Reconciling religion, science

By Tyler Tankersley

I have always loved dinosaurs. When I was 4 years old, I could tell you how heavy a brachiosaurus was (35 metric tons), how many spikes a stegosaurus had on its tail (four) and all kinds of other random dinosaur trivia.

My mom would take me to the Riverside Library in Jackson, and I devoured every book on dinosaurs. I began to search for more and more resources.

One day, I noticed our church had a library, and I thought, "I wonder if they have any books on dinosaurs."

It turns out they did!

When I started reading the books, however, I found they confused me. The books I found in my church library said diametrically opposed things against the science books I had checked out from the public library.

The books from my church library tried to explain how fossils were the result of a great flood. It also said some dinosaurs may have been on Noah's Ark, and a Tyrannosaurus rex originally was meant to be a vegetarian.

Which books were right? My science books from the public library or the books from my church's library?

That dilemma started a long process of trying to reconcile the relationship between religion and science.

Maybe you have been there, too. For many people, one of the roadblocks to an authentic faith experience is they cannot square away their church upbringing with their scientific education.

Are science and religion doomed always to conflict with one another? No. I don't believe they must be.

I came across a concept in college that helped articulate the relationship I now hold between science and religion.

Stephen Jay Gould was an evolutionary biologist from Yale University who believed the debates between scientific materialism and biblical literalism were spectacular exercises in navel-gazing.

Gould argued, convincingly in my opinion, that the tension between faith and science is silly because both of these ideas were striving to answer two different questions.

He called this the non-overlapping magisterial, or NOMA.

According to Gould, the realm of science is seeking to answer the question of "How?" whereas the world of religion is seeking to answer the question of "Why?"

For me, this concept was extremely helpful and even healing.

I know people of faith and goodwill who interpret the creation stories in Genesis as literal.

If they feel that is how God has called them to apply those passages, then I applaud them for it.

I know other people of faith and goodwill, however, who do not interpret those stories as literal.

For me, this is one of those faith issues we can disagree about yet still be united in community and mission.

Both perspectives hold to God's holiness, power and love.

Conflict arises when Christians feel distrust toward any sort of scientific analysis or when scientists feel distrust of any sort of faith-based reasoning.

These concepts do not have to be mutually exclusive. Science and religion can even be in beautiful dialogue with one another.

I love the Bible, and I read it every day. It is God's Word to us.

Yet, I also love science. I still read books about dinosaurs!

Science can help illumine the wonder and power of our Almighty Creator God. We can exclaim: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands" (Psalm 19:1).