Science, Religion, and Augustine

I have been standing at the cross-roads between science and religion for a sizable part of my life. “How”, people ask me, “can a person who believes in the existence of God also be a scientist? Don’t the two beliefs contradict?” I get this question more often than I would like, personally.

I don’t know why it happened this way. Where did this schism appear? Why the sudden rift between these two areas of thought and human inquiry?

My study of the human condition led me from Albert Camus and his “The Fall” (a great book, by the way, very accessible and very honest) to Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. There are few things I admire more than honesty; I admire not only honesty, but honesty with oneself. It’s a very difficult thing to be honest with oneself. Camus and Augustine are two men known to be honest with themselves and their state of being. Naturally, I am drawn to such people.

I started my studies of Augustine by reading Gareth B. Matthews’ book titled “Augustine”. I managed to notice something of interest, a quote of Augustine’s:

Whenever the experts of this world can truly demonstrate something about natural phenomena, we should show it not to be contrary to Scripture; but whenever in their books they teach something contrary to Holy Writ, we should without any doubt hold it to be false and also show this by any means we can; and in this way we should keep the faith of our Lord, in whom are hidden all the treasures of knowledge, in order not to be seduced by the verbosity of false philosophy or frightened by the superstition of fake religions.

From Galileo quoting Augustine in his “The Literal Meaning of Genesis”

This is exactly how I have been feeling for so long! When uninformed people gather around, talk about science or religion in an uninformed manner, speak of how evil the other is, how it contradicts the tenets of whatever their belief system is, I get this almost irresistible urge to smack people!

For the Christian: If you are threatened by science, by theories regarding the evolution of galaxies, stars, plant life on Earth, animal life on Earth, etc.. the best thing you can do for yourself is take a step back and think about what the theories are saying. Why do people believe, study, and teach the things that they do? What are the main reasons to believe in the model presented to you? Often the first thing many Christians do is take a defensive stance – I know this from experience. This solves nothing!

Another source of strife that I see stems from one’s Hermeneutics: the science of interpreting texts (in this case, Biblical). From my understanding, one’s hermeneutics is, more or less, an axiom/presupposition stated and established in order to understand the Bible in a certain light – possibly to accommodate certain theologies. There is really nothing wrong with that, physicists and mathematicians do physics and math this way all the time! The problem comes when one’s hermeneutic is shown to be incorrect. How can one test their hermeneutic? Against science, of course!

Look around you. Observe. Do simple facts around you contradict what you read in Scripture? Perhaps you are interpreting a text incorrectly. My main quibble, right now, is with the most popular interpretation of Genesis 1. Christian theologians and (mostly) apologists, with absolutely no scientific credentials whatsoever, blatantly claim that the universe was created in a matter of literal days, in spite of the evidence (not having considered it deeply) and lead hapless people, who are generally thoughtful souls, in the wrong direction!

It is too disgraceful and ruinous, though, and greatly to be avoided, that he [the non-Christian] should hear a Christian speaking so idiotically on these matters, and as if in accord with Christian writings, that he might say that he could scarcely keep from laughing when he saw how totally in error they are. In view of this and in keeping it in mind constantly while dealing with the book of Genesis, I have, insofar as I was able, explained in detail and set forth for consideration the meanings of obscure passages, taking care not to affirm rashly some one meaning to the prejudice of another and perhaps better explanation.

Ibid.

Does this rob the Scriptures of its power and authority? Absolutely NOT! It only robs man from making a false statement, from going for too long in the wrong direction – which is a win.

I offer my hermeneutic, what I believe Augustine, too, would wish for his fellow believers: I would take a minute to think about ALL the possible ways to interpret a passage and always account for the possibility that I missed one. I would then choose what I [carefully] judge to be the most consistent interpretation with the context, the rest of Scripture, and with what I know of the author, times, and culture of both the author and audience of that passage. It’s hard work, but that’s what being a Christian means.

For the Scientist: I would offer a bit of advice that I believe you would think is sound. Take a step back and think. Why do Christians believe what they do? Why? I would refrain from relying too quickly on intuition and making a judgment call in haste, here – there is a tendency for scientists to do that; after all, scientists are still human.

One thing I would recommend is to ask yourself, “is this view a valid view? Why/why not? I there a basis for such a set of beliefs?” I would then tell myself to not look at the norm. Look deeper into their core beliefs, not simply their most popular writings like what Richard Dawkins has been doing recently in his books. Making too haste a judgment call has led to many earnest Christian thinkers from acknowledging a certain scientific theory, Biological Evolution being a very obvious one.  Too quick a judgment puts people on the defensive, and no scientist can benefit from that. At the very least it leads to a severe lack of funding from a potentially interested group of people. =P

I do strongly believe that Christianity may enrich ones views of nature more than one may initially think. Two forms of arriving at the truth cannot possibly contradict! (This is assuming there exists such a thing as truth, the guiding principle behind both science and religion). Religion (specifically Christianity) is not testable using the Scientific Method, it has different ways of arriving at the truth. Science relies on human effort, while a lot of religion is brought down from on high. It offers a serious source of intellectual thought – something fun for any scientist/philosopher!

This has been on my mind and heart for a long time. It is a severe blunder that both scientists and Christians are so vehemently opposed to one another in such a vile manner!

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