I write as a Christian who has worked at both a natural science museum and
an aquarium, where most of my colleagues have come from various scientific
backgrounds (my own is in art) and I have frequently been the only person in
my department who has a strong faith in God and creationism as illustrated
by the Bible.  In my years working in the scientific community what has
saddened me most is the need for everyone (and I don't use this
generalization lightly) to separate the ideologies into either "creationism"
or "evolution"; to separate religion from science, and vise versa.  Somehow,
especially in the latter half of the twentieth century, it became the norm
to assume that if one followed the discipline of science, one could not also
have a definite belief in God, because the one negated the other.
Extremists in both camps have polarized the two even further so that now we
are forced to side ourselves on a debate begun by ignorance - from both
viewpoints mind you - instead of looking at the issue in a three dimensional
way, with a true discourse informing our opinions.  I am a Christian, of
devout faith, who believes that the world and its inhabitants have evolved
since their inception.  I teach students of sharks millions of years old, of
continents separated over eons, of adaptations by various animals to their
environments.  I teach these things not because I have to, but because I
believe them, because I believe that God created a universe infinitely more
complex than any man could hope to explain.  Millions, billions of years.  I
do not know.  What matters most is the origin.

Many major discoveries in science have been by men and women with a deep
faith in their god, in their creator.  Sir Isaac Newton, a devout Christian,
considered his spiritual writings vastly superior to his scientific ones.
Einstein felt that his theories were but a reflection of God's truth.
Kepler.  Pasteur.  Boyle.  Learned people who sought to explain God's word,
not to deny it.  I have a friend who is a believer and a chemist, a man who
looks at this life in its most elemental forms, who is baffled by this
separation that we have created and angered by the suggestion that to
believe in Christ is to be either an unintelligent buffoon or a sheepish
regurgitator.  I agree.  I have seen the label "educated" worn as a defense
by men and women who profess to be enlightened in the ways of the world who
could not explain to me even the most rudimentary of scientific theories.
Yet these same people will entrench themselves on the side of "science" when
it is mentioned in the same breath as religion, without an understanding of
either side's position.  And yes, I have also known Christians who, after
proclaiming themselves open-minded and worldly, will refuse to accompany me
to an art exhibition because the art in question does not fit into their
notion of what art should be - paintings of lambs and landscapes.  But such
is the way when living in a fallen and divided world:  we have become a
people whose first purpose is to drown out the other's voice before we seek
to hear it.  The question we should ask ourselves in this debate is not who
is wrong, but why are we not willing to listen?  Are we so afraid of what we
might hear?  I should hope not.


Adrian Perez

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