Thank you for this post! I've found that science gets at the "how" of the universe and that faith gets at the "why". They're complements, not opposites.
Another great post, Sarah. I also kept my new faith a secret while working as a scientist. But like you, I regretted that, and have tried to atone for that by writing books and articles. One thing I think is important is to counter the very frequent retort by atheists that scientists of faith use a "God of the gaps" approach for evidence of creation or design. This is true for the three creation events you mention. For the origin of life (my own specialty) the fact that there is no known chemical or physical phenomenon that can possibly explain it, is definitely a gap in knowledge, but it is the kind of gap that cannot be filled unless we take an entirely new approach. This has often happened in many fields of science (as you know), including the nature of light and subatomic particles. In the case of life we need to search for agency and purpose, which are outside the domain of standard physical sciences. A creator (of whatever nature) is the only viable solution.
It's shocking to hear a scientist say a creator is the only viable solution to this problem, when it would've been the most obvious answer to scientists 300 years ago.
The God of the gaps accusation is so silly. Kepler, a devout believer, was in a perfect position to resort to that argument when he tried to reconcile the minuscule differences between planetary data and perfectly circular orbits – maybe God just makes it that way to test our faith or he nudges the planets in their orbits. But he persisted, trusting in God's perfection, and his resolution (elliptical orbits) kicked off hundreds of years of progress in physics.
Materialism is matter + motion; unguided, random, purposeless energy acting on matter over time; just stuff happening. Math is conceptual, universal, abstract, invariant, exceptionless. Equations are only representations of the “Law of Mathematics”. The laws exist even if they are not written down. Materialism cannot explain abstract, universal laws like logic, mathematics, and ultimately even scientific laws, as they are based on logic and mathematics.
Then why does the material universe obey the “Laws of Mathematics”?
thank you for sharing this!! having studied biology at university and now entering medical school, this atheistic/secular belief system is so prevalent and it is truly sad to see a lack of Christians in the scientific fields. I hope that we can shine God’s light in these fields instead of being silent (and i resonate with this). thank you for this call to action, to not be embarrassed to share what we believe about our Creator.
I'm not in your field, but I too wish I'd said more about my faith when opportunities presented themselves. There are always reasonable and practical justifications for keeping quiet, but everyone loses.
I can't imagine what that felt like, for your boss to seem okay, even supportive, of your Bible-reading, and then terminate your position like that. At least you got out early before you'd have to make a dramatic, nearly-impossible choice between Jesus and success.
From what I’ve experienced and observed for decades in the corporate world, I think most spiritual folk there tend to view separation of state and religion as germane to the secular work environment too - a prudent tempering of one’s passions as expected in most companies’ codes of conduct. And now more than ever it’s advisable to keep those two aspects of life apart, with the more common ways of getting termination for cause due to having offended someone’s ear with but a mere comment in a work environment setting. So that on the end it’s best to refrain from certain topics - while tabloid news, sports and weather are still permitted to some extent. I enjoyed your writeup here - am just adding some cautionary mention is all. Cheers, Tom
In terms of the world's values, that's the prudent thing to do, and probably many (most?) Christians go along with it for that reason. I certainly did – I had a career to protect.
However, fortune favors the bold.
My brother is no longer atheist but Christian because one of the men in his lab asked if he wanted to join a Bible study. That's all it took.
I'm not suggesting Christians pester their colleagues with unwanted religious conversation, but rather to look for opportunities. When someone asks what you did over the weekend, say you went to church. Maybe that sparks a conversation. Maybe it plants a seed. Who knows?
Jesus said that whoever loses his life for His sake will gain it, but whoever seeks to save his own life will lose it. If we worry first and foremost about protecting the worldly things we value, well... I think about this a lot in the context of what Jesus said. Yes, it's a risk to try to proselytize our colleagues, but why else are we as Christians here?
As I tried to point out in my article, the risk isn't necessarily even that great. As Ecklund observed in her study, many scientists are curious about the faith of their believing colleagues and open to conversation. As with anything, you just have to be discerning about when and how to approach it.
