Not friends after all?
October 11, 2010
Jerry Coyne of the University of Chicago, a scientist and former believer has finally settled the debate between science and Christianity. It seems that the two cannot be friends after all. Of course Dr. Coyne's presupposition is that religious faith is hopelessly nonsensical. His religious fervor is devoted to his preferred worldview which has no space for a God to whom he must give account. This is nothing new of course. Richard Dawkins sees the same incompatibility. But in light of the folks at Biologos wanting to give away the store in order to please the high priests of scientism I found Coyne's words instructive.
As a scientist and a former believer, I see this as bunk. Science and faith are fundamentally incompatible, and for precisely the same reason that irrationality and rationality are incompatible. They are different forms of inquiry, with only one, science, equipped to find real truth. And while they may have a dialogue, it’s not a constructive one. Science helps religion only by disproving its claims, while religion has nothing to add to science.
You see, it is not so much that Coyne and his ilk reject the biblical creation account but that they reject the first four words of the Bible. Under the tutelage of Biologos we can give away Genesis 1-11, most of the Old Testament, and even key parts of the New Testament and scientific opinion-makers still will not be satisfied. They will not allow us into their club until we reject "in the beginning God".
