Science and Faith: How One Enhances the Other (In Memory of Leonard Nimoy)

Like every other Trekkie today, I was saddened to hear of Leonard Nimoy's passing. I've been a huge sci-fi fan since third grade, and that included Star Trek. As an engineering student, I'm also studying to be a scientist (Which is honestly what I should have done my first time around in college) So today, I wanted to honor a man who brought us a scientist character with a post about science and faith. It's also a little known fact about Leonard Nimoy that he was an observant Jew and the that famous "Live Long and Prosper" Vulcan Salute comes from a gesture during a Jewish blessing. You can watch Nimoy discuss it here. For this post, we'll mainly be looking at the Theory of Evolution and the Big Bang, the two points of contingency.

Since I was 17 years old, I've tried to reconcile science and faith, and I'm not alone. Since Pope Pius XII's Encyclical Humani Generis in 1950, the Catholic Church has allowed for belief in The Theory of Evolution. Belgian priest Msgr. Georges Lemaitre, SJ, was first to propose the Big Bang Theory. Many other Catholic scientists such as Dr. Kenneth Miller, Fr. George Coyne, SJ, and Br. Guy Consolmagno, SJ, have advanced the cause of science and faith (I will discuss atheists' favorite "White Elephants" Galileo Galilei and Giordano Bruno in a later post. Stay tuned)

So, how do Christian scientists and science students (such as myself) reconcile our belief in God with Evolution? Well, first you have to recognize that God is not part of our universe. He's not a factor competing with science. To use a C.S. Lewis analogy from Mere Christianity, an architect cannot be a wall, staircase, or fireplace in a house. You see signs that the architect has been there and you see his or her handiwork, but the architect isn't part of the house. God is the "First Mover" as Thomas Aquinas puts it, the start of it all.

Second, like other things in our world, we don't have the entire story on Evolution. If we did, it would be The Law of Evolution and we would have witnessed everything from start to finish. Alas, we have not. We only have clues, like fireplaces, staircases, and banisters to see the architect's touch. What looks like a violent, chaotic, insane process to us from God's perspective might be very orderly and meticulously planned as He created the animal that would contain an immortal element.

This leads to my third point, Imago Dei, or "The Image of God." Our souls are created in the image of God, directly by God. Again, C.S. Lewis, "You do not have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body." Our souls are designed for God, by God, and to ultimately return to God. One day, we believe that Christ will raise our mortal bodies and make them like His own, but still, they will contain our soul and be a temple. Our mortal body is part of nature, so it makes sense that it is made be natural process.

Now, what about Genesis? I've already answered the question of Imago Dei, but what about the Creation Stories?

Like everything else in the Bible, you have to look at context, audience, and style. Genesis is very allegorical. For instance, God speaks like a king saying, "Let there be light." Notice that four days go by before the Sun and the Moon are created and the animals are made close to dead last? Many cultures around the Israelites, such as the Egyptians, worshipped the Sun, Moon, and various animals or animal-human hybrids as gods. Using these literary tricks, the authors of Genesis establish that God is the One True Sovereign God of the Universe and the Creator of all things. They distinguish Him from anything else in the universe and not as a factor in the universe. Genesis is not a science book. It never claimed to be.

Like any student, I'm only scratching the surface of science and faith. Wiser minds than mine have delved much deeper into this subject. However, science and faith have been key factors in my life from day one, and I firmly believe that one enhances the other. As the chant by St. Thomas Aquinas Pange Lingua Gloriosi aptly puts it, here translated, "Faith will tell us Christ is present when our human senses fail." As I've said before, religious faith does not involve turning your brain off and surrendering to ignorance. It requires you to open your mind, to think, and to explore, to replace blind faith with faith enhanced by knowledge and reason. Science and faith work for me, and I hope to use both to continue to learn more about this wonderful universe that inspired Leonard Nimoy in his character of Spock and thousands like him.