Skip to content

Faith and Science – a match made in heaven

Faith and Science – a match made in heaven

88 Beautiful Science - socials

One may say the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility” – Albert Einstein

The more we learn about the world, the more we learn how it operates according to elegant laws. There is an order to the universe that betrays the “randomness” often assumed. It would seem faith in God and the ongoing voyage of scientific discovery are a match made in heaven.

The beautiful order of science is what has driven millions of scientists –  theist and atheist, alike – on their quest to better understand the complexity of creation and answer the eternal question; is there intelligence behind it all?

It should come as no surprise that many experts across a range of fields – from biology to quantum physics, mathematics to environmental science and everything in between – have a belief in a creator.

Rather than provide a substitute for the divine, science – for many – has in fact confirmed a wondrous and undeniable systematic order of the universe, inferring a creator.

The supposed “war” between faith and Science – propagated by celebrity speakers and scientists on both sides of the theistic fence – is something that Andrew Briggs (currently inaugural Chair of Nanomaterials at the University of Oxford with over 600 publications and 28,000 citations to his name) believes is the ultimate brouhaha. 

“The idea of conflict is scarcely relevant in the majority world,” he said, speaking on episode 88 of the Undeceptions podcast.

“There are much more important issues to address (like) how can science help with issues like physical and mental healthcare? How can it help with vaccine hesitancy and vaccine inequity? How can it address issues of water security and food security?”

However, while many of the white coat heroes working away tirelessly in labs may have moved on from the debate, culture sadly seems to have not.

“I don’t think (faith and reason) are reconcilable” celebrity scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson said, speaking to journalist Bill Moyers in 2014.

“All efforts that have been invested by brilliant people of the past have failed in that exercise. They just fail. The track record is so poor that going forward I have near zero confidence that it would be fruitful things to emerge from the effort to reconcile them.”

For Professor Briggs, nothing could be further from the truth.

“You can’t do science without faith. You can’t live your life without faith. It’s just not possible,” he said.

“You have to believe that there is something to be understood. There is some order in the universe (and) it does obey equations. 

“The deeper that I go into science, and I think many of my colleagues should find this too, the more I felt find it’s fascinating in itself. It’s beautiful, it’s wonderful in itself, but also the more I find it calls us to something beyond itself.

“(However) It is perfectly possible for someone who does not have faith in an underpinning God to do excellent science. That’s a matter of empirical observation.”

“I don’t think faith and science can be reconciled” – Neil deGrasse Tyson

Re-writing the history books

Contrary to popular opinion, theism and science have for centuries walked hand in hand when it came to uncovering the rich complexity of creation.

During the Middle Ages, the church set up the first universities, institutions exclusively dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what was known about the world. It was from these halls that the common scientific method was developed; systematic observation, measurement and experiment, formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.

Galileo Galilei, René Descartes, Jean Buridan, and Robert Grosseteste were but a handful of brilliant scientists to emerge from this era, going on to change the course of history through their discoveries – all while working as Priests or holding positions of leadership within the church. 

Indeed even Sir Isaac Newton – arguably the most celebrated scientist in human history – was convinced that a creator held the universe together the deeper he went into his groundbreaking work.

“This most elegant system of the sun, planets, and comets could not have arisen without the design and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being,” he once wrote

“And if the fixed stars are the centres of similar systems, they will all be constructed according to a similar design and subject to the dominion of the One … And so that the system of the fixed stars will not fall upon one another as a result of their gravity, he has placed them at immense distances from one another.”

Isaac Newton | Biography, Facts, Discoveries, Laws, & Inventions | Britannica

While certainly unorthodox, Isaac Newton maintained belief in intelligent design his whole life

Much has been written on the “separation” between science and the church.

Events such as The Reformation, the Enlightenment, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and even the French Revolution all exist as flashpoints for the culture wars between science and the church.

However, as John Dickson points out on the Undeceptions podcast, the church – or should we say faith and science have always been intimately connected. Indeed, one can’t exist without the other.

“People often say that the more scientists discover, the more theism has to retreat … but the opposite is true,” says John.

“It’s precisely because the universe displays rational order, from the particle to the cosmos, that so many people are convinced the whole thing comes from a Beautiful Mind. 

“Science could only undermine the classical arguments for God if it stopped uncovering the deep rational order of the universe. But, then, that would undermine science itself, since the premise of science is that the universe is rationally explicable. Any scientific argument against God would backfire. 

“So, it seems that science and theism are intimately tethered.”

By Alasdair Belling, adapted from the Undeceptions episode ‘Beautiful Science’

UN Logo-RGB-enLarged

Want to be further undeceived? 
Check out our network of podcasts and articles in the Undeceptions Library.

Faith and science - a match made in heaven

UNDECEPTIONS SINGLE SERIES

SUBSCRIBE TO UNDECEPTIONS PODCAST

SEND US  A QUESTION

Oh boy, does John love questions. So don’t be afraid to send them in. At the end of each season we dedicate an episode or two for John to answer all your burning questions about Christianity. Want to know something more about a previous episode? Or perhaps you’ve got a question about faith that you’ve been struggling to find an answer for?
Let us know here.

or send us an email

Back To Top
Become an Undeceiver