Religion vs. science is a flawed dichotomy

Richard Dawkins and Jesus walk into a bar ...

Next time you’re bored, ask a die-hard atheist who proposed the Big Bang theory. The answer? Georges Lemaitre, a Belgian physicist and Catholic priest. The notion that a priest could not only believe in but propose such a theory is sure to shock many.

Thanks to the fringes of Christianity, like our visitor with the guitar a few weeks ago, an entire religion has been made into an anti-scientific people who think the earth is 4,600 years old. Both of these claims are ridiculous, but they generate press because they provide laughs for those of us with common sense.

These few people, however, cause a huge problem. They are the catalyst for non-Christians to categorize all who believe in Christ as bigoted individuals who think that anything discovered in a lab is the work of Satan.

This is a laughable claim.

Unfortunately, for another recent campus visitor, Richard Dawkins, his mind is just as closed as those “foolish” Christians to which he refers. Just as Christians who make these claims damage the religion and its relationship with science, scientists who readily dismiss religion inflict the same amount of damage upon science and its relationship with religion.

This false dichotomy of religion vs. science is a myth that needs to be put to bed. The truth is that science and religion work harmoniously. The book of Genesis does not undermine the Big Bang theory or the theory of evolution, nor is the inverse true.

We should also be careful when thinking Dawkin’s speaking on campus is “free speech, exposing us to different viewpoints” and the preacher is “spewing hate.” If we are going to accept one extreme, we must accept the other.

Anyone who thinks he or she possesses superior intellect to argue that “everything came from nothing until it exploded” as opposed to “God created all” or vice versa was probably dropped as a baby. The rest of us should head to Kirkwood and be grateful that God was kind enough to cause the Big Bang, thereby starting evolution, which resulted in Kilroy’s and Nick’s.

Ryan Short, IU junior