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 Most biologists and geneticists seem to have concluded that science and faith are incompatible, but few who embrace that conclusion seem to have seriously considered the evidence. 

From my perspective as director of the Human Genome Project, the scientific  and religious world views are not only compatible but also inherently complementary. 

Hence the profound polarization of the scientific and religious perspectives, now glaringly apparent in the fields of biology and genetics, is a source of great distress.

 Hard-liners in either camp paint increasingly uncompromising pictures that force sincere seekers to choose one view over the other. 

How all of this must break God’s heart! The elegance and complexity of the human genome is a source of profound wonder. 

That wonder only strengthens  my faith, as it provides glimpses of aspects of humanity, which God has known all along, but which we are just now beginning to discover.

--Francis Collins

The Physical Sciences in Christian Context

    Biology (genetics, origins)  Chemistry (atomism, astrology, green chemistry)  Geology (age of earth, earthquakes)  Physics (energy, big bang theory, causality,
global warming, purpose)

 

  The physical sciences frequented interacted with Christian culture during the early period of their development into separate scientific disciplines.  At times, Christianity acted as catalyst or, as an inhibitor to the development of a discipline - sometimes both.  In some instances science was subordinate to theology, in others the reverse. A mixed bag to be sure and one closely related to time and place.  So - beware of generalizations.

In the west, Christianity was part of early scientificgeometry culture because the Church dominated religious and public life -  and the universities. As the universities became independent of clerical control and  scientific disciplines began to emerge, religious ties became more subtle or were deliberately avoided as undesirable.

Today, Christians in the sciences generally do not sanctify their work with Biblical references but they are often called upon to comment on often controversial social questions  that have a scientific dimension that that may be informed by Christian faith. These might include items such as "the big bang," "global warming," " life on other worlds," "chaos theory," "altruism" and so on.  Recently a study has appeared suggesting that religious belief influences how the public regards aspects of nanotechnology.

************************

Owen Gingerich, The Harmony of Nature
Presented at the United Nations General Assembly 66th Session Dialogue on Harmony of Nature New York, 18 April 2012

Professor Edwin Judge, Christianity and Science The relationship between a biblical "Worldview" and modern Science. (8 minutes)

The following articles are chosen to exemplify the diversity of potential interactions. 

Biochemistry

Think it’s cold outside? How do insects survive the winter?

Julie's research subjects, southern ground crickets (Allonemobius socius)

For most of her life, Julie Reynolds has been fascinated by insects, and when she went off to college, she thought they would make a great subject of study.  Julie majored in biological sciences at the University of Alabama-Huntsville and focused on ecology.  Her undergraduate research examined the effects of microgravity stressors on crustaceans, and through these studies she became fascinated with the ability of animals to adapt to extreme environments.

Excited by these studies, Julie entered a master’s . . . → Read More: Think it’s cold outside? How do insects survive the winter?

Biology

   genetics   

Calculating Mystery

Doug Lauffenburger looks like the kind of guy who might love a good mystery.

Or be in one.

His bone white hair falls just short of thick round glasses as he folds his hands and ponders the best way to answer a question. In his office, light from slatted windowpanes stair steps across the large L-shaped desk behind him, where neatly organized stacks of paper await Doug’s attention.

The question he’s currently turning over in his mind: What inspired you to combine your lifelong training as a chemical engineer with your love of biology? After a few moments, Doug responds, “In contrast to engineering, biology has always been very mysterious. It’s unpredictable.”

CC-BY-SA FR; CC-BY-SA-2.0-FR.

But, he says, it can be more predictable now that he and scientists like him have been studying the most basic components of life not as biologists, but as engineers. Doug is head of the Department of Biological Engineering at MIT, one of the newest and fastest growing scientific fields, which marries the elusive, hypothesis-driven elements of the life sciences with the more data-based, analytical fields of engineering and technology..full article

 

Dennis R. Venema, "Genesis and the Genome: Genomics Evidence for Human-Ape Common Ancestry and Ancestral Hominid Population Sizes." JASA 62 (September 2010): 167-178.   The relatively new and rapidly expanding field of comparative genomics provides a wealth of data useful for testing the hypothesis that humans and other forms of life share common ancestry. Numerous independent lines of genomics evidence strongly support the hypothesis that our species shares a common ancestor with other primates. Additional lines of evidence also indicate that our species has maintained a population size of at least several thousand individuals since our speciation from the ancestors of other great apes. This article will provide an overview of genomics evidence for common ancestry and hominid population sizes, and briefly discuss the implications of these lines of evidence for scientific concordist approaches to the Genesis narratives.

