Science and Faith Conversations

Pastor Milan Gulgeta

Reconciling science and religion on the 150th anniversary of Darwin's ‘On the Origin of Species.’

‘Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind’ said Albert Einstein in 1941. His words express the sentiment of the themes that were considered every Saturday evening in March 2009 at Leamington Spa Seventh-day Adventist Church. As Darwin’s anniversary generated interest in discussion between science and faith, Leamington Spa church engaged the local community in this debate. After a brief presentation people would split into discussion groups. At most of the meetings there was a need to create more discussion groups than was planned. It was a wonderful experience to see how the people from the church and those who could be considered as non-believers could sit together and discuss their views openly in a mutually respectful manner.

The first meeting began by looking at how the phenomenon of ‘Light’ is understood by the science of Physics and contrasted with how it is perceived from a faith perspective. The final meeting focused on looking at how Christ’s resurrection may be seen from the perspective of Physics.

After the series ended, the discussion groups continued meeting weekly discussing Isaac Newton’s views on the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. The meetings closed in late summer 2009. It was a great blessing to be a part of this experience.