Keeping the Faith

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We've all heard it. It is the never ending battle between science and religion. What does this mean? The religious allegedly fear evidence of natural history may violate or disprove their belief system. The scientific don't care about any such belief system and believe only what they see. The clashing is constant.

No offense to anybody, but that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard!

Take me for example. I'm into science (obviously). I graduated from college with a degree in biology, and while I was there I did a bit of research on cells. I believe the theory of evolution, natural selection, etc. I also wear a cross around my neck every day. I observe Lent. I don't work on Sunday if I can possibly help it. I believe in and follow Jesus Christ with all my heart. So, tell me. Just where do religion and science conflict here? That's right. They don't.

Now, before I continue, I want to make it clear I am not trying to preach or convert anybody here. I simply wish to do away with the silly notion that religion and science cause any harm to one another. In fact, in my experience, I've noticed the ones who do think they conflict are those who have very limited knowledge of either one. So I say, as I often do, learn as much as you can about something before passing any judgment! You never know what you may be falsely embracing or depriving yourself of.

I started to mention evolution before, so let's go back to that. Paleontologists and archaeologists have found all sorts of fossils all over the world of creatures from tens of millions and hundreds of millions of years ago. That's amazing! Through this, we try to piece together a puzzle and learn how organisms have grown and changed since they first appeared somewhere in the Precambrian Era. Geologists also look at evidence of continental breakups and other natural occurrences that have shaped the constant development of our little planet. It's fun to watch how everything has turned into the crazy world we have today!

Apparently, there are some people who have a problem with this. If I understand correctly, this all seems too contrary to the Book of Genesis. So, according to these people, we ought to abandon the notions of dinosaurs and natural selection, right? Either that, or we must concede that since the Adam and Eve story is an "obvious fairy tale" everything in the Bible or any religious texts is false and there is no God.

No! Where did THAT come from?!

Here's how I view it (and, again, still not preaching, converting, forcing views on anyone, etc.). I believe the theory of evolution, of course. As humans, in the process of learning more about our world, we've come to figuring how things transpired long before we got here. We've been trying to find out how the world came to be. It has also been established that God created the universe. So perhaps by studying evolution, we're learning just how He created the universe. There is no abandoning any belief in Him. We know He's there and did all this. We just like to learn what everything He created is made of and how it works. The more we learn, the more we know just how complicated things are, therefore, how much work God put into it all. Not to be self-righteous, but perhaps this way we're giving Him a lot more credit, while those who dismiss these studies as sacreligious are selling Him short. Just a thought.

And for those who think believing in God is foolish because His existence "cannot be proven", well, it is foolish to believe a being that is above all we can substantially see or feel can be proven by those means. So, for both ends of the spectrum, come on! Give God some credit!

Now you don't have to be Christian! Any religion. And if you're an atheist, I hope you are one for reasons unrelated to science. I just encourage those entering a scientific discipline to remember to keep their faith, because it is not required or recommended you check it at the door. Keep going to church or other applicable religious house. Keep celebrating Christmas or whatever your own religion celebrates. Our brains have the nice ability to house both faith and logic, even when they are quite the odd couple sometimes. Don't kick either one out, for religion and science can both benefit you so much. Make them both work for you! It's very easy.