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Creationism discussion continues
1 was pleased to see the report in
February (page 53) that the scientific
community is beginning to take a
public stand against “creation scienc
(a contradiction in terms). I was much
less enthralled by the exchange of
on the subject in the June issue.
It is clear that there is much misunder
standing concerning the nature of both
science and reli
‘As a physicist who is also in
in religion )1 was a member of the
‘Team on Science and Theology of the
Presbyterian Church, during
1980-82), 1 am irritated whenever I
find that the spokespersons for religion,
fare anti-intellectual fundamentalists,
while often the spokespersons for
science are militant atheists, By airing
these extreme positions, the ancient
science/theology dispute is carried f
ward, and continued misunderstanding
is promoted. Most of the public, who
are neither scientists nor theologians,
foel that they must choose one or the
other model of the universe. The impli
cations for political decisions and the
funding of scientific research are جه‎
Religious fundamentalists who
mand literal interpretations of biblical
scriptures are only rarely found in the
mainline religious denominations.
‘One Presbyterian theologian says that
whatever the scientific merits of
ation science,” it is ridiculous from م‎
theological viewpoint, must base
‘one's of creation on the Old
‘Testament, one has no less than three
accounts from among which to choose
Each of these creation myths illus
trates particular religious truths (for
example, the dignity and worth of
human life, or the “goodness” of phys:
ical creation), values that are almost
universally accepted (or at least given
lip service) today, but which were
revolutionary in Old Testament ti
stood in direct opposition to the
predominant Mesopotamian religions
of that day. ‘The creation myths in
Genesis complement one another in
their religious affirmations but differ
fairly drastically in such details as the
time-ordering in the creation of plants,
beasts, humans, and so on.
Joseph Campbell has said that mod:
culture, unlike any previous cul
ture, lacks a unifying mythology, Per:
haps this accounts for our lack of
ability to cope with myth, If one is
with the nature of myth
who construc
to a “liters
‘The truth cont
of them.
nt of myth was consi
d to be higher, in a moral or
than merely a descrip.
of physical reality. For anyone in‏ م
tury to ascribe “li‏
myths is
ton because
the idea of an omnipotent God is
logically inconsistent is guilty of intel
lectual hypocrisy. Does he or she think
that scien
cies? Perhaps he or she is not aware of
the existence of paradox or
Goedel's Theorem. Actually, aside
from obvious methodological differ
ences, science and theology have much
mon. Each is an attempt to
reality, founded on unprovabl
farticles of faith. If the existence of a
benign being is the fundamen
tal assumption at the heart of religion,
certainly the practice of science is
founded on the unprovable hypothesis
that the universe is rational—that its
behavior is subject to human under
standing. ‘Through science we con-
struct highly useful models which per
mit us to understand the universe, in
the sense of predicting its behavior
Let us not commit the elementary
epistemological mistake of confusing
the model with reality. Surely scien
tists, as well as religious leaders, should
alize
that whatever ultimate reality there
may be is not directly accessible
mortal humans
T believe that if the misunderstand:
ing between religion and science be
comes an all-out war, the scientists
must lose. ‘The potential for ant
lectual fervor is ever present
Scientists, particularly those interest
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