Twenty children, six educators, a mother, and a gunman dead in Newtown, CT.  Across the United States there has been an outpouring of grief.  At our congregation’s inner-city school, with 230 children from infants to 8th grade, the tragedy has struck very close to home.  We have been reflecting on all our lock-down drills and how very real those drills could become one day. Two nights ago we heard the reaction of the President of the United States: “We can’t tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change.”  But what does that mean?  The   More…

A recent “Ask a Pastor” asked the following: I was wondering if the Steadfast in Science writer could address where the theory of evolution is wrong in a scientific manner. Scripture passages, although applicable to the believer, won’t suffice in conversations that I have. Thank you!   Unfortunately, there is not an easy answer to that question. In many ways it’s tantamount to asking someone to demonstrate, scientifically, how “chocolaty” a chocolate milkshake is. Or to demonstrate, scientifically, that life exists only on earth and nowhere else in the universe. Everything depends on what you mean by “scientifically.” What I   More…

Evolution, akin to religion, involves making certain a priori or metaphysical assumptions, which at some level cannot be proven empirically… I think the best way to deal with creationism, but the way to deal with evolution also, is not to deny these facts, but to recognize them.” Dr. Michael Ruse A couple of science stories came across my desktop this week that highlighted a perennial issue in scientific research: what constitutes “good science”?  Is it research that supports the prevailing wisdom?  What then if the prevailing paradigm is wrong?  Is it research that can be shown to be “unbiased”?  Who then   More…

Lutherans have always been great about arguing the fine points of theological minutiae.  This is important, as painful as it may sometimes sound.  The gift that God has given us in His revelation of Himself in Christ is the most precious one we have in the world.  Without it we have no true wisdom, no true knowledge.  To safeguard that revelation is worth considerable time and effort. You may ask, then, why a blog about science?  Why not let the scientists be scientists, and let the theologians be theologians?  Many confessional Lutherans are happy to “agree to disagree” when it   More…

Humans have always loved to simplify complex theories and ideas with nicknames.  Physicist Fred Boyle referred to the theory that the universe expanded from a singularity with the derogatory phrase “the Big Bang.”  Einstein referred colloquially to the phenomenon of “quantum entanglement” as “spooky action at a distance.”  In 1993 physicist Leon Lederman wrote a book to explain another idea in physics, the Higgs field.  The concept, originally named for British physicist Peter Higgs, needed a splashier name: the “God particle” was born. Of course the Higgs field and the elementary particles that presumably constitute it, Higgs bosons, don’t have   More…