Religion and Reason

For me, thinking is writing is thinking. This blog is really nothing more than an attempt to understand myself better and to clarify my thoughts. I have often noted the tension between religion and science, but I never really gave it a whole lot of thought. Lately, something inside me has grown impatient with, even intolerant of ideas that clearly contradict what my observation and reason tell me is true. The more I learn about the beauty and wonder of what we have discovered through methodical study, invention, and experimentation, the more my mind revolts at having to live with contradictions that "make reason stare."

But the other day, I had an epiphany. I have a real and valuable tool for resolving these discrepancies! The Book of Mormon defines faith in the following way in the Book of Alma 32:21:

"...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." (italics mine)

To paraphrase, a person's faith in something is only valid if the object of faith is true! I can believe with every fiber of my being that 2 + 2 = 5, but my faith is invalid and misplaced because this is a fact that is unchangeable for all time. And we have an unparalleled tool for getting at the truth of things in the observable world: the scientific method.

What I derive from this is that any statement of faith that I am asked to believe must be consistent with the facts I observe, what my reason and judgement tells me is true, and what science has proven to my satisfaction to be the truth. To be sure, I am very far from infallible. But I have a compass inside me that has guided me well my whole life, when I have heeded it. And so, if my reason is offended by a statement of faith, or if such a statement clearly contradicts an overwhelming body of incontrovertible facts, I now feel justified in discarding that statement without prejudice.

On the flip side, I admit the possibility that the universe we can observe with our physical senses is not the complete universe. Also I am aware that some of what we "know" today will be contradicted by what we "know" tomorrow. So if I note a strong feeling in my heart, or a persistent idea in my mind that I cannot account for "scientifically," I have generally found it worth my while also to pay it heed even in the face of apparent evidence to the contrary.