It started with a bad joke.

The Higgs Boson particle walked into a Catholic church. The priest walked up to it and said, “You have to leave, we do not allow your type in here.” The Higgs Boson particle replied, “But if you don’t allow me in church, how do you have Mass?”

Ba-dum-ch! 

If you don’t get it, don’t worry. It’s a pun. Puns are the lowest form of humor, but it did make me smile a little. But what made me a little happier was that it seemed like Science and Religion called a cease-fire, had a beer together, and came up with a stupid little joke together. I don’t know, it’s nice to see them working together.

Science and religion are always at odds, and I can often see that. Many scientists believe there is no god of any sort and pretty much every religion says, “Yeah huh!” I’m particularly talking about Christianity here, since that is my religion. I know Christians who refuse to even acknowledge science because everything they do is sacrilegious. I know scientists who don’t even treat Christians as intelligent human beings because they believe in an invisible man up in the sky. But does it really have to be this way?

Why can’t science and Christianity be friends?

Creationism versus the Big Bang. Oh…that…

Yeah, it’s true, science and Christianity butt heads on a lot of important issues. But does that mean we have to be mortal enemies? Shoot, even enemies can respect each other. Why can’t we do that?

As I said, I’m speaking from more of a Christian perspective, and I’ve seen plenty of Christians who are scared to death of science. After hearing about the Big Bang and evolution and whatnot, I think a lot of Christians think science has nothing good to say at all. And that’s simply not true.

The way I see it, God created the world, science explores that world. And what’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with looking at God’s creation and seeing all the intricacies underneath the surface? Have you ever looked at the complexities of just one cell in your body? There’s an entire world there, and all those worlds of all those cells have to work together to make your body work. Who couldn’t praise God for his work after seeing the attention to detail?

Or shall we go bigger? Do you realize how small our planet is in the cosmos? How small the sun is? We barely understand our own planet and yet there is an entire universe just sitting out there in the cold space, waiting to be explored.

That’s what scientists do: they explore, which is more than I can say for a lot of Christians. Christians like to cling to what they know and never move an inch because they’re scared of…something. Lies, perhaps? Wrong data that says there’s no God? Dude, people say that with or without science. And what kind of weak mind does it take to be convinced just by hearing someone else’s interpretation of the world? My friend tried to prove evolution to me by pointing to a single page in a high school textbook. It’s going to take a lot more than that to convince me that my lifetime of beliefs are wrong.

And yes, I do believe that scientists can be and have been wrong about a lot of things (didn’t we once think the Earth was flat?), but you know what? So does religion.

Religion says that you must clean yourself up before coming to God. Religion says you need to talk to the priest because God is too holy to talk to you. Religion says “take these laws upon your back.” Religion doesn’t ask questions; in fact, it silences questions. Jesus not only allowed questions, but challenged people to think for themselves. 

For Christians, I think this is my main point: don’t base your beliefs on textbooks or religious practices; Christianity is based on the Bible/Jesus. John 1:1-14 basically says that Jesus was the Word made flesh, so they’re really one in the same.

When you base your faith on the Bible, religious rules and regulations fall by the wayside and make room for love and grace.

When you base your faith on the Bible, you can be amazed at what science can do, the incredible things it can discover without fear of someone in a lab coat trying to brainwash you.

When you base your faith upon the Bible, you can compare everything to the One Truth. It supersedes both science. It supersedes religion. If you believe God is who he says he is, then you know He is the One Truth, and everything must be weight against him. If there’s a discrepancy, then God must be right. If he’s not, then he’s not God. And if he’s not God, why are you a Christian?

I’m not scared of science; I’m fascinated by it. Biology class made me more of a believer, not less. Chemistry amazed me (although the hot teacher may have warped my perception). And physics? Astronomy? Engineering? Oceanography? Zoology? Botany? The world is FULL of things to be explored, and every exploration is one new way to praise God’s holy name.

Jesus used the world around him to praise God. I think science can do the same. Many sciences say God doesn’t exist. I respectfully disagree, now please tell me more about anatomy!