Bishop's letters: July 03 +James Faith, not sight
I sometimes wish I’d paid more attention in science lessons at School. Admittedly, 11% in a mock ‘O’ level Chemistry paper made me sit up and take notice, but when it came to ‘A’ levels, I was glad to see the back of test tubes, bunsen burners and periodic tables.
Advancing years have changed all that. I’m fascinated by the relationship between science and religion, and have been as excited as anyone by the Human Genome Project and reminder that this year marks the 50th Anniversary of the discovery of DNA. But the title of Watson’s new book about that discovery, ‘The Secret of Life’, set me thinking. Surely, there is more to life than just our biological make-up? St Paul certainly thought so. ‘We live’, he said in 2 Corinthians, ‘by faith, not sight’.
Many scientists would agree. For example, few would now deny the existence of quarks. Nobody has ever actually seen a quark. But their ‘unseen reality’ is taken for granted because it makes sense of so much material in the universe that is more directly accessible. The same applies to God. We can’t actually see him (even though he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ). But we believe that he is there, not least because his ‘unseen reality’ makes sense of so much about life that is more directly accessible, including love, sacrifice and death.
Both science and theology are committed to explaining experience. Both make an appeal to ‘motivated belief’. And whereas in the past, science and Christianity were thought to be at odds with each other (for instance, in the debate over evolution), most people can now see that they are complementary in our quest to understand what is going on in ourselves and the world around us.
So quantum physics suggests that the world is not only stranger than we thought - but stranger than we could have thought. It is constantly surprising, yet it seems to have some sort of rational order. There is some evidence for ‘mind’ behind creation and, when it comes to explaining our experience and making sense of our existence, atheism struggles.
This was reinforced for me recently by an eminent scientist who told me his favourite story. ‘Imagine’, he said, ‘that you are facing a firing squad. There are 10 men in the squad, all aiming their rifles at your body. You hear the command, “Fire!” - and feel the bullets whistling past: but none of them hit you. You are still alive. Why? Perhaps this was just one of thousands of firing squads, all operating at the same time - and probability theory meant that all ten soldiers were poor shots. Or perhaps - someone arranged for this to happen’.
Perhaps - someone arranged for this to happen. We live by faith, not sight. As a student, I once met Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, and still remember his reply to another older member of our group who asked him how he could be so sure of God. Bloom looked at him - and at the wedding ring on his finger. ‘Does your wife love you?’ he asked. ‘Of course’ came the reply. ‘How can you be so sure?’ said Anthony Bloom. ‘Can you see her love?’ ‘No, but..’
Can we see God, let alone see his love? ‘No, but..’
Bishop James Newcome
