All this leads me to wonder, “how can we fix this?” How can scientists and aspiring scientists who are also religious, speak up in such a way that we speak to people who’ve been raised to distrust science and scientists? How can we work to close the apparent chasm between science and faith? How can we fight against the stereotypes that make Christians seem stupid and backwards, and scientists seem arrogant and unapproachable? 

Personally, I don’t have the answers to any of those questions. I’ve spent this entire summer, so far, wrestling with those questions intensely for a project in one of my college classes. But, the topic of “science vs faith” has been bothering me since middle school, at least. 

In fact, the perceived incompatibility between faith and science was what led to me completely deconstructing my faith till there was nothing left, then rebuilding it from scratch. I suspect the perceived incompatibility between science and faith has caused many, many people to leave religion in the dust, some of whom have never- and will never- look back. 

To be continued... maybe...

The paper that sparked this blog:

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226826