Science has a place in our faith - The two can coexist nicely

by Greg Cootsona | Presbyterians Today

iStock image

Go to Berkeley. Become a Christian. That might sound like a joke, but that’s my faith story. I became a follower of Christ during my first year at the University of California at Berkeley. It was then that I heard that one excellent reason not to believe in God was science. As a newly minted Christian sitting in the pews of First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, I also heard that “the Gospel is not fragile.” The Gospel’s strength to connect with culture, including science, was something I desperately needed to hear — and is something Presbyterians believe.

A paper presented to the 1982 PC(USA) General Assembly called “The Dialogue Between Theology and Science” said faith and science complement one another: “Faith gives us hope for survival and the motivation to achieve conditions for that kind of survival. Science provides the tools, intellectual and material, to get on with what we have to do.”

Science opens us to becoming “like little children,” as Jesus says in Matthew 18:3, and deepens our faith. “The Dialogue Between Theology and Science” affirms this, stating: “We cannot know the truth either finally or absolutely. Therefore, in science as in theology, we live by faith and not by sight.”

I’ve also found at Science for the Church — the organization I co-direct with a mission to cultivate a stronger church through meaningful dialogue with mainstream science — that when congregations engage science, they grow, not just in understanding science, but in their faith.

Science can also open us to new approaches to key issues, like racial healing and pastoral well-being. A seminar on race and Christian faith was recently held by the Synod of the Covenant. The response to learning how science helps us see that race is a powerful cultural category, but not a biological one, deepened the conversation and provided new tools for racial healing. As we emerge from Covid, we are finding that pastors are burned out and confused. The science of mental health is a key resource for this time. It demonstrates that a church community literally keeps us alive — and growing.

All my time as an ordained pastor, since 1996, has been spent with emerging adults, and I have argued that bringing science to church is good for our outreach to emerging adults. The Barna Group agrees, citing one of the six main reasons 18- to 30-year-olds leave the church is that they see it as “antagonistic to science.”

No, the Gospel isn’t fragile. It can withstand scientific discourse. I learned that years ago while sitting in an orange fabric pew at First Presbyterian Berkeley.

The Rev. Dr. Greg Cootsona is an ordained minister in the PC(USA) and lecturer in religious studies at California State University, Chico in Chico, California. He has been interviewed on faith and science by The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio and the BBC, to name a few. He is also co-director of Science for the Church.

WCC NEWS: WCC presents message at major international “Faith and Science” talks ahead of COP26

The World Council of Churches (WCC) presented a message at a major international gathering of world religious leaders and scientists ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, Archbishop Justin Welby, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, Pope Francis, and the Grand Imam of Al Azhar. Photo: Judge Abdelsalam 4 October 2021 The gathering, “Faith and Science: Towards COP26,” held 4 October, brought together some 40 leaders from the world's major religions and 10 scientists, who issued a joint appeal for COP26. The event was promoted by the Embassies of the United Kingdom and Italy to the Holy See, along with the Holy See. The event’s program explains that the talks occurred in a time when there is urgent need to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero. “Faith leaders have a special part to play as the repositories of our moral values, the guides of our ethical action, and pioneers of change to make the management of their land, buildings and investments sustainable,” stated the program. “Faith leaders have long raised awareness of the dangers of climate change.” His Holiness Pope Francis addressed the global gathering, reflecting in part on the state of the climate emergency a year after the publication of Fratelli tutti, his encyclical on fraternity and social friendship. In 2015, Pope Francis wrote an encyclical on the need to protect the environment, reduce wasteful lifestyles, stem global warming and protect the poor from the effects of climate change. The 4 October talks also featured a public reading of the executive summary of Faith Leaders’ Appeal to COP26. WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca’s message focused on how people of good will need to bring their voices and commit to an ecological conversion. “As people of faith, we have to be prophetic and tell the truth of the state we are in,” said Sauca, stressing that the affirmation of one humanity and the value of human dignity within and with creation is at the heart of the search and aspirations of the WCC. Sauca closed his remarks saying that we have an obligation to care for each other and for our common home. “Creation is not for some to consume and leave others behind,” he said. Read the full text of Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca's intervention Global religious leaders, scientists join to release “Faith and Science: An Appeal for COP26” - WCC news release 4 October 2021 In lead-up to COP26, churches augment calls for climate justice - WCC news release 30 September 2021 See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC acting general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, from the Orthodox Church in Romania. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland