A Calling 

By Linda Morabito

As an undergraduate at the University of Southern California majoring in Astronomy, I dreamed of specializing in cosmology. The then chairman of the Department of Astronomy suggested that I work at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for summer employment prior to even receiving my bachelor’s of science degree in Astronomy. Ultimately, I spent many years at JPL as a senior engineer and a science investigator on several NASA planetary exploration missions. In March of 1979, during the Voyager 1 mission to Jupiter, I made the discovery of the active volcanism on Jupiter’s moon Io.

My interest in the next generation of scientists eventually brought me to an adjunct teaching position in mathematics and astronomy at Victor Valley College, in the high desert in Southern California. By 2012, my original aspirations in astrophysics were realized, when God directed me to assist a Cern physicist who has made some promising breakthroughs while at Cern in the search for a Theory of Everything to unify quantum mechanics with General Relativity.  

I have had the privilege of meeting and working with some of the finest scientists in the world, while fulfilling many of my lifelong dreams in space exploration and cosmology, in a truly blessed career.  However, over time, seemingly in contrast to this, I learned about some tragic events that my family had been involved in during my very early childhood. Once I had fully researched the events in part through Canada’s RCMP, I became aware I had been blessed by many miracles in regards to our Lord and Savior of the Bible, that had helped me to survive my early childhood. Since the Lord uses all things for good, my calling is to reach out to my fellow scientists who are not Christians, for their salvation in Jesus Christ.

An Invitation

As scientists who are Christians, my husband astronomer David Meyer and I have been fortunate enough to learn about the ASA/CSCA and CWIS (Christian Women In Science).  We have recently read “How You Can Help Young Christians in Science” by Jennifer J. Wiseman. The report was originally published as part of a longer edition of the “Young Scientists’ Corner” of ASA’s journal Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith.1 It can also be found in a CWIS blog of the same title.

Dave and I are extremely impressed by this report as we are with so many of the resources on the ASA website. Despite being written in 1999, “How You Can Help Young Christians in Science” directly addresses our current motivations for reaching fellow scientists with the Gospel. I find some of the points in the report raised about this outreach to nonbelieving scientists have taken on an even broader context through my experiences with science students in our classes, and with fellow scientists in the places where I have participated in science research.

In the report, a contributor is quoted as saying, “I think the most important outreach of the ASA is to nonbelieving scientists.” I could not agree more. I would venture that this contributor may know first-hand how troubling it can be to young and aspiring scientists when they come face-to-face with an influential and established scientist who sees antipathy between science and religion. I find it is still the case that any young scientist will encounter or read about influential, established scientists who do not see themselves as stewards of a Universe created by God.  

Each semester, one or more students have approached us independently with concerns that include what another science professor has expressed to them in class.  One young woman even shared that her biology professor had requested that Christians identify themselves by raising their hands on the first day of class.  He then informed them that by the end of his course when they had learned the material he intended to teach them, they would not be Christians anymore.  

More than 60 percent of the aspiring young scientists who have approached us are women, but both men and women share these types of concerns. The majority of the students, both men and women, also question the role of the science of evolution vs. the creation of the Universe and all living things within it, by God, and the age of the Universe as has been determined by astronomers, that appears to be completely inconsistent with the age of the Universe as determined through Genesis.  They are desperately seeking insight that makes sense to them to respond to these issues raised by Christian peers not in the sciences or by their own doubts about their faith or about science.

In the context of outreach specifically designed for nonbelieving scientists, if young students find means of support through the ASA and mentors who are established scientists who are Christians, they will be enabled to stand strong against discrimination against them in secular academic institutions or in purely research settings. However, whether entering science or not, young Christian students by their Christian beliefs are saved.

On the other hand, established unbelieving scientists who may possibly seek to intimidate young Christian scientists, are not saved.  As a Christian woman in science who is aware of so many scientists who are not Christian, I have wondered if God might be missing His scientist children in heaven.  I am fond of many of my nonbelieving colleagues and respectful of their work in science. Because they have resisted the Holy Spirit’s work to know that Jesus is the Son of God, it is difficult for me to even think about their eternal life in light of the beliefs we hold so dear in our Christian faith, without trying to do something about it.

A Brave New World

In terms of choosing a scientific vocation in a changing world, the report states, “Young Christians in the sciences can no longer simply follow the conventional steps of a scientific career path without understanding the bigger picture of the direction and global implications of science and technology.” Aptly, the report addresses the implications of the motives of those providing the funding and support that inevitably direct science. It is possible that my most recent experiences in research are contained within the various considerations the report mentions that might sway a young scientist’s need for stable job support, such as money and job availability.  But, to state it explicitly because of its importance, young Christian researchers must remember what science is.

Recently, some scientists are seeking to define scientific truth through hypotheses that are being advanced to the status of theory that are not supported by experiment results, but by criteria of truth based upon mathematical elegance, for example.2 One effect of this seems to be that alternative lines of reasoning in physics tend to dry up in a climate where thought processes (what we perceive as truth) dominate explanations of the workings of the physical universe. Researchers rush to new directions before questions have even been addressed on previous directions that arise and fall quickly, as time is not a factor when experimental guidance on physical properties of the universe is no longer a prerequisite for scientific truth.3

To compound the complexities of seeking a career in scientific research young scientists who wish to pursue alternative thinking to scientific truths deemed so by elegance might indeed become casualties against a large majority, as they try to preserve the integrity of science itself.  In this brave new world of self-interest, it is possible that such missteps in entire global communities of physicists or other researchers can take place because of a paradigm where a moral compass or a goal of blessing humanity as discoverers of the Universe’s truths to glorify God, is absent.

