Science and Sprituality

I've been thinking about the relationship between science and religion since high school. It's one of those things I've had to contemplate considering my Anthropology background as well as my very Christian upbringing. I didn't come to a completely satisfying reconciliation of the two until this summer. This summer, I went to Creation Fest (basically Woodstock for Christians) back in June. While there I was talking to my sister-in-law about my future plans, namely getting my Masters of Science in Evolutionary Anthropology. She said "Whoa, be careful of who you tell that to around here, there are definitely a lot of Creationists". To which I replied "Ok, that's fine, but I'm not going to be afraid to talk about my own beliefs." It's not that I don't believe in Creationism, I do. I do not think the two are mutually exclusive.

The Bible was written for a very specific group of people. It's full of bizarre laws and coded stories-- laws that helped them be sanitary when sanitation was not yet conceived of, laws that set them apart from other peoples so that they were able to create their own, specific culture. Laws that we no longer need. But those laws and stories were completely relevant for the people it was written for. Relevancy is my main point for why there is no mention of evolution in Genesis, at least not overtly. The Creation story is a Creation story, one in a long line of Creation stories that can be found in any culture. I do think it is true, but not literally. Why did God create the world in 7 days? Why not in just one? Why, since He's God, and we all know that his time is not constrained by ours, did He operate within the very human time of hours and days? He probably didn't. But how can someone who can't even comprehend running water and soap understand that God created the world over tens of thousands of years? Like you would to a child, God simplified things. If a person's basic understand of science is severely lacking, you simplify things. And anyway, it's not relevant. Why complicate things with an elaborate story of development and evolution when you can simplify it by saying "I created everything in this order". And yes, God did create everything in that order, but not that simply. Why must God fit into a cookie-cutter bedtime story instead of a much more elaborate and complex system that God set in motion?

Let me ask you: are you the same Christian today that you were when you were confirmed (substitute in any other sort of promise to God you made, or to your specific Diety)? I know I'm not. As a Christian, I've grown and developed. I've done Bible study, messed up, and been challenged throughout my life. I'd wager that most people change in different ways to deepen their faith throughout their life. Is God absent from this development? Or is He there to help you along the way and challenge you to cause you to grow? I think we all agree He does these things. Why is it so hard to believe that just as He helps us develop as Christians, He also directed our development as a species? I have no problem imagining a God who snapped His fingers, initiating the Big Bang, and then watched over the Earth, tweaking it here and there, helping it along the way, until we arrived on the planet. He still created everything, but in a much more complex way, beyond our complete comprehension, as it is with most of what God does. It's a little arrogant, I think, to think that you completely understand the creation of the Earth because God dumbed it down into just a simple story.

In the Dalai Lama's book The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality (from where I got my title), he says, "Given that my own intellectual training is in Buddhist thought, naturally I have often wondered about the interface of key Buddhist concepts and major scientific ideas...Having heard of my interest in science and my active engagement in dialogue with scientists, she warned me of the danger science poses to the survival of Buddhism. She told me that history attest to the face that science is the 'killer' of religion...By taking this personal journey into science, I suppose I have stuck my neck out. My confidence in veturing into science lies in my basic belief that as in science so in Buddhism, understanding the nature of reality is pursued by means of critical investigation: if scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims in Buddhism to be false, then we must accept the findings of science and abandon those claims" (my emphasis). Science helps us to better understand the complexities of the Bible and read between the lines, not refute everything or even anything it contains.

God understands all, He can comprehend the infinite. We, however, cannot. I think we are slowly learning more about God by learning more about our universe through Science. God is not confined by the literal meaning of the stories in the Bible. And I guess that's the point.