CENTER FOR THEOLOGY AND THE NATURAL SCIENCES
The universe is more mysterious than either science or religion can
ever fully disclose, and the urgencies of humankind and the natural environment
demand an honest interaction between the discoveries of nature, the empowerment
afforded us by appropriate technology, the inherent value of the environment,
and the demand that we commit ourselves to a future in which all species
can flourish. We can no longer afford the stalemate of past centuries between
theology and science, for this leaves nature Godless and religion worldless.
When this happens, our culture, hungering after science for something to
fill the void of its lost spiritual resources, is easy prey to New Age
illusions wrapped in scientific-sounding language -- the 'cosmic self-realization
movement' and the 'wow of physics' -- while our 'denatured' religion, attempting
to correct social wrong and to provide meaning and support for life's journey,
is incapable of making its moral claims persuasive or its spiritual comfort
effective because its cognitive claims are not credible. Nor can we allow
science and religion to be seen as adversaries, for they will be locked
in a conflict of mutual conquest, such as "creation science"
which costs religion its credibility or a philosophical stance of "scientific
materialism" which costs science its innocence....
Excerpted from the Mission Statement of the Center for Theology and
the Natural Sciences, Berkeley, California