There is a conflict between Faith and Science! Really? Not from the angle of Faith, namely the Catholic Faith. The Catholic Faith has no fear of science. Why are people of science fearful of the Faith? Ah, some will say they are not afraid of Faith. Why not present the whole truth, history between Faith and Science then?! Perhaps, it would be good for us to consider just a few points.
God is the creator of the spiritual and physical world. As people of faith, there is no worry that science will discredit and/or contradict God’s existence and all His tenets. Why should there be any conflict between the spiritual and physical world if they have the same Author?
If one does not admit God’s existence, how did matter that breaks down and vanishes exist? The ‘pure’ evolutionist will say it was some sort of release of energy – call it a ‘Big Bang’ – that brought matter into existence and started evolution. Hmmm. There’s a problem rooted in the faith of the evolutionist. Yes, I said ‘faith of the evolutionist.’ What caused the Big Bang if not a Being that exists outside of it and is not dependent any other power for existence? What caused that release of energy? Where did the initial matter come from that blew up? It did not get there on its own! Again, something outside of the material world had to have created it. In both cases the evolutionist has faith, belief without seeing, because he believes in these things without proof! Every evolutionist has faith, just a blind faith. (We should not forget that the author of the Big Bang Theory was a Catholic priest, Fr. Georges Lemaitre. He attempted to show that God could have created the universe using a Big Bang!)
But, the Catholic Church has been anti-science! It silenced Galileo when he taught the truth of the solar system revolving around the sun rather than the earth. Yes, there were some clerics who overreached their bounds with Galileo. But, was it because of the subject of his teaching? Let’s not forget who Galileo followed in his thought of a heliocentric solar system. Copernicus taught the same roughly a century before Galileo. He was not disciplined by the Catholic Church. Actually, do you Copernicus’ full name? Nicholas Copernicus. Father Nicholas Copernicus was a Catholic priest!
For those of you who are Star Trek devotees, what is the name of the captain in the ‘Next Generation’ Star Trek? Jean Picard? Fictional? He is not a fictional character totally. He was a Catholic priest in the 1600s who developed the standard method for measuring the right ascension of a celestial object. The ‘Picard’ mission, an orbiting solar observatory, was named after him. Coincidence?
There have been thousands of faithful Catholics who have contributed to and been involved in science throughout the centuries. It is dishonest and ignorant to claim otherwise. Today, as we remember the Three Wise Men whose study of the stars led them to Jesus, God, may we be led to Jesus by our study of science.
God bless FRVW
