A Letter to Latter-day Saint Science Students

To My Young Colleagues in Science,

For much of the last several centuries, science and religion have been in apparent conflict. It was not always so. In the earliest days of modern history, scientific knowledge in the Western world often emanated from Christian priests and pastors who were among the most educated people in the world. In fact, over the last several hundred years, devoutly religious people laid important parts of the foundation of many scientific disciplines; many of these early scientists were trained clergy. As a natural outgrowth of monastic and cathedral schools, the earliest universities were chartered as places of religious and secular study and assumed the role played by today’s scientific societies by supporting the work of scholars for the advancement of science.

In view of the historical debt science owes Christianity, I am often amused at the obvious irony on display when scientifically sophisticated atheists on television and in the popular press rail against religion, sometimes with considerable and inexplicable venom; it’s akin to an ungrateful child throwing his own mother under the bus. When their venom is directed at believers who have an equally dismissive view of science (“young earthers” come to mind), I concede that turnabout is fair play.

In any case, the anti-religion rants of these non-believing scientific materialists, as insensitive and oddly humorous as they sometimes are, do indeed raise thought-provoking questions. How is it that science and religion have drifted so far apart? Have they, as some scientists contend, become incompatible? Is it intellectual suicide for a rational person to believe in God, holy scripture, angels, miracles, and the like? Can science and faith be brought harmoniously together in the life of a believer?

I suspect that some of you, particularly as a result of your university science studies, have grappled or continue to grapple with questions like these. My purpose in this letter is to address these issues frankly and honestly, perhaps providing some perspective as you attempt to answer these questions in your own hearts and minds. As you will see, my overall message to you is simple: As it has been said since the days of St. Augustine, there is a “Book of Scripture” and a “Book of Nature,” and the God we worship is the author of both of them.

Writer’s Perspective

It is important that you understand the perspective from which I see these issues. As a tenured professor at a school of medicine, in addition to a busy medical practice, I have also managed a research laboratory for over 30 years. My colleagues and I have published scores of scientific articles, abstracts, and book chapters. For decades now, I have presented our research findings at national and international scientific conferences and medical meetings. I have served on the editorial boards of several highly regarded scientific journals, engaging in the peer review process for the publication of the latest scientific findings.

I share this information about my professional life only to emphasize that I am not a “non-scientist” outsider looking in. Science is my day-to-day world. I understand and use the scientific method, and as a person of faith, I understand how science and faith can sometimes seem to be at odds. From time to time, I have personally struggled with some of the controversial issues that may trouble some of you now.

The Problem: Galileo as Prototype

So what is the problem? How do science and religion clash? In dissecting a problem, it is often helpful to conceptualize it in terms of historical prototypes. In the conflict between science and religion, perhaps the most famous and fundamental archetype is the account of Galileo Galilei, his novel cosmological views, and the reaction of the Catholic Church to his radical ideas. In the mid-1500s, based on careful observation and analysis, the Catholic Cantor and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus introduced a new model of the universe, the heliocentric model, in which he proposed that the earth revolves around the sun. Decades later, careful personal study, aided by a new telescope of his own making, persuaded Galileo that Copernicus was right. The Roman Church considered this new thinking heretical because numerous verses of the Bible seemed to contend that the sun revolves around the earth. The symbolic implications of the heliocentric model were also theologically troubling to the Church because the new model suggested that the earth did not enjoy a special place at the center of God’s universe.

Charged with heresy, Galileo was tried and convicted at an Inquisition Court and was sentenced to live out his days under house arrest. It was not until 1992 that a modern Pope formally and publicly acknowledged the folly of the whole Galileo affair.¹

Historians generally concede that the Galileo matter was really more about who is authorized to create and disseminate knowledge than it was about specific cosmological models. Moreover, the contentious episode was more of an exception than the rule (the Church had strongly supported science) and was likely shaped as much by a clash of egos as it was by a conflict of scientific and theological ideas. Nonetheless, Galileo’s experience is useful in illustrating how the “Book of Scripture” and the “Book of Nature” sometimes collide in apparent disagreement. 

Many other prototype examples offer similar instruction. In the life sciences, of course, the most notable prototype to consider is Charles Darwin and his theories about the origin of our species; this archetype also has important theological implications and also culminated in famous legal proceedings: the “Scopes Monkey Trial” held in Tennessee in 1925.

