Faith and Science: There's no conflict for believers

Spiraling Whirlpool Galaxy taken by the Hubble Telescope M51. See more photos here. 

It always amazes me to hear people say that science proves God does not exist. What a silly idea! Science can only observe material things. It has nothing to say about non-material things: love, integrity, beauty, mercy. They can't be measured in the lab.

Scientists use observation and tests to make guesses and then try to "prove" that those guesses are correct or incorrect. Even what some call "settled science" is a myth in most cases because science deals in probabilities. There was a time when scientists believed the earth was the center of the universe, then the sun.

As telescopes became more sophisticated they learned that the heavens were more immense than man dreamed of; and science continues to gather more data and learn more about the universe. But nothing of what they learn can ever prove definitively using scientific tools and measurements that God does or does not exist. God is far beyond the puny minds of the greatest scientists.

Science often shows us beautiful things, but the determination that a photo taken from the Hubble Telescope is beautiful, is a proposition determined by the observer. Beauty is subjective. The same person who appreciates the beauty of the stars may find the colorful lantern fly or the amazing black widow spider with its red hourglass ugly and repulsive.

These thoughts were all stimulated by an article about the late Stephen Hawking by Fr. Gordon MacRae at Beyond These Stone Walls. It's an interesting reflection on the relationship between faith and science. For the Christian who walks in faith, there is no conflict. Science manifests and illustrates the great love God has for us. He created the heavens for our delight. Here's how Fr. MacRae sums up:

To say that science can explain creation without God is not to say that God did not create everything — including the science and scientists trying to nudge Him from center stage. Faith is far more than the dictates of reason and the pronouncements of science. Our tradition of faith does not reduce God to His quantum mechanics, and does not promise to teach all there is to know about the created Universe or the laws of physics. 

Our faith promises that we can know God through Christ in a personal relationship without fully explaining God. Who in this world can claim to fully comprehend God? Certainly not I. Faith is not an event, and science does not make or break it. Faith is a pilgrimage, and like any pilgrimage, most of us will have times of wandering, and wondering whether we will ever arrive, whether we will ever get to the point at which there are no doubts. That is the point of faith. It is its own evidence. [Read the entire article here.]

For the numerous believing scientists in history, many wearing roman collars, there is no conflict between faith and science. Louis Pasteur had no problem praying his rosary on a train while a student lectured him on his superstition. What a humbling experience when the young man read Pasteur's card: Louis Pasteur, Director of the Institute of Scientific Research, Paris. [Read the story here.]

Never be intimidated by someone in a white lab coat or with scores of letters after his name. Think of the humble saints, even little children, with more wisdom than the greatest scientists about things that really count. The Blessed Mother is paramount among them. We call her the Seat of Wisdom because she is the wisest of the wise. May every scientist seek her intercession that they might use their God-given gifts to advance the kingdom.