Two ways science and faith can coexist:
#1 - A Christian might believe that science gets at the empirical facts which hold unless God plays a wild card. If the Christian is committed to believing in miracles, then he only has to believe that God suspended the empirical facts at those times. The Christian practices science for those times when no wild card is in play while remaining open to the possibility that God might for his own purposes play a wildcard at any moment.
#2 - A Christian may remain committed to the importance of maintaining a relationship with God while reading the entire bible symbolically. Such a Christian could admit to not knowing exactly what God is, what He's done or what he want us to do. Being uncommitted to any holy wild cards, such a Christian could participate in science as a functional material physicalist.
I think #1 is more common. It might be what accounts for scientists like Francis Collins. Anyone know if #2 actually exists anywhere besides my imagination?
#1 - A Christian might believe that science gets at the empirical facts which hold unless God plays a wild card. If the Christian is committed to believing in miracles, then he only has to believe that God suspended the empirical facts at those times. The Christian practices science for those times when no wild card is in play while remaining open to the possibility that God might for his own purposes play a wildcard at any moment.
#2 - A Christian may remain committed to the importance of maintaining a relationship with God while reading the entire bible symbolically. Such a Christian could admit to not knowing exactly what God is, what He's done or what he want us to do. Being uncommitted to any holy wild cards, such a Christian could participate in science as a functional material physicalist.
I think #1 is more common. It might be what accounts for scientists like Francis Collins. Anyone know if #2 actually exists anywhere besides my imagination?
