Overview
The speaker addresses the common perception of conflict between science and religion, arguing that science and belief in God are not mutually exclusive. The talk explores the definition and limits of science, the nature of explanation, the role of faith, and the compatibility of miracles with scientific understanding, using the resurrection as a central example.
Science and Its Limits
- Science originally meant all knowledge but now refers mostly to the natural sciences.
- Scientific methods include observation, hypothesis, experimentation, and inference to the best explanation, especially for unrepeatable events.
- Not all scientific explanations are exhaustive; for instance, Newton’s laws describe but do not explain gravity itself.
- Science operates best in empirical analysis but cannot address purpose or ultimate meaning.
Relationship Between Science and Religion
- Many pioneers of science (e.g., Newton, Galileo) and modern top scientists have been or are believers in God.
- The rise of modern science was historically influenced by the belief in an ordered universe created by a lawgiver.
- Science and God explanations are complementary, not competing; scientific and agent-based explanations can coexist.
Explanation: Types and Misconceptions
- Some questions, like "why" a cake is made, cannot be answered by science alone; agent intention is another necessary level of explanation.
- Explanations can be reductionist (breaking things into simpler components) or top-down (inferring intelligence or purpose from evidence).
- The notion that God must be more complex than what God explains is challenged by analogy (e.g., human intelligence inferred from simple symbols).
Faith and Evidence
- Faith is often misunderstood as belief without evidence; in reality, it denotes trust based on evidence.
- Both science and Christianity rely on evidence-based reasoning and faith; faith in science underpins the expectation of an intelligible universe.
- Christianity claims its faith is grounded in historical evidence, particularly eyewitness testimony of Jesus’ life and resurrection.
Miracles and the Laws of Nature
- Critics claim miracles violate scientific laws, but the speaker argues this misunderstands the laws as describing regularities, not absolute exclusions.
- Miracles are possible if the universe is an open system where God can intervene.
- Recognizing miracles requires understanding regularity; even in ancient times, people knew resurrections were not normal.
- Christianity did not arise from ignorance but from strong evidence, such as claims of Christ’s resurrection.
Conclusion: Scope of Science
- Science explains many aspects of the natural world but cannot address deeper questions of meaning, purpose, or the supernatural.
- The speaker advocates for deeper explanations, including those involving God, where science alone reaches its limits.