I think I know that answer.
It’s hard to admit, being a scientist of sorts. I’ve studied chemistry, biology, biochemistry, physics. I admired the way that science layers itself over time, building information and facts one on top of the other, like the layers of the earth over the millennia. Each subsequent scientist taking what others before him/her discovered and expanding it just a bit farther. Building ever higher towers of knowledge on the bedrock of the past. Learning. Uncovering. Digging. Discovering.
My son once asked, “What is science?” It is all of these and more. It is questioning. It is finding the answers. It is pushing the edges of human knowledge to the farthest possible places.
Oh, how exciting! To answer the questions that plague us!
And how incredibly frightening.
I think that’s why people deny science. I think it’s fear.
Fear. My least favorite emotion. I’ll take rage before I take fear. Fear gets nothing accomplished. It cowers in the dark corners, letting time run over it, letting the darkness creep in. Fear doesn’t stand up for itself, it let’s the bullies win. It believes the lies. Fear has layers of cobwebs and dust, mold and little creepy crawly things. Nothing substantial layers on fear. Nothing you’d want to build your foundations on.
Science brings us GMO’s, atomic bombs, chemicals that give us cancer, drugs that produce explosive diarrhea, viruses and bacteria modified to be killing machines, scientists that experiment on helpless animals. Science can make us doubt God. It can make us realize that the smartest, most knowledgeable creatures, ones that can change the temperature of the planet, can cause a species of plant or animal to cease to exist, ones that can affect the destiny of the entire human race, are in fact, us.
Those are hard facts to face. Science says we are destroying the planet. It has said that for as long as I can remember. All of my life. Not only are we killing the other inhabitants of earth, but we are killing ourselves, our children, the future. That’s the facts and the truth hurts.
Somehow I have been able to marry my love of us science with my belief in God. Science does not negate God. It may negate some religious beliefs, but God is beyond that. God is what has never truly been discovered by science. God is about faith. No amount of scientific discovery can take away one’s faith. It’s just sits there in defiance. The alter ego of fear, faith sits in complete opposition to that dreaded emotion. Faith negates fear.
People are afraid of science because it can be used for evil. It can be used for war and death. It can be used to torture and subdue. Science can be bad. It encroaches on the natural world, but it could also save it. Science is why we have global warming, increased carbon, the poisoning of the oceans, the extinction of plants and animals. The creations of scientists to form a better, more comfortable world for its human inhabitants is why we find ourselves in this mess. Comfort. Control. The subjugation of fear. Of death. Of disease. Of being too cold or too hot. Of not having the latest fashion fad. Silly really. We murdered ourselves for creature comforts and trinkets.
It’s hard to trust science now. It nearly destroyed us. The same could be said of God. Of course it will take the both of them to save us. Science and faith. Sometimes you’ve got to have both. Especially if you want to save the world.
deconstructingdoctor.com 
Can you faith without God?
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Sure. If faith is defined in believing in the best possible outcome even if it appears to the contrary.
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😊
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Science is beautiful and so is faith. Life and death are part of the circle. What goes around comes around. Maybe we are all being tested to see if we can make science and faith work in harmony. Fear will always be lurking waiting for us to concede to it, we all were born with a free will that is the one thing we all have in common. The choice is ours we should use it wisely. I might not be here to witness it but I think my grandchildren’s generation are going to do a better job than the current one because they realize the mistakes that were made and hopefully they will not continue to make them. Great post. ☺☺
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I am always hopeful that each generation learns from the next and lurches the human race forward. I think so many people feels defeated especially those in science. Their work is to help others who don’t care so why bother? That can be dangerous. Apathy. Advances in science give us such comfortable lives so that we are unencumbered to do Gods work.
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I think some may deny science because it threatens them; facts threaten them. When evidence contradicts one’s platform or ideology, they may choose to live in a non-reality. Whether that choice is a conscious one, I’m not sure.
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I totally agree.
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I owe a great debt to science like everyone else does but being a student I would add a tiny bit of information. With each passing generation, there is more and more development taking place in this field. Of course it has added to our comfort but when it comes to studies, we students sometimes cringe at the sound of this subject. That is not because of fear but because of the load of information present. Each generation has something more to learn as new layers of information are constantly added. My parents didn’t study as much of science as I did and my brother, just three years uounger than myself, is studying those things right now which I just learnt two years back. And even when you complete all those thick course books, you know that you are no less ignorant than a few days ago. There is just so much to learn…
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Learning never ends my friend. Good point. There is so much information to absorb, unfortunately some of it will be disproven and you’ll have to unlearn it😉
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What an honest expose on the paradox that is science. The same argument could be presented for faith, actually. It seems that this is the nature of life – there is seldom progress without pain, advancement without trial and error. I have always leaned more towards spirituality, in a metaphysical way, and I had a cousin who was a physicist. We had great discussions about how science and the search for spiritual truth intersected. When he contracted lung cancer, he asked me to sit with him the final three weeks of his life – he wanted to discuss God. One of our final conversations involved him try to convince me that without science and research even our concept of God could not evolve. He thought I should turn to science, lol.
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Kind of funny he was trying to convert you in the end❤ I think there is much truth to be learned from both ends of the spectrum.
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I’ve never paused to wonder why people hate science, hate academia… It mystifies me, for sure. I think you’ve nailed it: fear.
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Thanks Maggie. I love facts. I can not understand why anyone wouldn’t. Being a Christian and going to church I’ve discovered that anything that varied from accepted religious dogma is denied. Then it gets into the political ring. Then it effects public policy for everyone. Crazy.
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What a great take on both! I love your perspectives on life 🙂 I agree that it takes a combination of both!! I think we all have to do whatever we are capable of to nurture both and if we’d all show more compassion for our fellow beings whether people, animals or our environment things would drastically improve for the better and our kids futures. I sometimes get discouraged by the “me” culture but am having faith of contagious compassion winning 🙂
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Thanks. I totally agree. I have faith that we’ll get it together. I have faith that “me” will turn into “we.”
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I sure do hope so too!
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Science keeps my Type 1 diabetic daughter alive and has allowed her to give much to this world since her diagnosis, aged 8. Without science, she would have died within weeks or months. Science has refined the treatments she needs to stay well and I give thanks to man and God for that – and for her.
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Science is a beautiful thing! Thankful for the discoveries that make our lives better and can even give us life
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