The issues that young scientists must deal with and overcome are complicated to the extreme when established researchers leave “proven “ science behind and become philosophically guided on what the future of science holds, often in opposition to belief in the God of the Bible (scientism).  Scientism and extreme self-interest may not flourish in scientists who recognize a different responsibility through their Christian beliefs. Established scientists hold many keys to the doors to their own fate and the fate of others.

What Can be Done?

Astutely, the compiled report states, “… we recognize that some popular methods of sharing the Gospel are not appropriate or helpful for our scientific friends,” and goes on to state, “clear materials, which would introduce our friends to the Christian faith while embracing modern scientific discoveries are needed.” I could not agree more that in thoughtful consideration, scientists who are Christians manifestly need such materials when they speak at churches to familiarize Christians with God’s glory as seen through scientific discoveries about this wondrous Universe God has given us to explore. Christian children and our religious leaders must be given an understanding of how science, medicine, engineering and mathematics have contributed to aid the human condition all over the world.  

The issue is much murkier, however, for scientists who have the power of their minds, their main instrument for discerning scientific discovery to apply their human logic to situations in regards to Christian faith they might ironically find incomprehensible.  They may have encountered historical claims misguided human beings have made when they do very bad things in the name of God.  Scientists will point to tragedy in the world and reason that no loving God would have allowed things like natural disasters or catastrophic illness to happen.  They see dismissive attitudes on the part of some Christians toward “what seems clear from scientific discovery.”

The nature of science is perhaps more easily communicated even to those who may reject it, because it has been reaffirmed historically as “(ideally) devoted to the pursuit of Truth” on Earth.  Again, consider too, that a rejection of science by a Christian does not affect whether or not they are saved.  Ironically, it is these most intellectually powerful of individuals who have worked diligently throughout their lives to improve their understanding of the Universe and upon whose shoulders we as scientists stand, that in the absence of any contemporary understanding of science as the stewardship of God’s Creations to His Glory, make them most at risk for not comprehending what the nature of our Christian faith really is.  

With so many perspectives stemming from naturalism, relativism, and within Christianity itself, in what way might it be best to reach out to scientific peers?  Certainly, for a nonbelieving scientist to know that the findings of science are not rejected by a particular faith is welcoming.  However, is that truly the basis upon which a scientist will not reject The Holy Spirit’s work that we seek for these fellows we call friend and whose scientific minds we cherish as much as our own?

I do not believe that Christians go to church to learn about the latest scientific discoveries. Nor do I believe that scientists wish to check their latest findings in research for accuracy within the Bible. In our own lives as Christians each of us has been able to mix our Christianity with our scientific endeavors likely because we have resolved any conflict for ourselves between science and our faith. Only then do we become comfortable worshipping God by performing our research and teaching science in the context of giving Glory to God. How can we remove the conflict in the minds of nonbelieving scientists?

Dave and I have done our best to disarm the nonbelieving scientist with a look within Genesis to remove the conflict between science and religion. This helps the young Christian scientist to diffuse the intimidation from scientism as a misguided endeavor that reflects that the particular scientist is not up on the latest perspectives and is therefore speaking from ignorance. From the perspective of our colleagues it might pique enough curiosity our nonbelieving peers may have to continue to read on; just a few more pages in a very short book, written by two scientists.  Frankly, we believe our non-believing peers are curious by their scientific natures as we all are, and anxious to debunk anything we perceive as nonsense or nonsensical.

They have a powerful sense of logic and their curiosity may find what they have read so far is logical.  They may continue on to find what is more easily debunked in the coming few pages.  What they read may resonate within them apart from the religious aspects that to that point have no relevance to them anyway.  If some of the personal insights into their thinking ring true within a book on Christianity, a tiny amount of change might be affected within them. These personal insights are based upon the Truth that resonates in Jesus Christ, who is the Way and the Truth. Perhaps the next time God reaches toward them to take His hand, the work of the Holy Spirit might be done in them.  Our contribution is a small book we have entitled “The Invitation; Christianity for Men and Women of Science, A Miracle for our Time” written for nonbelieving scientists who receive the book from caring fellows.4

I am wondering if like our young counterparts, Christians just entering science, some of us might be willing to question a colleagues’ potential failure on cosmic scales to find salvation in Jesus Christ? Can we take our example from young scientists questioning us about things that concern them in regards to careers in science?  If we take the concern for our nonbelieving colleagues as if it were concern for ourselves, can we act as the brave young students who do speak up about the reservations about their own future? Should we tell our nonbelieving colleagues about our concern for them at the end of their days? The answer to this and all things is in the Bible.

In 2 Corinthians Paul expresses to the Corinthians there are consequences if they did not understand the nature of the Gospel they had been told about, after trying to guide them tirelessly in 1 and 2 Corinthians. “So, whatever you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” (1 Cor 10:31)  

Notes

1Jennifer J. Wiseman, “How You Can Help Young Christians in Science,” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, Vol. 51, No. 1 (March 1999).

2George Ellis & Joe Silk, “Scientific Method: Defend the Integrity of physics,” Nature, Vol. 516, Issue 7531, Comment (16 December 2014).

3M. Shifman, “Reflections and Impressionistic Portrait at the Conference “Frontiers Beyond the Standard Model,” FTPI, Oct.2012” (22 November 2012) http://arxiv.org/abs/1211.0004

4David Meyer and Linda Morabito Meyer, The Invitation; Christianity for Men and Women of Science, A Miracle for our Time (California: Heavens an imprint of SciRel Publishing 2014).