Francis S. Collins, "Faith and the Human Genome",  PSCF 55.3:142-153 (9/2003). Despite the best efforts of the American Scientific Affiliation to bridge the gap between science and faith, few gatherings of scientists involved in biology include any meaningful discussion about the spiritual significance of the current genomerevolution in genetics and genomics. Most biologists and geneticists seem to have concluded that science and faith are incompatible, but few who embrace that conclusion seem to have seriously considered the evidence. From my perspective as director of the Human Genome Project, the scientific and religious world views are not only compatible but also inherently complementary. Hence the profound polarization of the scientific and religious perspectives, now glaringly apparent in the fields of biology and genetics, is a source of great distress. Hard-liners in either camp paint increasingly uncompromising pictures that force sincere seekers to choose one view over the other. How all of this must break God’s heart! The elegance and complexity of the human genome is a source of profound wonder. That wonder only strengthens my faith, as it provides glimpses of aspects of humanity, which God has known all along, but which we are just now beginning to discover.

       Origins

This theme is already treated here and here on our site.  On this page we examine broader questions starting with the Smithsonian Institution Human Origins Initiative presented in conjunction with the March 2011 opening of the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins at the the National History in Washington DC. As a 5 star visitation stop for students and the general publication it represents a significant teaching point on origins and the broader application of  the Darwinian explanation for the diversity of life to evolutionary psychology and sociobiology.

What does it mean to be human? offers an attractive description of the exhibit and a thorough  picture of the field ranging from the latest discoveries to teaching methods - and religious perspectives

Physics

Alan Guth, A primer on big bang theory Challenging but readable

Recent News Items!

Light Created from a Vacuum: Casimir Effect Observed in Superconducting Circuit
Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:57:34
Scientists have succeeded in creating light from vacuum –observing an effect first predicted over 40 years ago. In an innovative experiment, the scientists have managed to capture some of the photons that are ... 
SD
Full Story

   Causality

William R. Wharton, "The Importance of Cauansality in Quantum Mechanics," PSCF 57 (December 2005): 268-278. Christian theology preferentially favors some philosophical interpretations of quantum mechanics. By using a case study of stationary states of atoms, this paper examines the various interpretations. The preferred interpretation is that all localized events in space-time parts of chains of contiguous events traversing space-time at a rate limited by the speed of light. This is the process of becoming, i.e., the creation of reality. It is usually not deterministic, leaving room for many first causes that are the initiation of new causal chains.

Ben M. Carter, "The Limitations of Mathematics in Assessing Causality," PSCF 57 (December 2005): 279-283. 'From its inception in the sixteenth century, natural science has sought to construct a complete mathematical model of physical reality. This goal was based on three assumptions: (1) that mathematics was equal to the task; (2) that humans, insofar as they perceived the world, perceived it as it is; and (3) that the universe would reveal itself to be fundamentally fairly simple. Today we recognize that not only are all three of these assumptions flawed, their flaws are interrelated and, because of that, formulating a complete mathematical model of physical reality may be beyond our ability. In this paper, I discuss this development in light of William Wharton’s work and close with a comment on what this might mean for scientists who are also Christians.'          

    Chaos

John J. Davis, Theological Reflections on Chaos TheoryPSCF 49:2 (June physical 1997): 75-84.  image/chaoe This paper reviews the historical origins of chaos theory and some of its key features, and then reflects theologically on the implications of this theory for a Christian view of the world. It is argued that chaos theory does not represent a threat to Christian faith, but in fact provides new ways of understanding the richness and complexity of God's creative work and providential ordering of the physical universe.

     Purpose

John W. Hall, "Chance for a Purpose," JASA 61(March 2009): 3-11.  In our popular understanding, chance implies a lack of purpose. Consequently, the presence of chance or stochasticity in some physical and biological processes has led to the inference that the universe has no purpose. But we ourselves construct systems with stochastic features for our own uses. Several such systems were investigated to elucidate how the set of possible outcomes of a stochastic process is related to the global and local purposes of the system. One observation is that when every possible outcome is compatible with a particular purpose, the outcomes may be described as “purpose-equivalent.” This and other insights are used in investigating the relationship of two created systems with what we know of God’s purposes. These are the physical processes that produced the distribution of matter in the universe and biological evolution. How stochastic processes relate to other forms of divine action is also discussed.

