… then how can science and faith be in conflict?

Some people think that science and faith cannot coexist.  I don’t buy that position, because I think they are different spheres that meet but do not overlap; the term some people use is “non-overlapping magisteria.” (Gould’s formulation is imperfect, but essentially correct.)

Science is knowledge that pursues understanding using observation and reasoning. It SHOULD produce humility, because there is no end to observation and no reasoning is ever perfect; there is always more to consider.  Conclusions are always provisional; such is the nature of infinity, right?  All observers should conclude that 2+2=4, but that’s hardly all there is to mathematics.  And when you compare observations at the quantum level …

Faith is knowledge that pursues understanding using observation of things that go beyond reasoning.  There IS reasoning in faith, but faith by nature inquires of and observes things that differ greatly from observer to observer.  Faith should produce humility, because no God worth worshipping is ever really understood; “we’re just goldfish, trying to explain the ocean,” as the great Steve Brown has said.

Anyway.  Over at Jesus Creed, RJS has been posting a series on the book, Religion vs. Science.  The entire series is worth reading and thinking through, as is everything else on Jesus Creed.