Necessary Assumptions

As you carefully consider conflicts between science and religion like these prototypes, a few assumptions are absolutely critical to move productively forward. Chief among them is that we live by faith. Faith is more than just a belief, because true faith motivates us to action. Sufficiently strong faith enables us to dedicate our lives to our belief system. Nonetheless, we do live by faith. As Alma instructed in the Book of Mormon, “… faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith, ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.” Uncertainty in spiritual concerns is a fact of this life with which we must become comfortable. As the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle from the discipline of subatomic physics reminds us, this unavoidable uncertainty in life also applies to scientific investigation and the natural world. So you’d better get used to some ambiguity during your mortal journey.

A second critical assumption is an extension of the first. Our knowledge, both spiritual and scientific, is incomplete and continually expanding. Our Ninth Article of Faith proclaims, “We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.” Spiritual and scientific knowledge will continue to rain down from heaven, sometimes in torrential downpours. We must be resigned to take it all in as best we can, remembering that humanity, the Church, and we as individuals learn bit by bit (or perhaps byte by byte in the digital age). As Nephi exhorted (alluding to passages in Isaiah),  “For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little …” We don’t have all the answers; there is much yet to be revealed in science and theology. Be patient and stay curious.

Epistemological Framework

Ultimately, the apparent conflicts between science and faith are typically represented as being rooted in epistemology, the study of the philosophy of knowledge. Epistemology considers questions like: How do we acquire knowledge? How can we be confident that we know something? What is the difference between truth, knowledge, and belief?

Epistemologists classically point to four methods by which we may come to know the truth. Consider a hot pot on a stove. We can know the pot is hot through our senses (i.e., feeling and seeing evidence of heat). We can know it is hot through our reasoning power (i.e., understanding that the combustion of hydrocarbons releases energy). We can know the pot is hot through the testimony of others (i.e., our mothers warn us not to touch it). And we can know the pot is hot through our personal experience (i.e., we can touch it and get burned).

These approaches to acquiring knowledge, although sometimes fallible, are incorporated into the scientific method and are very useful in learning about the natural world. But in spiritual matters, we must accept the necessity of a fifth method of gaining knowledge, that of revelation. A simple way of thinking about revelation is that it is the phenomenon of God speaking to your soul; the LDS conceptions of the Holy Ghost and the Light of Christ are apropos here.

From an epistemological perspective, it is also essential to recognize that not all knowledge is of equal worth. While it is true that the scientific method is extremely useful in understanding the natural world, it is utterly and completely powerless in addressing some of humanity’s most profound questions: Why did the universe come into being? Is there a God who cares about us? What is the purpose of human life? What happens to us after death? Answers to these questions require the application of spiritual methods. 

Perhaps this is why modern revelation commands us to acquire knowledge in two different ways, “… yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.” Knowledge of the natural world is obtained primarily through traditional study; spiritual knowledge, which is of much greater intrinsic value, is acquired principally by the exercise of spiritual methods.

Guiding Principles

So, as you take on these questions of critical spiritual significance and try to reconcile them with scientific knowledge that is in apparent conflict, what are the guiding principles upon which you can rely? You will have to wage these battles in your own hearts and minds, but you ought to fight with a strategy. Three key principles have helped me along the way:

First, remember that the church to which you belong is not anti-intellectual or anti-science in any way. The Church is dedicated to freedom of the mind, as reflected in President Hugh B. Brown’s bold declaration to students at BYU decades ago, “… be unafraid to express your thoughts and to insist upon your right to examine every proposition. We are not so much concerned with whether your thoughts are orthodox or heterodox as we are that you shall have thoughts.” Modern revelation dares us to be relentless seekers of truth, to “… study and learn, and become acquainted with all good books, and with languages, tongues, and people.” We are admonished to seek truth wherever it may be found. President Joseph F. Smith affirmed, “We are willing to receive all truth, from whatever source it may come; for truth will stand, truth will endure. No man’s faith, no man’s religion, no religious organization in all the world, can ever rise above the truth. The truth must be at the foundation of religion, or it is in vain, and it will fail of its purpose.” 

Latter-day Saints should seek to embrace all truth. This is why accomplished scientists and scholars are among our leaders and rank and file. In addition to our religious studies, we find truth in science, social science, the arts, and countless other disciplines and places. We worship the ultimate source of this truth and recognize that “The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.” 

