Top Science Developments Of 2014 And Bridging Science And Faith

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• Renowned Scientist Says Science, Religion Don’t Need To Be At Odds

  Sometimes it seems like it isn’t possible to be both a person of faith and a strong supporter of science.

  But, for Bassam Shakhashiri, that isn’t the case. He is a professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and past president of the American Chemical Society. He said he doesn’t think both subjects have to be in conflict.

  “It doesn’t have to be that way. … Science and religion are based on different aspects of human experience,” Shakhashiri said.

  Shakhashiri said he believes there’s aspects of the two that fit together.

  “I think there is great compatibility between science and religion. Science is not the only way of knowing and understanding. But, in science, the ways of knowing differ from other ways because we depend on empirical evidence and testable, verifiable explanations.”

  Shakhashiri pointed to recent comments made by Pope Francis about the human role in climate change as a hopeful development in bringing those two forces together for progress. The Vatican is currently at work on a papal encyclical on the environment and global warming, Shakhashiri said. It is due to be released midway through 2015, and for him, it is a major development in bringing science and faith together.

  Shakhashiri offered another example of an effort to bring religion and science into alignment as well. It’s a task force working to reform the opportunities for scientific research and the teaching of science in Muslim universities around the world.

  “This is a fundamental change in approach. We live in an age of enlightenment, and religious leaders — not just Christian leaders, but Muslim leaders, Jewish leaders, Buddhist leaders — are all calling attention to the dire need that we have to address environmental issues and in particular, climate change,” Shakhashiri said. This coming together for the good of the planet is critical, he said.

  In the end, Shakhashiri said he prefers to see science and religion as complementary rather than at odds. They will not always be able to be in agreement, he said, but the points of commonality and the mutually-held values are more useful to focus on.

  “Science and religion are the strongest forces in society. Not only today, but they have been for ages. And I think bringing thoughtful people together to respectfully discuss the different domains and how science and religion view them, we’ll find a great deal of compatibility,” Shakhashiri said.

  Shakhashiri continued, “I think any attempt to put science and religion against each other creates an unnecessary controversy that no one really needs and that doesn’t contribute to respecting each other, believers and non-believers. It does not contribute to understanding the nature of human interaction and the all-important respect that we have for each other for the environment that we belong to.”