One of my biggest problems with Christians is the constant urge to make converts to Christianity.
As a Pagan, if someone who is seeking religion approaches me, I ask them questions about what they believe and what their values are to try to help them find the best fit for them. I don’t automatically steer them towards my religion. Obviously I believe my theology is true — but there’s no cosmic requirement that people believe the same as me.
I agree that people are hungry for meaning and spiritual fulfillment, but I also think that Christianity has been a major factor in turning people away from religion. Obviously the factors that led to secularism are complex, but among the causes are Christian supremacism which led to white supremacism, colonialism, missionaries, fundamentalist versions of Christianity, and the dullness of a lot of churches.
I’m glad Christianity has provided meaning for you, and I hope that you can find other Christian academics to form community with.
I'm late to the party, but thanks for this. I'm a professor of physics who converted from atheism recently, and I haven't breathed a word about it at work. Substack and church are the only places I talk about it. Your post has me thinking that when I'm more settled in my faith and find a church home, I might be more open about Christianity on campus.
Kepler, thinking he's thinking God's thoughts: great scientist, terrible theologian. "My thoughts are not your thoughts -- except for you Mr. Kepler. You get it, man."
Genesis is not an account of what God did but a story told by men to explain what they thought God did. What he did was make the rules. God is a mathematician. You do not need to be a creationist to be a Christian, indeed you should not be. For a Christian humanity has fallen from what God intended and wanted, for he/she loves us despite our faults and came to suffer and redeem. To suggest that evolution is not the intention of God but that instead he made stuff is not to understand the might and power and love and humanity of God. I think you must be from the US? God's work is all about us but he did not create in the way Genesis says. How he made the universe is beyond our understanding but we can understand how and why it works as it does. And be a Christian but not a creationist.
Thank you for this post! I've found that science gets at the "how" of the universe and that faith gets at the "why". They're complements, not opposites.
Another great post, Sarah. I also kept my new faith a secret while working as a scientist. But like you, I regretted that, and have tried to atone for that by writing books and articles. One thing I think is important is to counter the very frequent retort by atheists that scientists of faith use a "God of the gaps" approach for evidence of creation or design. This is true for the three creation events you mention. For the origin of life (my own specialty) the fact that there is no known chemical or physical phenomenon that can possibly explain it, is definitely a gap in knowledge, but it is the kind of gap that cannot be filled unless we take an entirely new approach. This has often happened in many fields of science (as you know), including the nature of light and subatomic particles. In the case of life we need to search for agency and purpose, which are outside the domain of standard physical sciences. A creator (of whatever nature) is the only viable solution.
It's shocking to hear a scientist say a creator is the only viable solution to this problem, when it would've been the most obvious answer to scientists 300 years ago.
The God of the gaps accusation is so silly. Kepler, a devout believer, was in a perfect position to resort to that argument when he tried to reconcile the minuscule differences between planetary data and perfectly circular orbits – maybe God just makes it that way to test our faith or he nudges the planets in their orbits. But he persisted, trusting in God's perfection, and his resolution (elliptical orbits) kicked off hundreds of years of progress in physics.
Materialism is matter + motion; unguided, random, purposeless energy acting on matter over time; just stuff happening. Math is conceptual, universal, abstract, invariant, exceptionless. Equations are only representations of the “Law of Mathematics”. The laws exist even if they are not written down. Materialism cannot explain abstract, universal laws like logic, mathematics, and ultimately even scientific laws, as they are based on logic and mathematics.
Then why does the material universe obey the “Laws of Mathematics”?
thank you for sharing this!! having studied biology at university and now entering medical school, this atheistic/secular belief system is so prevalent and it is truly sad to see a lack of Christians in the scientific fields. I hope that we can shine God’s light in these fields instead of being silent (and i resonate with this). thank you for this call to action, to not be embarrassed to share what we believe about our Creator.
I'm not in your field, but I too wish I'd said more about my faith when opportunities presented themselves. There are always reasonable and practical justifications for keeping quiet, but everyone loses.
