each one of us,” writes Collins, who was raised in a nonreligious household but journeyed through agnosticism, atheism and belief in a creator to evangelical Christianity. Gingerich, raised in a pious Mennonite family, found that his career in astronomy strengthened his religious faith that “a superintelligent Creator exists beyond the cosmos” and that the nature of the universe, “permitting and encouraging the existence of self-conscious life, is part of the Creator’s design and purpose."

Collins terms this perspective theistic evolution, and calls it the predominant view of the scientists who profess belief in religions based on the Bible. It holds that:
• The universe began some 14 billion years ago, although science has not yet identified the processes that brought it into being.
• Life on earth began through processes as yet unknown but evolved through Darwinian natural selection into the species currently present, including human beings, who descend from the same ancestor as the great apes.

To these statements, which are universally accepted by mainstream science, Collins adds that humans have unique features expressed in all cultures, such as a sense of right and wrong and a desire to seek God, that “defy evolutionary explanation and point to our spiritual nature.” In addition, both authors posit that
• God created both the universe and the laws of physics, chemistry, geology, evolution and genetics that govern it. Those laws produced a universe perfectly suited to the development of life.
• Through God’s intention, these laws resulted in the evolution of a species possessing intelligence, free will, a sense of morality and a desire to seek God.

Both scientists state in their books that (1) science can only study phenomena that the human senses and their technological extensions can observe and measure; (2) statements of faith lie outside the realm of science and therefore cannot conflict with it; and (3) all scientists, whether or not they believe in God, go about their scientific work in the same way.

In addition to presenting this argument, the books lay out critiques of various competing views, including atheism, agnosticism, Young Earth creationism and Intelligent Design.

Why it matters

Highly regarded scientists who are religious have often not been public about matters of faith. Those doing so now may give greater prominence to the view that a synthesis of the two realms is possible and the perception of conflict is, at the least, exaggerated.

Questions for reporters

Does the view that science inherently conflicts with religion have substantial support in your area, as, for example, in efforts to limit the teaching of evolution? If so, what has been the reaction of scientists who are religious believers? Have they taken any action to make their views known or to influence the public debate?

Are there any organizations of scientists who are religious believers in your area? If so, what sort of activities do they engage in? Do they attempt to inform or influence the public?

Jump to background

Click the map for interview sources in your state and region

National sources

• Dr. Francis Collins is director of the National Human Genome Research Institute and author of The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (Free Press, 2006). Contact through Heidi Metcalfe at 212-698-2358, heidi.metcalfe@simonandschuster.com.
• Owen Gingerich is an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and author of God’s Universe (Harvard University Press, forthcoming). Contact 617-495-7216, ginger@cfa.harvard.edu.
• Joan Roughgarden is a professor of biological sciences and geophysics at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., and author of Evolution and Christian Faith: Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist (Island Press, 2006). Contact 650-723-3648, Joan.Roughgarden@stanford.edu.
• Karl Giberson directs the Forum on Faith & Science at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., and is a professor at Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Mass. He has published over a hundred articles, reviews, and essays and written or co-written four books: Worlds Apart: The Unholy War Between Science and Religion, Species of Origins: America's Search for a Creation Story, Oracles of Science: Celebrity Scientists Versus God and Religion, and Saving Darwin: How to Be a Christian and Believe in Evolution (2008). His 5th book, The Anointed: America's Evangelical Experts (with Randall Stephens) is forthcoming from Harvard University Press. He was the editor-in-chief of both Science & Theology News and Science & Spirit until 2006. He is critical of intelligent design theory, charging that it is a religious belief because the "intelligence" referred to is always God. Giberson has lectured on science and religion at Oxford University, the Vatican, as well as many American universities and colleges. Contact 617-847-5702, gibersok@gmail.com.
• Keith B. Miller, research assistant professor of geology at Kansas State University, is editor of Perspectives on an Evolving Creation (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2003), a collection of essays, and an officer of the Affiliation of Christian Geologists. Contact 785-532-2250, kbmill@ksu.edu.
• Darrell R. Falk is a biology professor at Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, Calif., and author of Coming to Peace With Science: Bridging the Worlds Between Faith and Biology (InterVarsity Press, 2004). Contact 619-849-2272, DarrelFalk@pointloma.edu.
• Kenneth R. Miller is a biology professor at Brown University and author of Finding Darwin’s God: A Scientist’s Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution (Harper Perennial, 2000). Contact 401-863-3410, Kenneth_Miller@Brown.edu.
• Robert John Russell holds a doctorate in physics and a master’s degree in theology. He is a professor of theology and science at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif., and founder and director of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. Contact 510-848–8152, Director@ctns.org.
• William John Grassie is founder and executive director of the Metanexus Institute, an educational center in Philadelphia that fosters “the constructive engagement of science and religion” through publications, conferences and an online forum. Contact 215-789-2221, grassie@metanexus.net.
• Charles E. Curran is a Roman Catholic priest and Elizabeth Scurlock University Professor of Human Values at Southern Methodist University. He has been president of the Catholic Theological Society of America, the Society of Christian Ethics and the American Theological Society. He has written a number of books, including Loyal Dissent: Memoir of a Catholic Theologian (Georgetown University Press, 2006) and The Moral Theology of Pope John Paul II (Georgetown University Press, 2005). He also was co-editor and editor of the 14-volume series Readings in Moral Theology (Paulist Press, various years). Contact 214-768-4073, ccurran@smu.edu.
• The Rev. Stanley L. Jaki is a Benedictine priest with doctorates in physics and theology and is the author of Cosmos and Creator (Regnery Publishing, 1990). He is Distinguished Professor of Physics at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J. Contact 973-761-9063, jakistan@shu.edu.
• Paul Kurtz is founder and chairman for the Center for Inquiry, which aims to “promote and defend reason, science, and freedom of inquiry in all areas of human endeavor.” It’s based in Amherst, N.Y. He co-edited Science and Religion: Are They Compatible? (Prometheus Books, 2003), a collection of essays. Contact 716-636-4869 ext. 217, MCravatta@centerforinquiry.net.
• Gary B. Ferngren is a history professor at Oregon State University and editor of Science and Religion: A Historical Introduction (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002). Contact 541-737-1262, gferngren@oregonstate.edu.
• Ian Barbour is winner of the 1999 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion and the Winifred and Atherton Bean Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology and Society at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. Barbour explored the relationship between religion and science in a dozen books, including When Science Meets Religion: Enemies, Strangers or Partners? (HarperSanFrancisco, 2000). Contact through administrative assistant Carol Horan, 507-646-4884, choran@carleton.edu.
• Antje Jackelén is an associate professor of systematic theology/religion and science at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. She also directs the Zygon Center for Religion and Science, which brings together scientists, theologians and other scholars for discussion and research. She is ordained in the Church of Sweden. Contact 773-256-0670, ajackele@lstc.edu.
• Carol Rausch Albright is vice president for religion of the Institute for Religion in an Age of Science. For nine years she was executive editor of the IRAS-co-sponsored publication Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science. She is co-author of The Humanizing Brain: Where Religion and Neuroscience Meet, re-issued as Where God Lives in the Human Brain (Sourcebooks, 2001). Contact cra@carolalbright.org.
• The Institute for Theological Encounter with Science & Technology in St. Louis is an interfaith organization of Christians working to foster a “community of scientists and technologists who are dedicated both to the advancement of scientific understanding AND to the growth of Christianity.” Sister Marianne Postiglione is director of communications. Contact 314-977-2703, postigm@slu.edu.
• For more sources, see ReligionLink's issue on "Intelligent Design v. evolution in the public schools."

