Religion and Science are not opposites. In fact, most of the time they are attempting to answer the same questions in a slightly different manner.

It was October 27th when Pope Francis announced his belief in the theory of evolution to be founded upon biblical grounds. To his audience, it could’ve sounded completely absurd. Religious men and men of science have been at a near battle for generations. It dates all the way back to Galileo being forced to renounce his findings to the public, claiming he was wrong and the Earth was still the center of the universe.

Perhaps this controversy stems from a bigger issue. An argument for the beginning of science comes during the modern ages of Europe. Men began to question papal authority thanks to Martin Luther and started looking for answers themselves. When the church showed signs of unease, people began to look for a more stable environment. Our solar system was explored by Galileo and Copernicus, Da Vinci began his research of the human anatomy, and Francis Bacon formed a scientific theory that is the foundation for the theory today.

Somewhere in history, the church was separated from science and they became enemies. The scientific field questioned the Bible’s accuracy and attempted to explain creation in a logical way. The Bible is not presented in a logical form of ease and understanding. It takes time to read and comprehend what truths are held inside the words.

Science and Religion comes from the same mold. Humans are attempting to satisfy their curiosity by whatever means necessary. If that means creating experiments to help discover the true age of the Earth, geology is a good start. If one is attempting to look back and find similarities between humans and monkeys, biology, anatomy, and genetics are all satisfactory. But, if one is attempting to legitimize the Bible, there are no experiments to prove faith.

Our world has turned into a society that relies totally on facts – something known to be true by actual experience or observation. This would seem to be the opposite of faith – a belief in God or something not based on proof.

Our world has turned into a society that encourages facts based on proof derived from newly discovered truths. The scientific world has provided us with experiments to help discover the exact age of the Earth, but can that truly ever be done? Or is the whole thing a big estimate and we can just go along with that?

When one person attempts to bring “the Bible is truth” argument up, they’re bombarded by contradictions and cries for more facts. Meanwhile, science can modify their experiments to allow us to stem from apes and we’re fascinated by it. It’s almost as if society has lost all faith and is solely relying on experiment-based facts to examine history. In other historical eras books were sufficient

Earlier this year in February, Bill Nye and Ken Ham took to the television screen for a debate of science and religion. Bill Nye, known as the Science Guy, took the side of evolutionary processes while Ken Ham believes the answers are all found in the book of Genesis. Each of these men can be considered the top scholars in their respective fields, and the debate about evolution and creationism made both of them look like bumbling fools. Nye never gave a direct answer to any question while Ham kind of stood there refusing to acknowledge questions he didn’t want to answer.

Throughout history authority has been questioned. Luther’s theses brought self-examination to the forefront of religion which shook the very core of the church. Now, papal authority has been brought to the controversial frontlines again with Pope Francis’ comments on evolution. It’s not that evolution and creationism are enemies; it’s that they are two pieces in the big elaborate puzzle.

It is very possible God created man through an evolutionary process. But it is a fact that we will never know how the world was truly created. According to James Le Fanu, physician and author of “Why Us?” science has stripped the world of wonder and only allow miracles to be a new kind of experiment.

Our society lacks faith. The passage of Scripture, Hebrews 11:1, says “Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.” Faith should guide us along with love and compassion.

If you are a believer in God or a higher power, there is no reason you can’t be a scientist. Any true scientist knows that nothing can totally be proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt. DaVinci and Galileo did not know all the things scientists know today, but that doesn’t make them any less scientists. Rene Descartes and Isaac Newton are two other scientists that were incredibly religious throughout their scientific careers.

A truly smart person (scientist or not) must admit we do not know everything. We can’t prove everything. We can’t experience or observe everything. We must acknowledge the possibility of a greater power involved in the world we live in.