#58 – Church, science and technology

The first in a series of episode exploring the strained relationship between the church and science

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The church has long had a reputation for being anti-science, even though it was people of faith who built the foundations of the scientific enterprise for millennia. Even in the story of Galileo being tried by the church over the relationship between the earth and sun, there were Christians and scientists on both sides of the debate. The same could be said about the response to Darwin’s new idea about evolution, in The Origin of Species.

However, things changed dramatically when Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism arrived on the scene. That debate over Darwinian evolution was played out again on a global stage in “the Scopes Monkey Trial” in Tennessee in 1925: that incident may also have had Christians and scientists on both sides of the argument, but the loudest and most vocal among the Christians were mostly on only one side.

This episode pits Luke’s science against Boyd’s ethics and philosophy on many points. But we also have theological training, and at one point, Luke starts feeling like he’s playing the role of a Bible-thumper (a rather uncomfortable feeling, I have to say).

First, we talk about how Christianity compared to many other world religions when it comes to its attitude toward science/technology, and four reasons why many Christians can be hesitant or even hostile toward those human endeavors.

Next, we look at whether it’s right to attribute disasters caused by human technology to Genesis chapter 3 and our sinful nature (as many Christians so quickly do), or chalk it up to Genesis chapter 1 and our pathetic inexperience at the job given to us by the Divine. We were left in charge of the planet: commanded to “… subdue the earth and have dominion over all creation …” (or “steward” the planet, for those who prefer that translation of Gen. 1). But we were absolutely unprepared for that grandiose responsibility. We have always been subject to the elements … always lived in fear of things that scurry around at night … were always vulnerable to disease, earthquakes, starvation … have long been mystified by the things that happen all around us, even on a daily basis. If we humans were going to even begin to be able to subdue, have dominion, or steward the planet, we needed to get started on a very steep learning curve. We had to learn more … everything, in fact … about the planet, its inhabitants, and how to apply that knowledge … aka, science and technology.

So: science and technology are part of the Divine plan. And mistakes are part of the learning process.

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