Science and Religion

I recently came upon this interesting testimony from an internationally known scientist.

Testimony of John S. Lewis, professor emeritus in chemistry and professor of Planetary Sciences at MIT (from website, Mormon Scholars Testify):

“I was also familiar with the literature of [contemporary traditional Christianity’s] “scientific creationism,” which I found to be appallingly bad, full of glaring factual blunders and astonishing lapses of logic. I found their personal interpretations of scripture to be indefensible in the face of overwhelming evidence. Their mindset seemed to be that science was the opposite of religion; that their interpretations of scripture were right and anyone who disagreed with them must be evil, intent on destroying religion.”

“But the geological record is as much the work of God as the scriptures are. They together constitute two independent witnesses, satisfying the Old Testament requirement that two or more independent witnesses are required to attest to truth. That the two witnesses, science and scripture, should see different things is no surprise. After all, your own two eyes see different scenes; each eye sees things the other does not see, but by combining the witness of your two eyes you can see in depth, something neither eye can do alone. To assume that one witness is correct and the other is lying is to lose all perspective. It is to become half-blind. As the Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin expressed it, ‘Science and religion are two complementary faces of one and the same underlying reality.’ ”

“I see no conflict between science and religion. I see many conflicts between the misunderstandings of science and the flawed interpretation of scripture of men who lack both scientific knowledge and guidance by the Holy Spirit. I invite any person who desires to strengthen his understanding and testimony of creation to study both the scientific and scriptural evidence prayerfully, with the goal of learning and understanding. Properly understood, this study will provide you with a rich and deep perspective.”

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with its long tradition of free inquiry and of individuals prayerfully testing every point of doctrine for themselves, is fully compatible with the scientific method.”

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It is the doctrine of my Church, and my own personal conviction, that there is no conflict between true religion (divinely revealed truths) and true science (a method or approach that gathers facts and tests hypotheses with an object of trying to determine utility and expand knowledge) and that one need not be afraid of the other. Both have—or should have—a common objective of determining truth. The problem is where one accepts unproven scientific theories or inferences as ultimate facts and unwittingly builds or promotes a life built on a foundation of sand.