    The unseen in science and religion

Hyung S. Choi, "Knowledge of the Unseen: A New Vision for Science and Religion Dialogue," PSCF 52.2 (June 2001): 96-101. While contemporary physics and cosmology take seriously the knowledge of invisible realities, the discussion of the unseen in religion has been largely neglected in the recent science-and-religion discussion. Neglecting the issue in theology is ultimately self- defeating since God is considered the Unseen. In light of contemporary understanding of the unseen in science, we contend that that there are significant parallels between scientific and theological claims concerning the unseen. The epistemic distinction between the seen and the unseen does not necessarily imply the ontological demarcation  between the natural and the supernatural. New heuristic frameworks such as a multi-dimensional model are suggested for more holistic and dynamical understanding of reality that includes both the seen and the unseen.

   Origin of the Universe

Perry G. Phillips, "The Thrice-Supported Big Bang," PSCF 57(June 2005): 82-97. One cannot dismiss the Big Bang as “just a theory.” Various lines of evidence confirm the “hot Big Bang” as the best model for the origin of the universe. The most widely known piece of evidence is Hubble’s Law (galaxy redshifts), but the universal abundances of light elements and the cosmic microwave background radiation add convincing support to the hot Big Bang model. This paper discusses these three lines of evidence with emphasis on the last two. Theological implications of the Big Bang are also discussed. Among ancient Near Eastern cosmologies, only the Bible presents the universe as having a beginning ex nihilo. Two historic alternatives to the Big Bang that avoid a beginning are presented and rejected. Finally, Gentry and Humphreys have proposed young-earth creationist models contrary to the Big Bang. We find their galactocentric cosmologies fail scientific and theological scrutiny.

Chemistry 

Going Algae-Green

Algae.

Even the word sounds slightly slimy. “Al-gae” — especially when articulated slowly, is a sort of squishy, guttural utterance —and when one imagines the subject of these syllables, themselves, they seem a rather fitting appellation. To accompany their aural ooziness, many visual and somatic properties of algae make them organismae-non-gratae for anyone with whom they come in contact. A lot of folks frankly dislike the idea of the green stuff murking up their decorative Kio ponds, lining their local swimming holes, or even staring up at them from the label of their daily vitamins bottle.

Not biologists. Or chemists, or environmental scientists, for that matter. To them, algae are one of the most useful and versatile organisms in the universe — especially on this planet, which is so full of animals breathing the oxygen algae pump into the atmosphere and drinking the water that algae help strip of excess carbon dioxide and inorganic nutrient waste.

Especially on this planet, whose sovereign species is at the dawn of a global energy crisis.

Over the past century, algae have gone from being a vastly under-appreciated ecological and nutritional resource to becoming recognized for all of their redeeming qualities, and thus (of course) put to work as a health supplement, as an eco-friendly fertilizer, as an energy source, and as a no-engineering-needed air and water purifier.   more

 atoms and atheism

J.  W. Haas, Jr., "Atoms and Atheism: The changing ways that Christians have atomsviewed the nature of matter" (May 2007). Some of the most prominent figures in history have struggled to identify the nature of matter - including Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Galileo, Descartes, Boyle, Newton, and Einstein. The twists and turns of this 2400 year tale demonstrate the interplay of religion, philosophy and science in developing our understanding. In the end, Atomism (without philosophy) won the day because it was necessary for a coherent scientific view of the world and (for Christians) did not conflict with the biblical doctrine of creation that displaced the speculations of the Greek philosophers.

Geology

Logic, Time, and the Divine

Ask anyone in ASA—becoming a scientist while remaining a Christian requires a lot of questioning.

Most Christians in science have to find a way to reconcile what the Bible literally says with what science tells us about God’s creation, but Bob Geddes has faced the opposite challenge. He became a minister after working for fifteen years as a geologist, and upon entering seminary, he had to wonder whether his logical, scientific method-based approach to answering questions and solving problems would be compatible with the more mysterious, subjective role of a spiritual guide and counselor.

Fortunately, God works in mysterious and logical ways, and Bob found that the methods of research and inductive reasoning that he acquired as a scientist were just as useful when he switched from studying minerals to being a minister.

Bob grew up in the Presbyterian church and fell in love with rocks on the stony beaches of Lake Huron, where his family sojourned in the summers. He went to college at the University of Western Ontario for geology, and after obtaining his master’s degree with a specialty in glacial deposits, Bob worked for the Minerals Division of Gulf Oil using glacial materials to trace out substances like uranium, gold, and base metals. Full Story

PCA Geologists Report on the Age of the Earth, Modern  Reformation, 2010, vol. 19, no. 3, pages 6-9.

