[asa] Mutual trust

Rich,
    You make an excellent point that I'd like to see us pursue a bit. Since
this is quite different from the IPCC thread, I've renamed it.

    A key part of dealing with perspectives on science and Christian faith
is going beyond the intellectual analysis and scholarly research in those
topics and moving to the realm of the interaction between the communities of
scientists and of Christians. As ASA members, we are Christians in science
and are typically minorities in both communities. Often we see first-hand
the lack of mutual trust between them and we're caught in the middle.

    The ASA founders in 1941 focused on helping graduate students understand
what scientific results were really credible and how to understand those
results in the context of their Christian faith. Today we continue that same
focus and seek to broaden our reach to the greater community.

    Somehow, we need to help Christians understand that, despite the small
vocal minority whose quotes seem to dominate, the scientific community is
not out to destroy religion or to disprove the Bible or to take control of
their lives or to be the naive unsuspecting puppets of domineering funding
agencies. Rather, that community can provide valuable insight about God's
creation, from astronomy to geology to biology to anthropology and
psychology etc., which helps us understand his word. Reciprocally, we need
to help scientists to understand that the Christian community is not out to
undermine science or to replace science with pseudo-scientific adaptations
that serve primarily to bolster a preferred religious perspective. Again, a
vocal and politically active minority make that task more difficult.

    What actions can we take to build that mutual trust?

    Randy

>
> Randy has asked what can the ASA do to extend its reach. This is it. Of
> all the various groups out there, the ASA is one of the few that doesn't
> have a vested interest save the good of humanity and God's Creation. If
> we want to have the political leaders trust us, then we need to take the
> risk and trust them that if we give them good science then they will come
> up with good policy...

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Received on Sat Feb 17 11:08:37 2007