As a recent college graduate, I am well acquainted with the struggles facing students grappling with questions of science, faith, and worldview. This is why I am encouraged to see emerging groups, including some of the world's greatest scientific minds, making it their project to offer help along the way. Three standouts: Veritas Forum, Faraday Institute, and BioLogos.

The Veritas Forum:
This organization works to draw universities into conversations exploring life's hardest questions and Jesus Christ's relevance to all aspects of life. Students and faculty at over 80 campuses nationwide collaborate with Veritas to present expert perspective, initiate lively debates, and address questions and doubts.

This year I have worked with graduate students at the University of California San Francisco to put on a local Veritas event. This past Wednesday night, a crowd gathered in a UCSF auditorium for a presentation by Ard Louis, Royal Society University Research Fellow and reader in Theoretical Physics, Oxford University. His topic: "Science: A Finite Piece of an Infinite Truth."

Dr. Louis presented two opposing standpoints held by distinguished members of the scientific community regarding the limits of science. Oxford Chemist, Peter Atkins argues: "There is no reason to expect that science cannot deal with any aspect of existence." On the flip side, Sir Peter Medawar observes: "That there is indeed a limit upon science is made very likely by the existence of questions that science cannot answer and that no conceivable advance of science would empower it to answer."

Louis' take is that the scientific tool chest does have limits when it comes to obtaining reliable knowledge about life and the world, and that acknowledging these limits is not a sign of weakness for science. Sir Medewar agrees, arguing that, "Science is a great and glorious enterprise - the most successful, I argue, that human beings have ever engaged in. To reproach it for its inability to answer all the questions we should like to put to it is no more sensible than to reproach a railway locomotive for not flying or, in general, not performing any other operation for which it was not designed." 

There are limits to what science can explain, regardless of how ambitious its goals, because of the inherent limitation of language, scientific tools, and human experience. As a newlywed, Louis offered the relevant case of marriage as a case in point. Materially speaking, he observed, you may know the physical composition of a potential mate very well (say enough phosphorous for 2,000 matches, enough chlorine to disinfect a swimming pool, and enough fat to make anywhere from 0.1 to 10 bars of soap). To say that a loved one is "nothing but" this compilation of ingredients is to miss the essence of the person altogether. There is a different category of essential information, and at some point an informed step of faith, necessary to make the decision to marry this person.  After he did his "due diligence", at some point he had to venture into the unknown and trust or lose the chance.

As much as you may know about marriage and your prospective partner, there is no way to comprehend what it means to be married to them without taking the step into marriage. Louis noted that a similar principle applies as we investigate faith. We can learn about God through theology and the world, yet we must take the step and open ourselves up to God before we can truly know Him.

Science, likewise limited by human experience, must venture into the unknown and trust when it is not certain. Louis points out that science is much less certain of itself than it appears to be.  Science assumes that the universe is uniform, rational, and intelligible, but it does not know this with certainty.  Take uniformity.  Science has no proof that its laws apply equally everywhere in the universe.  How could it?  Scientists have not been everywhere in the universe to perform the experiments necessary to confirm uniformity.  It is simply science's best-case assessment that it is true and it proceeds with reasoned faith that uniformity is consistent throughout the universe. 

The Faraday Institute:
Our same Dr. Louis serves as an associate at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, created to reach the public with accurate, accessible information on science and religion.  The Institute is named after the 19th century Christian British scientist Michael Faraday, whose work made electricity useful in technology.  Albert Einstein kept a photograph of Faraday on his study wall alongside pictures of Isaac Newton and James Maxwell.

Faraday was known in Victorian England for his infectiously enthusiastic science lectures, which established rapport with non-specialist audiences. While Faraday rarely alluded to religion during public addresses, his message of faith was built into the sense of wonder that he set out to evoke by revealing remarkable properties of God's world.

As Faraday argued in a memorandum (1844) on the nature of matter: 'God has been pleased to work in his material creation by laws' and 'the Creator governs his material works by definite laws resulting from the forces impressed on matter. The laws of nature, as we understand them, are the foundations of our knowledge of natural things', he told the audience at one of his lectures.

Continuing Faraday's legacy, today's institute publishes expert perspectives and provides short-term courses, seminars, and lectures meant to reach the media and public.

BioLogos:
I had the chance to hear about BioLogos firsthand as founder Francis Collins introduced the enterprise to a group of young Christian graduates, professionals, and cultural leaders at the Trinity Forum Academy's winter conference last year. As the former head of the Human Genome Project and the current director of the United States National Institute of Health, Collins speaks with the highest credibility to the truly complementary relationship between science and faith.

Collins created the BioLogos Foundation in order to promote the search for truth in both the natural and spiritual realms, and seeks to harmonize these different perspectives. Since its inception, the BioLogos team has compiled the most essential, common, and challenging questions that expose the crux of the relationship between science and faith, and posted these questions along with thoughtful, informed responses on their website. With its interactive model, BioLogos distills detailed, expert insight into an engaging, comprehensible resource. Once again, Ard Louis stands among the ranks of distinguished contributors to BioLogos, speaking to topics such as the interpretation of Genesis, Intelligent Design, and Irreducible Complexity.

Students, parents, and all thinkers alike have their work cut out to sort through prejudices, confusion, and distraction to formulate a thoughtful and informed worldview that includes the best of Biblical and scientific scholarship. The good news is that stellar resources are available. Get to know the experts who want to equip you for the expedition.  Most importantly, don't be afraid to share what you are learning with those around you.

Ard Louis on Irreducible Complexity (Video Link)

http://biologos.org/resources/ard-louis-on-irreducible-complexity/

BioLogos Foundation Invites Others into the Big Conversation

Dr. Francis Collins established The BioLogos Foundation to address the escalating culture war between science and faith in the United States. On one end of the spectrum, “new atheists” argue that science removes the need for God. On the other end, religious fundamentalists argue that the Bible requires us to reject many of the conclusions of modern science. Many people — including scientists and believers in God — do not find these extreme options attractive.

BioLogos represents the harmony of science and faith. It addresses the central themes of science and religion and emphasizes the compatibility of Christian faith with scientific discoveries about the origins of the universe and life. To communicate this message to the general public and add to the ongoing dialog, The BioLogos Foundation created BioLogos.org.

http://biologos.org/resources/audio-video

http://biologos.org/about

Does Science Have Limits? - Dr. Ard Louis

Campus groups across the country are challenging University students to engage cultural issues through sponsorship of specific events that bring their campus community into direct conversation with Christian intellectuals on key topics.

Recently, researcher and Faraday Institute Associate, Ard Louis was invited to speak at Stanford University. The event was sponsored by a consortium of Christian groups that included, Stanford Graduate Student Council, Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship, Inter Varsity Graduate Christian Fellowship,Stanford Catholic Community, Cornerstone, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, and co-sponsored by the Veritas Forum chapter at Stanford.

Video Link:
http://louisonscience.stanford.edu/video.shtml

We create forums for the exploration of true life. We seek to inspire the shapers of tomorrow's culture to connect their hardest questions with the person and story of Jesus Christ.

http://www.veritas.org/about/

God and Complexity: Ard Louis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EblNrNVHi4

Click here to search multimedia offerings from the Faraday Institute for Science & Religion
http://graphite.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/faraday/Multimedia.php

Who was Michael Faraday?

The Faraday Institute is named after Michael Faraday because he combined a deep religious faith with an outstanding scientific career. At the same time Faraday was a very effective communicator of the latest findings in science in the public domain, an exemplar of how to cross inter-disciplinary boundaries.

Faraday Institute

http://graphite.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/faraday/Faraday.php

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