The Science of God

In the movie “The Truth About Cats and Dogs,” Ben Chaplin (Brian) gives Uma Thurman (Noelle) “Simone de Beauvoir’s Letters to Jean-Paul Sartre,” and being a pretty but dumb girl, she tells him she needs to read the book with a dictionary to understand the big words. I find myself in the same situation now, not because I’m pretty or dumb, but because I picked “The Science of God” at the library, and it isn’t an easy read.

I was born and raised inside a very Catholic family, with strong religious values, and the conviction of a Creator. When I decided to study Biology and took my first Evolution class, I started doubting what I was taught by my parents, the church and the nuns I went to school with. I had a notion Darwin’s Evolution Theory, which was always dismissed as being completely insane. But when I learnt more about it, and I started getting straight A’s thanks to the essays I wrote, I began to believe more and more, and being a scientist-wannabe I took that side of the story. Not without feeling guilty, though.

Over the years I’ve been trying to conciliate my Catholic values with my scientific knowledge. I’ve been struggling because somehow I ended up believing that they were exclusive, or that I was simply crazy for thinking that even thought there is an evolution process that can be seen and studied, its beginning lies in God. I was shocked every time one of my teachers flat denied the existence of a Creator, I felt like I was going against everything I believe in. It was white or black, never grey.

A couple of months ago I came across an article in Time Magazine, where Richard Dawkins and Francis Collins (Director of the Human Genome Research Institute) had a debate about this issue. Dawkins being an all-for-science person, and Collins bringing God into his equation. The different articles and books mentioned in that discussion picked my curiosity, but especially the ones that bring up two sides of this debate, and find their common grounds. While browsing the library last week, I saw Gerald Schroeder’s “The Science of God” and had to bring it home. It’s taking me longer than usual to go through each page, and like I said I need to use a dictionary, but I’m enjoying it.

I don’t think there is an absolute truth about the God vs. science issue, but when I see that some big people in the scientific community aren’t putting God aside, it makes feel like I’m not going against my values and beliefs. I’m sure I’ll have more comments once I’m done with my reading.