Same thing goes for Hollywood... https://sdgmorgan.substack.com/p/why-didnt-the-dream-work?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1kd7j
I can't imagine what that felt like, for your boss to seem okay, even supportive, of your Bible-reading, and then terminate your position like that. At least you got out early before you'd have to make a dramatic, nearly-impossible choice between Jesus and success.
From what I’ve experienced and observed for decades in the corporate world, I think most spiritual folk there tend to view separation of state and religion as germane to the secular work environment too - a prudent tempering of one’s passions as expected in most companies’ codes of conduct. And now more than ever it’s advisable to keep those two aspects of life apart, with the more common ways of getting termination for cause due to having offended someone’s ear with but a mere comment in a work environment setting. So that on the end it’s best to refrain from certain topics - while tabloid news, sports and weather are still permitted to some extent. I enjoyed your writeup here - am just adding some cautionary mention is all. Cheers, Tom
In terms of the world's values, that's the prudent thing to do, and probably many (most?) Christians go along with it for that reason. I certainly did – I had a career to protect.
However, fortune favors the bold.
My brother is no longer atheist but Christian because one of the men in his lab asked if he wanted to join a Bible study. That's all it took.
I'm not suggesting Christians pester their colleagues with unwanted religious conversation, but rather to look for opportunities. When someone asks what you did over the weekend, say you went to church. Maybe that sparks a conversation. Maybe it plants a seed. Who knows?
Jesus said that whoever loses his life for His sake will gain it, but whoever seeks to save his own life will lose it. If we worry first and foremost about protecting the worldly things we value, well... I think about this a lot in the context of what Jesus said. Yes, it's a risk to try to proselytize our colleagues, but why else are we as Christians here?
As I tried to point out in my article, the risk isn't necessarily even that great. As Ecklund observed in her study, many scientists are curious about the faith of their believing colleagues and open to conversation. As with anything, you just have to be discerning about when and how to approach it.
One of my biggest problems with Christians is the constant urge to make converts to Christianity.
As a Pagan, if someone who is seeking religion approaches me, I ask them questions about what they believe and what their values are to try to help them find the best fit for them. I don’t automatically steer them towards my religion. Obviously I believe my theology is true — but there’s no cosmic requirement that people believe the same as me.
I agree that people are hungry for meaning and spiritual fulfillment, but I also think that Christianity has been a major factor in turning people away from religion. Obviously the factors that led to secularism are complex, but among the causes are Christian supremacism which led to white supremacism, colonialism, missionaries, fundamentalist versions of Christianity, and the dullness of a lot of churches.
I’m glad Christianity has provided meaning for you, and I hope that you can find other Christian academics to form community with.
I'm late to the party, but thanks for this. I'm a professor of physics who converted from atheism recently, and I haven't breathed a word about it at work. Substack and church are the only places I talk about it. Your post has me thinking that when I'm more settled in my faith and find a church home, I might be more open about Christianity on campus.
Kepler, thinking he's thinking God's thoughts: great scientist, terrible theologian. "My thoughts are not your thoughts -- except for you Mr. Kepler. You get it, man."
The problem with the bible starts after Genesis 1:1, 1:21, 1:27) when it delves into the Garden story
and blames US for causing the problem in the first place.
Genesis is not an account of what God did but a story told by men to explain what they thought God did. What he did was make the rules. God is a mathematician. You do not need to be a creationist to be a Christian, indeed you should not be. For a Christian humanity has fallen from what God intended and wanted, for he/she loves us despite our faults and came to suffer and redeem. To suggest that evolution is not the intention of God but that instead he made stuff is not to understand the might and power and love and humanity of God. I think you must be from the US? God's work is all about us but he did not create in the way Genesis says. How he made the universe is beyond our understanding but we can understand how and why it works as it does. And be a Christian but not a creationist.
I believe Genesis is fully compatible with modern science. That's what put me on the path to Christianity.
What nonsense James. To be a Christian NECESSITATES being some sort of creationist. And God is now a he/she? Good grief.