CLASS MIXES SCIENCE, RELIGION

The Rev. Andrew Pratt, the other half of the team, brought science and religion together for students at Southeast Missouri State University.

Danielle Kipp of Van Buren discussed a point with her teachers in the science and religion class at Southeast.

Science and religion represent conflicting viewpoints to some people.

But a 6-year-old course at Southeast Missouri State University hopes to change that view.

Southeast biologist Allen Gathman and the Rev. Andrew Pratt, a Baptist minister, teach the course.

Gathman is an assistant professor of biology. Pratt is campus minister at the Baptist Student Center and part-time instructor in the philosophy and religion department.

Pratt wears a tie and dress pants to class. Gathman prefers blue jeans and no tie.

But they both share a love for teaching the class.

Gathman and Pratt developed the course, along with the Rev. Craig Nessan, who at the time was pastor of St. Mark Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau.

The course has received the Templeton Award, which annually recognizes the world's 100 best science-and-religion courses.

The John Templeton Foundation was established in 1987 by international investment manager John M. Templeton. One of the foundation's missions is to explore a link between science and religion.

Two years ago, the foundation developed a program to encourage the development of academic courses in science and religion.

Up to 100 courses annually are awarded a prize of $10,000, with half of it going to the institution and half to the instructors.

Southeast will use its $5,000 to support the course, such as buy books and videos, and pay for guest speakers.

Pratt and Gathman will split the other $5,000.

"I think there is a popular idea that religion and science are in conflict," said Gathman.

When he taught evolutionary biology, some of his students said they couldn't be biologists without being atheists.

But both Gathman and Pratt think science and religion shouldn't be viewed as opposing forces.

Pratt said the goal of the course is to help students integrate "these two very important facets of their life."

The 13 students in this semester's class have a wide range of beliefs. They include Christians and atheists and a "smorgasbord of other positions," Gathman said.

Unlike traditional classes, there are no right or wrong answers. Students are graded on their critical thinking skills.

The course involves a lot of class discussion. Both Pratt and Gathman avoid lecturing when possible.

"Science deals with what can be observed," Pratt said. "One of the things we try to get across to students is that science doesn't prove anything.

"Science tries to disprove things, but it is not in the proof business," said Pratt.

"Religion deals with how a person orients himself or herself to the ultimate conditions of life, how do you make sense of life, how do you answer the why questions," Pratt said.

Gathman said science doesn't have all the answers. "Science doesn't explain why a symphony is good to hear. There are a lot of things that science doesn't explain."

Among other things, the course deals with the theory of evolution.

"There is substantial evidence that evolution is the most satisfying explanation of how life came to be that we have right now," said Pratt.

But evolution can still fit in with the Biblical view of life, both Pratt and Gathman said.

Conditions had to be just right for life to exist on Earth, said Pratt, who believes evolution can be viewed as the work of God.

"If you are going to interpret Genesis literally, then you are going to be in conflict with science," Pratt said.

But Pratt argues for a more symbolic interpretation.

Gathman said people in western countries have difficulty thinking in symbolic terms. They want to read everything literally.

Physically, man has changed little in 50,000 years. But culturally, man has gone through tremendous evolution, Gathman said.

"What it has done for me is allow me to see other perspectives," said Matt Blake, a senior from Waterloo, Ill.

"We come into this class with our own beliefs," said senior Warren Wilson of Blue Springs, W.Va. In class last week, Wilson wore a T-shirt praising Jesus.

He said the class had made his faith in God even stronger. "The only right answer is what you personally believe," he said of the class.

"I don't have a problem with science and religion," said Dolly Frikken, a senior from St. Louis County.

Amber Longstreet, a junior from Bordentown, N.J., said she views science and religion as different, but overlapping "spheres of reality."

Students like Longstreet said the class is difficult to define. "Everyone gets different things out of it," she said.