{"id":4853,"date":"2014-06-06T08:11:19","date_gmt":"2014-06-06T13:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/?p=4853"},"modified":"2014-12-23T19:19:18","modified_gmt":"2014-12-24T00:19:18","slug":"kittens-cosmos-culture-wars-and-the-coexistence-of-science-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2014\/06\/kittens-cosmos-culture-wars-and-the-coexistence-of-science-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Kittens, “Cosmos,” Culture Wars, and the Coexistence of Science & Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

When the new version of the TV series \u201cCosmos\u201d premiered a few months ago, it raised quite a kerfuffle on this blog<\/a> and numerous others because of the shallow view the debut episode took of religion. Specifically, it suggested that religion was an enemy of science.<\/p>\n

In a new essay in \u201cAmerica\u201d magazine<\/a>, the Christopher Award-winning co-author<\/a> of \u201cLove and Salt,\u201d<\/a> Jessica Mesman Griffith, provides a refreshing perspective on the series and on the symbiotic relationship between science and faith as viewed through the experiences of her eight-year-old daughter and a pregnant cat named Bonny Kate.<\/p>\n

Frankly, I think \u201cCosmos\u201d could have used Jessica\u2019s daughter as a producer on the show because she\u2019s a bridge between two worldviews that some people falsely view as irreconcilable. She\u2019d also be a good influence on people of faith who simply dismiss science whenever it seemingly contradicts the Bible. This little child could lead everyone in a better direction. As our Patheos blogmother Elizabeth Scalia<\/a> likes to say (quoting St. Gregory of Nyssa), \u201cIdeas lead to idols, only wonder leads to knowing.\u201d After all, embracing mystery<\/a> is a good thing.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an excerpt from Jessica\u2019s essay \u2013 but go read the whole thing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Just a couple of weeks before this revelation in the kitchen, \u201cCosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey,\u201d the reboot of the classic Carl Sagan show, debuted on Fox. I had watched the first episode with the skepticism of a religion snob, rolling my eyes at the distorted depiction of Giordano Bruno as a martyr for science at the hands of a stereotypically barbaric and ignorant church, feeling disappointed but at the same time satisfied that everything I thought about science-types was true\u2014they\u2019re killjoy atheists out to discredit religion and strip the world of mystery. They want to replace Truth with facts and have the final word on all life\u2019s most important questions.<\/p>\n

But we kept watching, because my daughter, innocent of the culture wars, was enthralled. While I was feeling all jittery, psychic alarms ringing at every perceived attack on the religious worldview, she sat by my side, wide-eyed and silent. When it was over she turned to me and said, \u201cCan we watch it again?\u201d<\/p>\n

She loved seeing how scientists build on each other\u2019s knowledge, and how work begun by one person living hundreds of years ago might be taken up and carried on by someone else today. Like many 8-year-olds, she is a natural inventor, and she loved the idea that sometimes innovation requires not just intelligence but huge leaps of imagination and faith. Most of all, she loved Sir Isaac Newton, depicted in one of the show\u2019s animated segments as a distracted student and hot-tempered redhead (like her), who is befriended by a kind, reasonable chap (Sir Edmond Halley) who encourages him, defends his honor against a mean bully (Sir Robert Hooke) and helps him make history by publishing the Principia Mathematica.<\/p>\n

The irritating potshots \u201cCosmos\u201d takes at the religious worldview\u2014and there were several\u2014didn\u2019t register with her at all; she still takes the existence of God as a given. In her mind, there is not yet a firm distinction between science and religion. In fact, her religious sense is at least partly what makes \u201cCosmos\u201d so appealing and accessible to her. Ultimately the show is telling the same kinds of stories we have been telling at home and at church\u2014stories about the hunger for truth, and how the importance of building on established tradition, believing in what we can\u2019t see and being in relationship with each other are all essential to progress toward that truth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the whole essay<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the new version of the TV series \u201cCosmos\u201d premiered a few months ago, it raised quite a kerfuffle on this blog and numerous others because of the shallow view the debut episode took of religion. Specifically, it suggested that religion was an enemy of science. In a new essay in \u201cAmerica\u201d magazine, the Christopher […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":488,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,10,52,5,19],"tags":[99,113,89,120,98,86,92,97],"class_list":["post-4853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-christopher-awards","category-media","category-tv","category-youth","tag-books","tag-catholic","tag-christopher-awards","tag-media","tag-parenting","tag-tv","tag-women","tag-youth"],"yoast_head":"\nKittens, "Cosmos," Culture Wars, and the Coexistence of Science & Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When the new version of the TV series "Cosmos" premiered a few months ago, it raised quite a kerfuffle on this blog and numerous others because of the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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