Science and Faith

Many people claim that science and faith belong to different realms. Science is all about facts, evidences, reasoning, and definite answers. While faith is about believing in things unseen, without evidence. Hence the two do not, and should not mix.

I do not agree.

Science is about finding best explanations for observations. However, not everything can be validated with experiments. Hence some degree of belief is involved. In particular, on important questions such as the origin of the universe and the origin of life, science cannot provide complete and definite answers, at least not yet. But, for most people, it is important to have at least tentative answers to some of these questions. We cannot wait for science to come up with all the answers, which may never happen. Hence some degree of faith is inevitable, for us to get through life.

On the other hand, it is not true that all faith are blind. There are a lot of facts, observations and reasoning involved, at least in the Christian faith as far as I can tell. So science does have a lot to offer when it comes to answering some of the most important questions in life, such as the purpose of life and where the human race is headed.

Science and faith must talk with each other. Life is too precious to be left to chance alone.