NATIONAL SCIENTISTS’ ORGANIZATIONS
• The American Scientific Affiliation is a national, nondenominational organization founded in 1941 for “men and women in science and disciplines that relate to science who share a common fidelity to the Word of God and a commitment to integrity in the practice of science.” Full members must hold a degree in science, including social sciences, or be theologians or philosophers, and must also subscribe to the belief in the Trinity and the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds. ASA sponsors an annual conference (keynoted by Francis Collins this year), a journal, local chapters and other activities. Executive director Randolph Isaac is in the national office in Ipswich, Mass. Contact him at 978-356-5656, asa@asa3.org.
• The Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists, founded in 1947, fosters the synthesis of science and Orthodox Jewish teaching and practice through symposia on specific topics, an annual conference and publications. Both science and Torah are regarded as expressions of truth, and therefore conflicts between them are only “apparent,” according to the ASJS Web site. Executive director Yossi Bennett is in Flushing, N.Y. Contact him at 718-969-3669, AOJSoffice@verizon.net.

Background

ARTICLES
• Read an Aug. 17, 2006, Los Angeles Times story about Dr. Francis Collins' book.
• Read Salon.com's Aug. 7, 2006, interview with Collins.
• Read a Raleigh News & Observer article on Collins' book posted Aug. 5, 2006, by The Kansas City Star.
• Read a July 28, 2006, interview with Joan Roughgarden on the blog Salt.
• Read a July 25, 2006, New York Times article on the recent books about scientists' faith.

POLLS AND SURVEYS
• A telephone survey of 1,600 scientists at research universities reported at the 2005 meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion found that approximately 40 percent of the natural scientists who responded stated that they did not believe in God. This does not imply, however, that all of the remainder are adherents of any particular set of religious beliefs or attend religious services, however. Many respondents espoused spirituality rather than formal religion. The survey was conducted by Elaine Howard Ecklund while she was a postdoctoral fellow at Rice University. She is now an assistant professor of sociology at University at Buffalo of the State University of New York. Contact 716-645-2417 ext. 464, ehe@buffalo.edu. Read a LiveScience story from Aug. 11, 2005, and a Science & Technology News story from Nov. 2, 2005.
• Surveys done in 1996 by Edward Larson of the University of Georgia and Larry Witham and in 1914 by James Leuba both found that about 40 percent of American scientists profess a belief in a God to whom they can pray. The more recent survey found, however, that the elite researchers elected to the National Academy of Sciences reported a much lower level of religious commitment, with fewer than 10 percent professing a belief in God. Read a letter from Larson and Witham that was published in July 1998 by the journal Nature.
• A survey released in August 2005 by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reported Americans' beliefs about the origins of life.
• PollingReport.com posts polls about Americans' beliefs about evolution, creationism and Intelligent Design.
• Harvard University biologist Edward O. Wilson, a former Southern Baptist, wrote a letter to an imaginary Southern Baptist pastor about debates between religion and science. He advises agreeing to disagree about religion but insists that agreeing about the environment is critical. The New Republic posted the letter Aug. 28, 2006.