Faith, Science, and Departementalization: Part One

“We can use logic and reason to suppose the existence of God, but where does that Logic and reason come from? Aquinas argues that God is the source of those particular gifts. We can and should use our rational thinking to observe the Revelation of God, but, ultimately, it will always take His Grace to help us begin to understand the Truth of God. This means that there is a limit to the human intellect, and, by virtue of Faith, we should always acquiesce to His mystery.”

Right now I am facilitating an online class that discusses the “conflict” between Faith and science. I put “conflict” in quotes because one of the main theses of the class is that the debate between Faith and science is largely fabricated. It is not an ancient battle between progressive, humanistic scientists the conservative, ignorant Christians. Nor is it a battle between righteous and Faithful followers of Jesus and sinful and atheistic unbelievers. In fact, the conflict is mostly a modern phenomenon, and, if we look at the actual history involved, we see a synthetic fabrication of discord which derives almost entirely from ego on the part of scientists (a term first used in the 1820’s) and religious who were (and may still be) afraid that their beliefs are threatened. The quote above is in reference to how the Catholic Church, theologically and practically, seems to recognize the relationship between Faith and science. It is not a relationship of one serving another. It is not even a relationship of Faith sometimes and science other times. It is not a dualist ideology. Instead, like so many things in Catholic theology, it is a question of relationship and dialogue between two seemingly opposite voices. Many people do not like to hear this, but I tell them that even if there was a real conflict between Faith and science (and, again, Catholic theology shows us ample evidence that there is no real historical evidence that of this being any kind of theological or True reality), our focus should not be who us right or wrong.  Instead, even more important than rightness and wrongness is the relationship between people with apparently differing views. This is Trinitarian theology; we should not be overly concerned with proving or disproving our beliefs or the beliefs of others; we should be concerned with developing relationships with each other so that, despite our beliefs, we can still create a community in which we can Love and be Loved. This plays heavily into the Catholic classroom.

St. Rose Philippine Duschesne dialogues with a Potawatami woman. Despite apparent differences, their dialogue creates space for them to Love and to be Loved. Duschesne Academy in Omaha, Nebraska (photo P. Smith)

            Like it or not, the context from which our students come is accented by a narrative of Faith versus Science. Even if this narrative is fictional, we cannot neglect this perceived reality. In fact, it is not just our students who are influenced by this narrative; the entire education system in modern American culture seems to be “departmentalized” and separated from within. I have dealt with teachers before who seemed to think that there was some sort of a competition between departments. In some cases, it would come to “badmouthing” or degrading other departments or classes. I am not just referring to a science teacher telling their class to “have fun learning about fairy tales” as students made their way to theology class (actual quote); I have also witnessed theology teachers telling their students that some of the science or literature or art they were learning was “evil” or “atheistic”. This sort of language is contentious and it prevents dialogue. The focus of this kind of language is ego. In particular, the motivation for a teacher talking in this way is to “prove” or “justify” their own discipline or work. This language almost never works to “convert” or evangelize the student. Instead, it forms “camps” of thought and belief, and those camps almost never learn to communicate with each other.

            (I will continue this blog in a few days!)