Note: I survived my first week of the semester, and I’m a bit salty about re-taking Chemistry 1 (even though it was entirely my choice, as I passed the class last semester). So, I’m gonna shamelessly go after my private Christian school’s ludicrous views on science… again. 

Despite all of the political bullshit that has gone on this year (so far), I am still attending university in-person in downtown Denver. Moreover, I’m studying Biology- a scientific study whose basis relies entirely on the Theory of Evolution. 

Those who know me know that I attended a tiny, private Christian school for exactly one year in high school. Despite advertising themselves as “nondenominational”, I quickly discovered that school was anything but nondenominational. Unfortunately, I couldn’t switch schools because my parents had already paid my tuition in full for that year, and the school refused to refund any of it. 

Very long story short, that school broke whatever was left of the Christian faith I’d retained from childhood. They taught Young Earth Creationism (YEC)- the idea that earth is only around 6,000 years old, and God killed the dinosaurs and carved the Grand Canyon with Noah’s flood some 4,000 years ago- like it was gospel. In fact, they accused Christians who rejected YEC of not actually being Christians, and spent all of my “Chemistry” class in that school trying to “prove” that evolution was wrong, and Darwin was burning in hell for “deceiving” so many people. 

I wish I was exaggerating, but this was the same school that had us watch Trump’s Inauguration into his first term live, while feeding us red, white, and blue cupcakes and making us pray for him in front of the American flag on National Flag Day. 

Needless to say, I’m still very salty about my experiences at that Christian school. Though, in hindsight, I can’t exactly say that I regret going there. Though that’s another topic for another day. 

It took me many years, and tons and tons of research and reflection, to come to the few conclusions I’ve come to regarding faith and science. One of those being:

You can be a devout Christian and fully accept the Theory of Evolution. 

To most people, that point seems obvious. Religious people of all kinds can (and do) effortlessly reconcile their faith with the current understanding of science. However, to folks like me who grew up in a fundamentalist, evangelical church, we can’t be Christians and scientists. We must be one or the other. 

That perceived conflict basically sums up the “great debate” between Christians and atheists, particularly here in the States. 

On the very first day of my Introduction to Evolution class this semester, my professor addressed this “problem” head-on. 

“You can be religious and a scientist, at the same time!” she assured us. “That said, there are some very glaring conflicts between religion and science if you take everything in your religious texts absolutely literally.”

From there, my professor began to go over a brief history of evolutionary thought, ending with a Biologist called Theodosius Dobzhansky. 

“In 1973,” my professor began, “Dr. Dobzhansky wrote an essay which he titled, ‘Nothing makes sense in Biology except for in light of evolution’. He wrote this to critique Young Earth Creationism, and instead argue in favor of the idea that God made the universe and everything in it via evolution… as you can see, you can be both religious and an awesome scientist.”

While I’ve known that for years at this point, it still sent shivers down my spine to hear a professor- a self-proclaimed atheist professor at that- assure me that I could retain my faith and be a scientist, too. 

After all, for almost my entire life, I grew up being told that I couldn’t be a scientist, and also be a Christian. This sentiment was drilled into my brain by both pastors and atheist scientists alike, as well as by people in the churches I've attended. This includes even my own family.

Even today, I often hear that science and Christianity are completely oppositional to one another, especially as political tensions boil over between MAGA republicans and everyone else. 

Logically, I know that isn’t true. Logically, I understand that science and Christianity are anything but oppositional to each other. Emotionally, however, I still can’t help but worry that I’m doing something wrong by being a devout Christian, and also a diehard Biology major who's technically already a published scientist. 

This emotional rift- this irrational fear- explains why even today, I question whether or not I belong at university. 

So… how might I overcome that “irrational fear” of being both a Christian and a Biologist? To put it differently, how might I reconcile my faith with science, so that I am comfortable calling myself both a scientist and a Christian?

The first step (and often the hardest step) is to recognize that, while the conflict itself is irrational, it is still a very real conflict. It’s an irrational conflict because there really isn’t a legitimate, rational, logical reason as to why science and faith can’t go hand-in-hand.

To me (and many others), science can answer our “how” questions about the natural world, while faith can answer all of the “why” questions about the natural (and supernatural) world. Clearly, those things don’t oppose each other, but instead complement each other very well. The “conflicts” between science and faith don’t show up until ideology is introduced. 

It’s perfectly reasonable and reconcilable to believe that God created the universe, and that we can study the universe to figure out how God made it. But, the second that an idea such as “Biblical Literalism” is introduced, suddenly, there are some serious conflicts between science and faith. 

Some people respond to that by becoming atheists/agnostics. Others dig their heels into Biblical Literalism and deny modern science’s views on evolution and the age of the earth. 

Then, there are people like me; those who initially lose their faith in God entirely and become atheists, only to later come back to God having reconstructed and reconciled their faith. 

For the record, the process of deconstructing then reconstructing my faith was anything but easy or fun. I can understand why so many people would rather just remain an atheist or a fundamentalist Christian, instead of dive, head first, into college-level Theology, Hermeneutics, and Science. 

But, for reasons I can’t really put into words, I felt that I had no other choice but to dig deep into that stuff. So… I did. 

To be continued...