Thoughts on how ‘faith’ is vital to both science and religion
exercises.
The disjunct between science and faith often surprises me as the disjunct comes from people of faith, more than people of science.
An atheist scientist friend of mine once said, “I totally get what faith is. I have faith every time I do an experiment, otherwise I wouldn’t start it.”
And she was right. Faith is the hope for that which we cannot see, and belief that it is true, or will become true.
A true experiment is doing something for the first time, rather than just repeating something which others have done before, and left instructions to follow.
A true experiment needs faith, or a belief that what has never been done before, can be done now.
All the evidence of work that has gone before points in that direction, but no one can be certain of the outcome, as this particular version has never been tried. That is faith, just in a different area of life. When I was working in the lab, I made a lot of chemical compounds. The structure of these compounds was not visible to the naked eye, even under a microscope.
I had to rely on analytical techniques, which examined the compounds and gave a series of graphs.
I then had to interpret these graphs, and data sets from various sources, to say what the compound was, with a high degree of certainty.
I had to have belief that the data supplied, and the research which led to these machines being able to analyse my material, was correct, and to have faith that what I thought I had made was in fact correct, based on what the data showed.
Through the insightful eyes of an atheist colleague, I was able to see how much of a role faith plays in scientific research.
Perhaps when we talk about science and faith coming together, we should give more credit to the idea of scientific faith.
A belief in something which all previous experiments point towards, but has not yet been proven, drives all research.
This surely has similarities to the faith in the church. A belief in something which all our evidence points towards, which we put our faith and trust in.
Even if we cannot see it directly, those of us with faith know it exists.
Science and faith working in harmony can also be seen in a better-known Nineteenth Century scientist, Michael Farraday, a close friend of Thomas Andrews.
Farraday is best remembered for his work on electricity, and creating the electric motor. He was a Cambridge chemistry professor, and today his name is known for the Farraday constant or equation, which is (or at least was when I was at school) part of GCSE and A-level syllabus.
His name is also still used for the prestigious academic chemistry journal, ‘Farraday Discussions’.
Interestingly, the journal ‘Farraday
Discussions’ was born out of the letters written between Andrews and Farraday about their respective research interests on different sides of the Irish Sea.
These letters were on display as part of the Andrews grave dedication.
One final way Farraday’s name is remembered is Cambridge university’s ‘Farraday Institute for Science and Religion’, named after him because of his devout faith and immense scientific prowess.
As Andrews similarly was a practicing member of the Church of Ireland, I would love to peruse these letters to see if they ever discussed their faith, but alas, there are many days worth of reading in these letters, and they are not normally open to public viewing.
Thomas Andrews is remembered as an exceptional academic scientist by a Blue Plaque, a chair in the QUB School of Chemistry, and a room named after him in the David Keir Building.
To me however, he, along with his close friend Michael Farraday, serve as a reminder of just how close science and devotional faith actually are, especially in those with exceptional minds.
Scientific faith and devotional faith both lead to new and deeper understandings, and work exceptionally well in tandem.
As Hebrews 11:1 puts it, “Faith is hope in things unseen.”
This is true of both religious and scientific faith.
Rev. Mark is the Church of Ireland rector of Trory and Killadeas parishes.