Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Can I practice a rant on you guys? (Of course!) It's like a practice argument. I'm just waiting for the opportunity. But since I'm hanging around different folks than I was a few years ago, I may not get the chance to spew, so here it is.

I read in the paper today about the 2 Nobel Physicists who have measured light and temperature readings to prove that the universe did, in fact, begin with a "big bang." I heard my dad, the rocket scientist, talk about their work years ago when it was still underway. He was excited about it back then, as has been the entire scientific community now. The article in the Washington Post said that when these brilliant and hard-working men presented their evidence, the scientific audience gasped and applauded.

I think that's great. I have no problem with this. Here's what I'm bracing for:

Those same religious right wingers who have been bashing scientists and denying scientific evidence are going to love this. They're going to say "I told you so." This is going to irk me. They are going to pick and choose which scientific evidence they are going to believe, when the same scientific research principles have applied to evidence that they think works against their ideas of God. I suppose in a way this is consistent for them, since they also pick and choose which verses in the Bible to support and wave banners about and which ones to ignore.

When I was a science teacher in a local high school, I often wore a cross necklace. Regularly I would have a student question me, "Mrs. E, how can you be a Christian and teach science?" I would tell them what I believe: it's not either/or. Science explains how. Religion explains why. Science just explains the order in which God created things. He was in control no matter how things began or how they will end. I don't know why so many people pit science and religion against each other.

Anyway, the church I attend now does not support the kind of black and white thinking that so irritates me about many Christian churches. So I might not have a conversation about this outside of Blogger.

Thanks for letting me rant.

2 comments:

Mom said...

Rant if you want, but also rejoice with your father. He is part of the scientific team that won the Nobel prize. Today he drank champaigne with his co-workers and celebrated. His supervisor,the lead scientist on the COBE project, has been named a Nobel winner. And Dad was part of it. And yes, he sees the face of God when he looks into the universe.

Tracy said...

It's because of people like your Dad and Caird that helped me see God and science can both be real and true.