Test of Faith – Does Science Threaten Belief in God? (RJS)

There is a new resource available from the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion that I would like to point to today. This web site, Test of FAITH, was put together to provide introductory resources for those who are interested in or troubled by the interaction between science and faith. There is a film: Test of FAITH: Does Science threaten belief in God?, a book: Test of Faith: Spiritual Journeys with Scientists, resources for group discussions with a leaders guide and study guides Test of Faith: Science and Christianity Unpacked, a version for youth 11-14 and 14-18 (here) and a version for kids planned, a YouTube Channel and more. I will come back to more of the material in later posts.

Among the resources on the site are videos of a number of short interviews.  These can be downloaded from Test of FAITH or found on YouTube. In this video Dr. Collins discusses the personal cost of discussing science and faith.

It is certainly true that there is a cost to this discussion. A cost in the profession as a scientist, not so much because of the science itself, but because of the baggage attached – from the image of religion as anti-science and anti-progress.

There is also a cost to the discussion within the church, where emotions often run high. As it happens the church I belong to is a church Dr. Collins attended many years ago. My pastor was in a bible study with Dr. Collins at that time. Yet evolution is still something of a controversial issue within our church (although not with the leadership, in this sense I am lucky).

I hope that some of the resources available at Test of FAITH will help forward the conversation.

How can we go about having open and honest discussions about science and faith?

There are many other excellent resources in the video section. In this clip Francis Collins discusses evolution and the problem of suffering.

Does the point by Dr. Collins about the over statement of death and suffering in evolutionary creation make sense?

What other questions are raised by the issue of evolutionary creation?

If you wish to contact me directly, you may do so at rjs4mail[at]att.net

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