Destroying the Rock and the Hard Place: Creating a Middle Ground for Religion and Science

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.