It’s hard to believe these days. The pandemic made it worse. Otherwise normal, educated people would turn nasty on science by finding their “truth” in tons of random information on the internet. If scientific truth is verified belief, that standard is certainly up for grabs in a post-pandemic world. Public scepticism about science has not left the world of faith untouched.
As we enter this important week in the Christian calendar, I recognise that growing numbers of my friends, once fervent believers, no longer believe in the Virgin Birth of Christ or the promise of hellfire for those who don’t believe like them or a seven-day creation of the universe.
The Virgin Birth of course makes no sense in terms of human biology. It is impossible given what we know from the science of obstetrics. That is why we call the birth of Jesus a miracle, like so many others in the Bible from His walking on water (physics will have a problem with this) to the instant curing of the blind (my ophthalmologist would faint).
Yet millions believe in the supernatural birth of Christ for the simple reason that not everything we accept as true is reducible to evidence produced by the scientific method, the gold standard for empirical verification. There is a world beyond science where faith becomes important, the evidence of things not seen, says the writer of the Hebrews. That knowledge is sacred, hopeful, uplifting, calming and deeply transformative to those who believe across faith communities.
It may be a form of arrogance to believe that unless a spiritual belief satisfies the standards of science, it is wrong. Take a historical view, and it is clear that science itself is fallible, subject to change, and sometimes downright dangerous.
Even so, as a man of science, I appreciate the enormous progress made by and for humankind because of scientific discovery.
Recently I had cataract surgery on both eyes and this truly must be science and miracle combined. Imagine having each lens replaced seven days apart in an outpatient procedure during which you lie awake in the operating theatre and then nurses send you home an hour later with full healing expected in four to six weeks. Years ago, our grandparents simply went blind.
As a man of science, I appreciate the enormous progress made by and for humankind because of scientific discovery.
Science and faith need not be in conflict as in those century-old debates on evolution. I believe in eye surgery, and I believe in the Virgin Birth. The one comes from medical ingenuity and the other from divine intervention. I reside comfortably in both worlds. The one gives me sight, the other insight. The one heals my body, the other captivates my soul.
There is indeed something special that comes with appreciating a world beyond the material, the here-and-now, that speaks to our spiritual yearnings and the need for transcendence. Our heart is restless, mused the church father Augustine, until it rests in you.
The discipline Thomas could have been a member of one of today’s evidence-based research foundations. After claims of a sighting of the Risen Christ, Doubting Thomas, as he is labelled in Christian circles, made the following science sensible assertion: “First, I must see the nail scars in his hands and touch them with my finger. I must put my hand where the spear went into his side. I won't believe unless I do this.”
A week later Thomas is with the disciples when they meet the resurrected Jesus. What is interesting to me is that Jesus invites him into a simple scientific process of verification: touch my scars, put your finger into my wound. And then He says, do not doubt, believe. Science and faith.
There is much to be despondent about in this world. The war in Gaza eats away at one’s humanity. The grinding poverty in large parts of our country can dishearten the best among us. The brazenness of gangs in parts of the country suggests a decivilization is underway where individuals have taken to themselves authority over human lives and well-being rather than the state. In the community where I work in the mornings two teenagers were just shot and killed in a drive-by-shooting.
I do not know how one counters this heaviness without a sense of faith, the possibility of a better world despite ourselves. The Irish poet Seamus Heaney lifts my spirit with these incredible words:
Believe that a further shore/
Is reachable from here/
Believe in miracle
And cures and healing wells
Happy Christmas, everyone.
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