by Pasquale Bottiglieri

Created on: April 22, 2010   Last Updated: May 07, 2010

Let me start by rephrasing the question? How can I possibly reconcile belief in a God that created the universe with the scientific method? 

Richard Feynman said that each additional law uncovered by science would, in addition to enhancing the body of existing, provable knowledge, expand the circumference of the unknown. Isaac Asimov stated that the scientific method operates in the absence of revelation and intuition. A master heart surgeon I am acquainted with said that he prayed before, during and after every one of his operations.

One issue common to all living things is death. I am now in my 70th year and, as yet, I have not seen any data concerning a life after death produced solely by the scientific method. I see the scriptures as a product of hope and logic based in the human need to make sense of and somehow rise above the challenges of human existence, in effect to overcome the fear of inevitable death. While I do not hold with the belief that the scriptures are the words of a God, I do accept and respect the scriptures as a valid human attempt to seek a higher level of thinking. 

I would prefer not to enter the arena of conflict with the organized religions of our time other than to mention that, in my opinion, the base of any conflict that may exist in the acceptance of Darwinism stems from its predictable impact on existing scriptural dogma. A favorite author of mine references this point. Robert Ruark, in describing Kenya’s turbulent history, quoted a time worn Basuto proverb. “If a man does away with his traditional way of living and throws away his good customs, he had better first make certain that he has something of value to replace them.” A person long steeped in the scripture based beliefs of the many large scale organized religious communities will be hard pressed to allow those beliefs to be challenged fundamentally by scientific theory. Realizing that, I understand the reticence of the fundamentalist community to accept Darwinism in any measure. At the same time, I am thankful that I do not fall in that category. 

I reconcile my belief in a power that created the universe with the research and writing of Darwin and the rest of the scientific community by following Asimov's advice. I see that my faith is based in intuition and hope while my understanding of life on earth is based in the scientific method. I see that these two intellectual structures, faith based in hope and logic based in observable fact, are separate and distinct from each other. I see that if I wish to grow, I have no choice but to accept, in fact embrace, that dichotomy. In order to do that, I must, as Richard Feynman implied, accept the limitations of human intelligence in general and the scientific method specifically. 

It was difficult for me to escape the boundaries of what Freud described as ego in realizing and accepting that I am not the center of the universe. It was equally difficult for me to step away from the stringently monitored religious and cultural boundaries into which I was born. I do not describe the power of the universe as a God but rather as an unknowable entity outside the realm of human thought, embraceable only through hope and faith in that hope. 

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