A religion column I recently read, in one of the local papers, pit faith against science. I understood the author to put faith and science in competition for the “truth.” The view promoted by this author results in dichotomies like, either creation is true or evolution is true.
I confess that I prefer the Catholic view of the link between faith and science. St. Augustine is credited for saying, “I believe in order that I may understand.” In the Creed we proclaim, “I believe in one God . . . maker of heaven and earth of all things seen and unseen.” I know where ever I look I see the hand of God. I also know that human history is full of reports from other people who also saw the hand of God everywhere they looked. It might be both creation and evolution are true.
Science helps me understand the how of creation. Now, evolution is standing as a leading theory to address how God might have created. My own sense is that we don’t have enough information to answer the how question. How long did it take us to gather enough information to say the earth was round and not flat? Or, that the earth was not the center of the universe? Life and faith and even science are full of mysteries and paradoxes. I am preparing to celebrate one of the greatest of those mysteries and paradoxes, which says I must die to live.
“The Lord is kind and merciful.” (Ps 103:8a)
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/