Is Christianity true? (Science versus faith in God - Part 2)
This blog is part of my series titled “Is Christianity true?” The series addresses four common objections to the truthfulness of the Christian worldview, namely concerns about: (1) the trustworthiness of the Bible; (2) the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection; (3) the compatibility of faith in God with modern science; and (4) the incompatibility of Christian truth claims with those of other worldviews.
IS THERE A CONFLICT BETWEEN SCIENCE AND FAITH IN GOD?
As capably articulated by Dr. John Lennox in his book Gunning for God: Why the New Atheists Are Missing the Target, there are excellent reasons to believe that the domains of science and faith in God are neither mutually exclusive nor in conflict.
However, many people believe that science and faith in God are incompatible for various reasons. As previously mentioned, one reason is an unwillingness to engage in critical thinking. Another is science’s enormous success in uncovering the mechanisms underpinning the physical world. This exponentially expanding body of knowledge has birthed rapid technological advances that, in turn, have elevated the status of the scientific enterprise in the public mind.
Perhaps most importantly, many young people today are the products of schools and universities that teach that the two domains contradict one another. Invoking the philosophical Law of Noncontradiction, the proponents of this view argue that one side must be true and the other false. Given the authority and perceived expertise of their professors, it is easy to understand why young people might be reluctant to confront them with opposing viewpoints. Since many academics today would subscribe to Hawking’s assertion about the extraordinary explanatory power of science, they convey their opinion as truth rather than as opinion. It doesn’t help that Christians are often mocked for their unwillingness to abandon their faith in God in favor of facts unearthed by science. Such mockery is common not only in the academic world but also in the media and Hollywood.
The first sentence of the Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Prior to the mid-twentieth century, scientists generally believed that the universe was eternal. In doing so, they explicitly disagreed with the biblical account. When strong evidence arose that the universe emerged in the finite past, many scientists initially resisted this conclusion because it gave credence to the biblical account.
Today, there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that the universe had its beginning in finite time.
Among the deniers was Albert Einstein, who found most disagreeable the fact that his general theory of relativity implied a beginning. As a result, he manipulated his equations by inserting a cosmological constant to align his theory with the hypothesis of an eternal universe. However, based upon evidence for a beginning produced by other scientists, including Edwin Hubble (of Hubble Telescope fame), Einstein is alleged to have admitted that his cosmological constant was his biggest blunder. As a result, he eliminated it. Today, there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that the universe had its beginning in finite time.
Having examined some of the reasons for the widespread belief that modern science and faith in God are in conflict, we will now turn to proof that there is, in fact, no conflict whatsoever!
Photo by Hans Reniers on Unsplash