How old is the earth? Does an honest reading of the opening chapters of Genesis confine creation
to six days a few thousand years ago, or does it allow for an origin of much greater antiquity?
These questions are hardly new. Scientific assertions suggesting an alternate interpretation of the
length of creation began more than 200 years ago, well before the days of Charles Darwin. With
a debate more than two centuries in the making, one might reasonably expect that Reformed
scholars long ago resolved the issue. In fact, the much-sought resolution has proven elusive. In
1998, the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) commissioned a Creation Study Committee
(CSC), made up of both Bible scholars and natural scientists, to consider the relevant Scriptures
in light of the various existing interpretations and scientific evidence. The report, submitted after
two years of investigation, did not recommend a definitive answer, but
did at least conclude that it is possible to believe both in an ancient earth and the inerrancy of Scripture.

 a recent discussion of the Age of the Earth Question....
Steven M. Smith, Denver RATE Conference (Thousands ..Not Billions) (September 2007) 
A geologist  provides a detailed report on a conference dealing with the age of the earth sponsored by the 
Creation Research Society.

Kirk Bertsche Intrinsic Radiocarbon?  PSCF 60 (March 2008: 38-39. 

J. Brian Pitts, Nonexistence of Humphreys’ “Volume Cooling” for Terrestrial Heat Disposal by Cosmic Expansion PSCF  61 (March 2009): 23-28.   The young-earth RATE project posits accelerated nuclear decay during the Flood. To dispose of heat, Humphreys appeals to cosmic expansion and Einstein’s general theory of relativity. However, cosmic expansion is irrelevant to terrestrial physics. The static gravitational field on Earth conserves terrestrial energy and so is not a heat sink. One can understand why the relevant gravitational field is static from either a matching problem or an averaging problem. In the averaging problem, one averages Einstein’s equations over cosmic distances to get effective field equations for cosmic parameters; these equations tend to differ from Einstein’s equations due to nonlinearity. The conserved terrestrial energy is derived rigorously using the divergence theorem and tensor calculus. Difficulties with gravitational energy localization might be due to an unjustified assumption of uniqueness, as Peter Bergmann hinted long ago. It is recalled that unwillingness to posit miracles in Noah’s Flood was largely a later seventeenth-century rationalist Protestant innovation, making the Flood story empirically vulnerable and contributing to its ultimate rejection.

 

Kurt A. Bogner, Ethics and the Christian Geologist Affiliation of Christian Geologists

Consider the following stories. In 1991 a dispute arose between the EPA and the National Water Well Association (NWWA) concerning the amount of payment for a national mapping system of ground-water resources project done by the NWWA for the EPA.1 Rather than take the case to litigation, the NWWA agreed to pay $203,273.50 to the EPA. In addition, the executive director and the finance director of the NWWA resigned.

In a 1990 issue of Ground Water, an article described a case of data falsification and scientific fraud perpetrated by a hydrologist with the United States Geological Survey.2 A review board discovered that this individual "did knowingly falsify scientific data and forge colleague review memoranda", "had falsified scientific data for his Ph.D.", and "forged letters of reference as part of an application for a faculty position."

In 1993 a headline on page 1, of the business section of the Denver Post read, "CH2M Hill accused again."3 The subheading read, "Ex-worker said he was told to lie." The article reported that the company had come "under fire in a March report by the Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general for $40 million of questionable charges, including Denver Nuggets tickets and a $15,000.00 office party."

Finally, while working on an underground storage tank closure project, the president of the company for which I previously worked showed up on site. We had just finished removing the overlying concrete and were preparing to excavate the tank. The president talked to the project manager who was performing the excavation. When the project manager returned to the excavation, I asked what the president had to say. His reply shocked me: "Take a couple of loads of dirt out (for disposal) so that we can turn a profit on this project." The president's own words demonstrate that the motive was money. Since the excavation had barely gotten started, it was unknown whether there was any contaminated soil which would need to be disposed of. ....Full Article

 Global Warming

Thomas Ackerman,  Global Warming: Scientific Basis and Christian Response, PSCF 59 (December 2007):250-263.
In this article, it is my goal to address two broad themes. The first is the scientific basis of climateglobal warming change, which I address by answering a set of science questions: 1. Is climate changing and, if so, on what time scale? 2. Do we understand the role of greenhouse gases in climate and climate change? 3. What is the impact of human activities on greenhouse gas concentrations compared to those of natural processes? Can these activities impact global climate? 4. Can we predict climate change during this century? What confidence should we have in such predictions? The second theme is how evangelical Christians are responding to this issue. I attempt to categorize these responses under several headings. I end with my own personal response.


