Ever
since fire was brought down to man, discovery has always been on the forefront
of the human mind. This desire has driven mankind to explore every facet of
life, from arts to philosophy to the sciences. However, like in the Grecian
myths, exploration can put mankind in conflict with their deities, creating
controversies, conflicts, and contentions between advancing in these areas of
life and religion. As time presses forward, “public religions. . . [often] make
claims about . . . religious and secular arguments . . . about stem cell
research, abortion, cloning, evolution,” (Longest and Smith) with the few
deciding what the majority should believe. These decisions, especially ones
regarding the sciences, can create disconnections between the believer and the
religion, causing many to question what they should believe. The Barna Group, a
research foundation dedicated to researching topics important to Christian
ministries, discovered that the supposed rift between religion and science
caused those who participated in the sciences for a living to “struggle to find
ways of staying faithful to their beliefs and to their professional calling.” (Group)
This
rift does not only affect those studying the sciences, but those in stages of
young adulthood. One youth found it difficult to believe that “looking right at
the facts –evolution and science— [religions are] saying no, there is none.” (Greene) Because of this,
many churches and in turn, entire religions, come off as “antagonistic to
science,” (Group) putting the believer
between a rock and a hard place; their religion or the facts in front of their
face. In this period of exponential scientific discoveries, youth are
increasingly finding themselves on the scientific side of the fence.
However,
this supposed conflict does not have to continue. In order to retain youth and
young adults through this period of scientific discovery, clergy must be
willing to take a more open minded approach. This open mindedness does not mean
the basic beliefs must change, instead, the approach given to the sciences must
change. There is no reason “to think that science calls on Christian faith to
change,” (Van Woudenberg) or vice versa.
Instead, adopting the approach of ancient Muslims, who embraced the sciences
and treated scientific discoveries as expanding their understanding of religion
(Yalcinkaya) , could create a more
tolerant environment, in which the science and religious minded could worship
peacefully and in conjunction with one another.
Works Cited
Greene,
David. "More Young People Are Moving Away From Religion, But Why?"
15 January 2013. npr.org. 3 November 2014 .
Group, Barna.
"Six Reasons Young Christians are Leaving the Church." 2011. barnagroup.com.
3 11 2014.
Longest, Kyle C.
and Christian Smith. "Conflicting or Compatible: Beliefs about Religion
and Science xAmong Emerging Adults in the United States." Sociological
Forum (2011): 846-866.
Van Woudenberg,
Rene. "Limits of Science and the Christian Faith." Science and
Christian Belief (2013): 129-148.
Yalcinkaya, M.
Alper. "Science as an Ally of Religion: a Muslim Appropriation of 'The
Conflict Thesis'." British Society for the History of Science
(2010): 161-181.
