Creation and Evolution

I have no interest in the ongoing Creation vs. Evolution debates. To me, they end up be contests on who can spit the farthest (or arguments on who has the better scientists). I'm not even remotely interested in harmonizing modern scientific discoveries with Scripture. The Bible is not a science text. Unfortunately this seems to be the modus operandi of Biblical apologists, as seen here and here. I'm one who firmly believes that religion and science do not necessarily have to be at constant odds with each other, but in fact can enhance one another by pushing each other to reach farther and deeper.

Science tells us that we theologians may have to do some rethinking on deep-seated beliefs. This is nothing new. Copernicus had the nerve to say that our solar system is heliocentric and that the planets revolve around the sun. He was quickly excoriated by the Roman Catholic Church as a heretic for even suggesting such a thing. Today, we know he was correct. The church should welcome scientific discoveries as possibilities rather than problems when they don't fit our dogmatic texts. It could very well be that our dogma needs freshening up a bit. Rethinking Genesis 1 might be a great start. It might very well be a metaphoric account of the creation of Israel and not a play-by-play account of the creation of the universe. There's always something about a literalistic and mechanistic reading of Genesis 1 that rubs the wrong way.

Theology informs science by holding it accountable. It's not enough to just look at raw data and draw conclusions. Any conclusion drawn from empirical data is debatable. Peer reviews, science journals, further experimentation, and new data should be welcomed as futhering the scientific enterprise. In other words, any finding should never claim to be absolute truth until all the data has been reviewed and all of the theories have been proven (which usually happens when all of the challenges to said theories have been thoroughly debunked). Science should never settle for overly simplistic answers and realize that their "pictures" may not be the "big picture".

Working together, science and religion can and should constantly call each other to humility, wonder, and awe, and not get so apoplectic when challenged. I am amazed when I see images from the Hubble Telescope. I am humbled when science tells us that stars throughout the galaxy are exploding and shooting all of the elements of the periodical table out into space. I'm also amazed that many scientists are beginning to view the universe as an organism and not a machine. The universe seems to have an emergent creativity to it. It's almost as if the universe has a goal as celestial bodies die and come to life, and order emerges from chaos. One could say that the universe is giving itself away and being reborn constantly.