Loren Swartzendruber, Global Warming-An Anabaptist Responds in Sermons, PSCF 59 (December 2007): 265-267.

   oil crisis

World Oil Reserves at 'Tipping Point' ScienceDaily (Mar. 24, 2010)

ScienceDaily (Mar. 24, 2010) 

>
Glen Morton, "The Coming Energy Crisis,"PSCF 52 (December 2000): 228-229. For as long as the oil industry has existed, there have been those who claimed that the world will soon run out of oil. Such claims have usually been attacked as being too pessimistic. And they were. One would seem to be a fool to say the same thing today. However, some fundamental laws of nature that cannot be avoided will show their teeth during this century. Sometime between 2004 and 2020 the world oil production will peak around thirty billion barrels of oil per year. After that, a slow but inexorable production decline will occur, creating a major societal impact enhanced by an increasing world population and the rising standards of living in the third world.

Glen Morton, "The World's Oil Supply Revisited," PSCF 57 (June 2005): 129-30.

    the flood


Theologians Need to Hear From Christian Geologists About Noah's Flood by Ken Wolgemuth, Gregory S Bennett, and Gregg Davidson, (2008)Lecture given to the Evangelical Theological Society New Orleans, Louisiana November 18, 2009  
A very readable paper offering a useful approach to the Genesis account.

Evolution: Education and Outreach, (3 June 20010) Abstract
Half of US respondents to the 2006 General Social Surveys did not believe in the “Big Bang” origin of the universe; they were closely correlated with those who did not believe in human evolution. Religious fundamentalism is the major predictor of both disbeliefs. Low education and political conservatism have lesser but independent effects. The notion of continental drift (plate tectonics) faces relatively little opposition from religious fundamentalists, and according to survey responses, its validity is widely accepted, more so than the fact of a heliocentric solar system.

Evangelicals and Crackpot Science


Dating Methods in Science :
Strata, Fossils and Age of the Ear


How the Earth was made a Discovery Channel 10 part video series on earth history 

Historical Geology 1 (10) Video 9 min
Historical Geology 2 (10) Video 9 min.

The remainder of the series may be accessed at youtube

Arthur  V. Chadwick, A Modern Framework for Earth Sciences in Christian 
Context (Copyright 2004)  Offers a quick survey of the various subfields and something of
the struggles of Christians who work in them.

Earthquakes
Why We Need Earthquakes
Without them, the planet couldn't support creatures like us. CT April 2011

The problem of theodicy—why bad things happen to good people—predates Christianity. Writing around 300 b.c., the Greek philosopher Epicurus framed the problem this way: God is believed by most people to be infinite in his power and also in his goodness and compassion. Now evil exists in the world and seems always to have existed. If God is unable to remove evil, he lacks omnipotence. If God is able to remove evil but doesn't, he lacks goodness and compassion. So clearly the all-powerful, compassionate God that most people pray to does not exist.

This old critique has been revived by Bart Ehrman in God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—Why We Suffer. Theologians over the centuries have responded to questions about the existence of evil by pointing out that man, not God, is the author of moral evil. Evil in this view refers to the bad things that people do to each other. Moral evil is the necessary price that God pays for granting humans moral autonomy....Full Article


PCA Geologists on the Antiquity of the Earth,” Modern Reformation, 2010, vol. 19, no. 3, pages 6-9.    8 professional geologists support an old earth.

Kirk Bertsche Intrinsic Radiocarbon?  PSCF 60 (March 2008):38-39. 

J. Brian Pitts, Nonexistence of Humphreys’ “Volume Cooling” for Terrestrial Heat Disposal by Cosmic Expansion PSCF  61 (March 2009): 23-28.   The young-earth RATE project posits accelerated nuclear decay during the Flood. To dispose of heat, Humphreys appeals to cosmic expansion and Einstein’s general theory of relativity. However, cosmic expansion is irrelevant to terrestrial physics. The static gravitational field on Earth conserves terrestrial energy and so is not a heat sink. One can understand why the relevant gravitational field is static from either a matching problem or an averaging problem. In the averaging problem, one averages Einstein’s equations over cosmic distances to get effective field equations for cosmic parameters; these equations tend to differ from Einstein’s equations due to nonlinearity. The conserved terrestrial energy is derived rigorously using the divergence theorem and tensor calculus. Difficulties with gravitational energy localization might be due to an unjustified assumption of uniqueness, as Peter Bergmann hinted long ago. It is recalled that unwillingness to posit miracles in Noah’s Flood was largely a later seventeenth-century rationalist Protestant innovation, making the Flood story empirically vulnerable and contributing to its ultimate rejection.

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