The Case for a Creator - Lee Strobel [37]
I quickly interrupted. “On the contrary,” I said, “when I learned about Darwinism as a student, I was convinced that science and faith were at odds—and that science definitely had the edge in the credibility department. What would you say to someone who believes that science and Christianity are destined to be at war?”
“Well, that’s certainly one way that people have conceptualized the relationship between science and faith,” he said. “Some claim science and faith are fundamentally at odds. Others have said science and faith represent two separate and distinct realms that don’t and can’t interact with each other.
“However, I personally take a third approach, which is that scientific evidence actually supports theistic belief. In fact, across a wide range of the sciences, evidence has come to light in the last fifty years which, taken together, provides a robust case for theism. Only theism can provide an intellectually satisfying causal explanation for all of this evidence.”
“For instance?”
“For instance,” he continued, “if it’s true there’s a beginning to the universe, as modern cosmologists now agree, then this implies a cause that transcends the universe. If the laws of physics are fine-tuned to permit life, as contemporary physicists are discovering, then perhaps there’s a designer who fine-tuned them. If there’s information in the cell, as molecular biology shows, then this suggests intelligent design. To get life going in the first place would have required biological information; the implications point beyond the material realm to a prior intelligent cause.
“Those are just three examples,” he concluded. “And that’s just the beginning.”
THE PROBLEM WITH NOMA
“Isn’t it dangerous to mix science and faith that way?” I asked. “A lot of scientists follow the lead of the late Stephen Jay Gould in saying that science and faith occupy distinctly different ‘magisteria’ or domains.
“He called this philosophy NOMA, which is short for ‘non-overlapping magisteria.’ He said: ‘The net of science covers the empirical universe . . . [while] the net of religion extends over questions of moral meaning and value.’ 9 What’s wrong with having that kind of strong dividing line between the hard facts of science and the soft faith of religion?”
“I think NOMA is partially true,” Meyer said—a concession that surprised me a bit. “There are domains of science that are metaphysically neutral. They answer questions like: ‘How many elements are in the periodic table?’ Or ‘What is the mathematical equation that describes gravitational attraction?’ Or ‘How does nature ordinarily behave under a given set of conditions?’ Questions of this sort don’t affect big worldview issues one way or the other. Some people use Galileo’s old aphorism—‘Science tells you how the heavens go, and the Bible tells you how to go to heaven.’ ”
I jumped in. “That sounds trite, but it does make some sense.”
“Of course,” he said. “There is a sense in which science and religion do have different objects of interest and focus, like the nature of the Trinity on one hand, and what are the elementary particles present at the Big Bang on the other hand.
“However, there are other scientific questions that bear directly on the great worldview issues. For instance, the question of origins. If fully naturalistic models are correct, then theism becomes an unnecessary hypothesis. It’s in these instances where science and metaphysics intersect—where worldview questions are at stake—that it’s impossible to impose the NOMA principle. That’s because what science discovers will inevitably have implications for these larger worldview questions. The only real way to keep the two separate is to subtract from the claims of one or the other.
“You see, NOMA says science is the realm of facts, and religion is the realm of morality and faith. The essential problem is that biblical religion makes very specific claims about facts. It makes claims