Second, remember that relying on revelation as a means of seeking truth is not an irrational method devoid of evidence. You can conduct experiments in the spiritual realm. In the Book of Mormon, Alma explicitly uses a scientific term when he invites investigators to conduct an “experiment upon my words,” urging them to test the hypothesis that “the word is good.” (Alma 32:27) The Gospel of John similarly challenges us, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” Elsewhere in the Gospels, this concept is articulated in a simpler way: “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Over and over again, in every aspect of my experience on earth, I have learned that a gospel-centered life yields the results for which we hope; the converse is also true. Experiments in my own life have confirmed this hypothesis. The teachings and commandments we are taught do indeed in the long run lead to an abundant and purposeful life, enabling us to avoid the misery and despair that come when we get off track. Understanding this divine reality is the practical foundation upon which we can build our faith.

Third, remember that contemplating the mysteries and magnificence of the natural world, the “Book of Nature,” is another way to commune with your Creator. And nature provides God another way of speaking to your soul. When rebuking the atheist Korihor, Alma reminds us, “… all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.” 

We all have moments when we are overcome with the grandness of nature. Beautiful mountain vistas, a sparkling star-filled sky, and the miracle of a newborn child—these all speak to the wisdom and power of a loving God. The Holy Ghost can speak to us during the singing of a sacred hymn or while listening to a sincere testimony, but we can also hear God’s voice in a biochemistry lab or at the eyepiece of a telescope. Let the data in the natural world speak to your soul. The testimony of nature is powerful evidence of God’s presence.

A Point of Caution

A point of caution deserves emphasis. As you consider any conflicts that arise between science and your faith, be sure to proceed with care and diligence. When doubts arise, confront them openly and honestly but with humility, patience, and faith.

There is no doubt that intellectual pride cometh before the fall. Avoid the temptation to think you are the smartest person in the room and that you have it all figured out; the halls of academia (and Sunday Schools) are replete with this kind of pedantic fool. On occasion, I have succumbed to this temptation myself. Jacob warned us about this problem: 

… O the vainness, … and the foolishness of men! When they are learned, they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not…

In speaking of the last days, Isaiah issued a similar warning: “Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.” There is a reason that God often works through simple people to get His work done. In modern scripture, we read, “Wherefore, I call upon the weak things of the world, those who are unlearned and despised … An uneducated boy in early 19th Century upstate New York comes to mind.

Humility, combined with faith, is an essential character trait of the earnest learner. When Nephi received his brief tour of the history of the earth, he acknowledged to his angelic tour guide that he hadn’t quite comprehended all that he had seen, but he expressed faith in a loving God nonetheless. “And I said unto [the angel]: I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.” Like Nephi, my young friends, we don’t have all the answers. We live by faith, but as Nephi illustrated, we can carefully consider issues we don’t understand until we get the further light and knowledge God promises to send. As Elder Jeffrey R. Holland recommended, “When those moments come and issues surface, the resolution of which is not immediately forthcoming, hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes.”

The humility we need is easier to maintain when we remember the difference between God and us. David poetically underscored this gap in the Eighth Psalm, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” Moses expressed similar views after his encounter with the Being who has created “worlds without number.” When the presence of God withdrew from Moses, he fell to the earth and “… said unto himself: Now, for this cause, I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed.” Along these lines, our Heavenly Father gently cautions us, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” So when you score a 97% on your next chemistry test, don’t get too cocky.

Conclusions

Let’s briefly summarize. Conflicts arise between science and faith; this is nothing new. Remember that there is a “Book of Scripture” and a “Book of Nature” and that the God we worship wrote them both. Earnestly read and digest as much as you can of both books. “… seek learning, even by study and also by faith,” applying both scientific and spiritual methods. Embrace truth from every source, but get used to the idea that our knowledge is incomplete and that we live by faith. Don’t be afraid to examine issues and conduct your own spiritual experiments. Be sensitive to the testimony of nature; let God speak to your soul in the laboratory as well as in church. Finally, be humble, avoiding the temptation to think you know more than your Creator.

If, now or in the future, you struggle with one issue or another that somehow puts science and your faith at odds, please don’t let this be the basis for a loss of testimony and estrangement from the Church. As President Dieter Uchtdorf recently taught, “There are few members of the Church who, at one time or another, have not wrestled with serious or sensitive questions.” Reaching out to such members, President Uchtdorf pleaded, “… my dear friends, there is yet a place for you here. Come and add your talents, gifts, and energies to ours. We will all become better as a result. … Come, join with us!” 

The Church benefits immensely from a diversity of members, not the least of which are its scientists. Let the “Book of Scripture” and the “Book of Nature” strengthen your faith, your doubts notwithstanding. Science and faith can coexist in a marvelous, self-sustaining, instructive equilibrium that can broaden your outlook and comfort your soul.

Note:

1. Faith Can Never Conflict with Reason, Pope John Paul II; L’Osservatore Romano N. 44 (1264), November 4, 1992