Faith in Science
Faith in Science
With increasing scientific breakthrough due to better technology, the understanding of the origin of life seems to be on the verge of scientific fact rather than theory. Because of this, well-educated scientists seem to think that those who hold on to religious beliefs are un-educated or just set in their ways, unwilling to see the truth before them. It may seem to many in the scientific community that a belief in God is not only inappropriate, but unwelcome. But because scientists agree that scientific fact is always up for debate, there is always room for God in science.
In order to have room for God in science, it is important to understand the background behind religion. Documented history tells us polytheism is where religion began. The belief of multiple Gods was all that existed until Christianity began in ancient Rome with Jesus Christ (from 4 B.C.E.-30 C.E.) Jesus taught that “Gods true kingdom was to be found not on earth but in heaven.” (Hunt, Lynn, Martin, Rosenwein, & Smith 191) The ultimate crucifixion and martyrdom of Jesus was the solidification of Christianity. Constantine further entrenched Christianity when he had a dream about Jesus’ cross on the sun, (his current God at the time was the sun God) which he interpreted as: with Jesus you will be victorious. Constantine killed opposition in Jesus name, and being victorious, furthered that Jesus was on his side and Christianity began to flourish. Scientific history although more recent, is best known by its contributions by specific scientists. Newton’s “Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica” (The mathematical principles of natural philosophy), appeared in 1687. His three “laws of motion” soon became the basis of all future work in physics. (Ayala 321) Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist in the mid 1700’s who developed the Linnaean Taxonomy which divides and categorizes plant and animals into subgroups; “Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.”
With increasing scientific breakthrough due to better technology, the understanding of the origin of life seems to be on the verge of scientific fact rather than theory. Because of this, well-educated scientists seem to think that those who hold on to religious beliefs are un-educated or just set in their ways, unwilling to see the truth before them. It may seem to many in the scientific community that a belief in God is not only inappropriate, but unwelcome. But because scientists agree that scientific fact is always up for debate, there is always room for God in science.
In order to have room for God in science, it is important to understand the background behind religion. Documented history tells us polytheism is where religion began. The belief of multiple Gods was all that existed until Christianity began in ancient Rome with Jesus Christ (from 4 B.C.E.-30 C.E.) Jesus taught that “Gods true kingdom was to be found not on earth but in heaven.” (Hunt, Lynn, Martin, Rosenwein, & Smith 191) The ultimate crucifixion and martyrdom of Jesus was the solidification of Christianity. Constantine further entrenched Christianity when he had a dream about Jesus’ cross on the sun, (his current God at the time was the sun God) which he interpreted as: with Jesus you will be victorious. Constantine killed opposition in Jesus name, and being victorious, furthered that Jesus was on his side and Christianity began to flourish. Scientific history although more recent, is best known by its contributions by specific scientists. Newton’s “Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica” (The mathematical principles of natural philosophy), appeared in 1687. His three “laws of motion” soon became the basis of all future work in physics. (Ayala 321) Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist in the mid 1700’s who developed the Linnaean Taxonomy which divides and categorizes plant and animals into subgroups; “Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.”
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