Can Science and Faith Be Friends? (You Don’t Have to Choose)
How Scripture and scientific discovery reveal the same God.
This is part of a weekly series called The Questions We All Carry: In Search of God, Truth, Beauty, and Meaning.
The cultural script often insists that you pick a side:
Either you believe in test tubes or in the Bible, in evolution or creation, in medicine or miracles. But this binary choice between faith or science is a false dilemma that’s more rooted in misinformation than reality.
All truth is God’s truth. Whether it’s uncovered in a lab or found in Scripture, truth has a single Author. When rightly understood, science and faith don’t contradict each other; they complement each other. The natural world, which science studies, and the Bible, which reveals theological truths, ultimately tell a cohesive story because God is the Creator of both.
The supposed conflict between science and Christianity often stems from confusion about what each is for. Science deals with the natural world. It describes the mechanisms of how things work. It is not designed to weigh in on the supernatural. On the other hand, Scripture isn’t a science manual; it speaks to meaning, purpose, and divine action, sometimes using poetic or non-technical language. Psalm 19 and Romans 1 declare that nature itself testifies about God – the heavens are "speaking" to us as they tell us about the Maker and Giver of all people, places, and things:
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands."
Theologians call this "general revelation" – God revealing Himself through His creation. The doctrine of "common grace" also tells us that God grants insight and wisdom to all human beings who bear His image, including those who may not believe in Him. The entire enterprise of science, then, can be seen as humanity – believers and nonbelievers alike, and together – exploring the work of God’s hands.
Historically, the myth of a war between science and faith doesn’t hold. Many founders of modern science were devout believers. Isaac Newton wrote more theology than physics. Johannes Kepler described his work as "thinking God's thoughts after Him." Boyle, Pascal, Mendel, and Faraday were people of prayer and scientific brilliance. Why did science thrive in Christian Europe? Because the Christian worldview posited an orderly universe, ruled by a rational Creator, making the search for laws of nature logical. As C.S. Lewis pointed out, belief in a rational Lawgiver made the idea of natural law plausible.
Even Galileo, often touted as an example of religion suppressing science, saw no contradiction. His conflict was with specific church leaders, not with Christianity itself. He famously wrote:
"The Bible tells us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go."
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Just as we don’t expect poetry to offer astrophysics, we shouldn’t treat Genesis as a biology textbook.
Science and faith are like lenses looking at the same world from different angles. Science asks how. Faith asks why. One describes the process, the other the purpose. Science can tell you how a heart pumps blood; it cannot tell you whether it is good to love someone. Science tells you the mechanism; faith tells you the meaning.
Science explains the system. Faith explains the story.
Consider love. Science can measure its chemical signatures in the brain, but it cannot say whether or why we should love sacrificially. For that, we need a moral and spiritual framework. Likewise, Genesis 1:1 doesn’t explain quantum mechanics. It declares: “In the beginning, God created.” That’s not a contradiction. It’s a category distinction.
Christians have a variety of views on origins. Some see Genesis as compatible with an old earth and evolutionary processes. Others hold to a young-earth view. Still others believe in Intelligent Design or theistic evolution. While differing in interpretation, they share a commitment to Scripture and to engaging science faithfully. The disagreements are internal and intramural – not about whether science matters, but how best to align it with Scripture.
The same goes for miracles. Yes, science studies repeatable patterns and natural laws. But Christians believe God created those laws and can, when He chooses, suspend them. A miracle is not anti-science; it is simply above science’s pay grade. The resurrection of Jesus doesn’t defy reason if you accept that God exists and is the Author of life itself. It simply sits beyond what science alone can test.
Even so, many scientists today affirm both faith and science. Francis Collins, who led the Human Genome Project, calls DNA "the language of God." John Polkinghorne was a theoretical physicist who became an Anglican priest. For these thought leaders, science didn’t erode faith; it deepened it.
Some of us might be surprised to learn that many of the core assumptions behind science – like the universe being orderly, truth being real, and our minds being capable of understanding reality – fit more easily within a theistic worldview than with strict naturalism. If our brains are just survival tools shaped by blind evolution, why trust them to unravel the complexities of quantum physics or the laws of nature?
Marilynne Robinson puts it this way:
“The mind is not, I think, a ghost in the machine, nor is it a machine. It is the ground of meaning, the locus of awe and understanding, the source of language, and the wellspring of what we call the human spirit. To reduce it to chemistry or instinct is to lose sight of what makes science possible in the first place—the capacity to wonder, to question, and to recognize truth when we see it.”
In everyday life, faith and science work together. People pray and take medicine. They thank God for healing – and for doctors. They thank God for the ability to travel – and for vehicle innovators and mechanics. None of this is a contradiction; it’s an acknowledgment that God can work through both natural processes and supernatural grace. Rain can be a weather event and an answer to prayer. In the same way, scientific discovery can be seen as uncovering the intricacies of God’s design.
Organizations like BioLogos (founded by Collins), Reasons to Believe, and the Discovery Institute all reflect various faith-based approaches to science. They don’t always agree, but they all affirm that science and Christian faith are not enemies.
The more we learn about water, earth, and sky through science, the more wonder we experience concerning the God who said, “Let there be…” and there was.
Reality is like a book. Science studies the pages. Faith acknowledges the Author. Or imagine a lamp. Science can describe the mechanics of the bulb and electrical current. Faith tells you who built the lamp and why it shines.
Both angles are true. And both bring glory to God. The more we study cells, stars, and systems, the more awe we feel. Psalm 111:2 says, “Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.” A scientist who is a Christian does exactly that – studies the works of the Lord, with delight.
You don’t have to choose between God and gravity, prayer and penicillin, Genesis and the genome.
You can honor God with your mind and your microscope.
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