The relationship between Heaven and Earth will collide as part of the Moonlighting Discourse Series at SUNY-ESF.

A free discussion entitled “Heaven and Earth: The Relationship between Religion and Science” will take place Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Gateway Center Event Space A and B at State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and is open to the general public.

Speakers for the event include Father George Coyne, McDevitt Chair of Religious Philosophy at Le Moyne College and former director of the Vatican Observatory, and Warren Allmon, director of the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca, New York, and a professor of Paleontology at Cornell University. The Daily Orange spoke with Coyne in a preview for Wednesday’s event. Allmon could not be reached.

The Daily Orange: What are you seeking to understand through the study of religion and science?

George Coyne: With science, we are seeking to understand the universe. The more we know, the more difficult and acute the questions become — it’s exciting! If we knew it all, we’d just spend our time napping under trees. With religion, I may ask a question like “What kind of God would make a universe like this?” I’m not mixing science and religion. I know the universe but I have fundamental faith. God did not make the cereal box, the car or the washing machine. He made a dynamic universe, which is participating in His creation as it goes on.

The D.O.: Are the two always in co-existence or can we separate them?

G.C.: You can definitely separate the two or bring them together; each of us walks our own walk. You can be an atheist and an excellent scientist. Not everybody has to be a religious believer. You can also be deeply religious and ignorant of science. Some may find science to be incompatible with their religious faith and there is no blame for that; it is just a different approach. They can also co-exist because science does not contradict the Bible; they are two different approaches to our vast array of human culture. The Bible tells beautiful stories of how the world began and these are truths, but they are not scientific truths.

The D.O.: A lot of arguments claim that science is fact-based while religion cannot be proved. What would you say to someone who takes this approach?

G.C.: I would ask them to tell me what proof means. I always correct my students when they say that we have proved the Big Bang Theory or we have proved Darwinian evolution. All we have in science is the best explanation for all of the data that we have to date. It is not perfect; we get more data and touch it up again. I don’t like the word proof. Religion is not proof that God exists — he is beyond our rationing ability. Proof in true religious faith goes beyond what we might call proof.

The D.O.: Can religion and science collide to discuss the supernatural?

G.C.: No. Science says I know nothing about that, because science is the natural explanation for natural events. Science does not do everything. There is a vast array of elements of human culture; why say that any one part of that culture is dominant? With respect to the supernatural idea that there is something beyond nature, it is not a question of whether it can be proven or not, but of accepting reality beyond what science studies. We should not have conflict over the fact that some believe and some do not; I say let’s have a drink and talk about it.

Published on October 20, 2015 at 10:01 pm

Contact Taylor: tnwatson@syr.edu