This is my first recorded presentation on Psalm 19 and the Heavens Declare the Glory of God. It was presented to Main Street Baptist Church in May of 2019. In this talk, I show how faith in Christianity started to decline in the early 2000’s. Part of the reason given in Pew Research, Barna, the American Pastor’s Network, et. al. is the perceived conflict between science and faith in young Americans.
From these surveys, we get solid, statistical evidence that Science is one of the wedges separating the upcoming generations from their faith in Christ. Often young Christians may feel they face a choice – their faith or their profession. And the survey tells us that about 75% are walking away from their faith.
Think about this question for a moment. Where have nearly everyone from Generation X and younger gotten the bulk of their scientific education from? From our public schools where they spend about 35 hours per week being immersed in a secular education. An education that teaches there can only be naturalistic explanations for how life began. And again, humans aren’t special. Teachers can’t teach creationism in our public schools. Teachers can’t teach intelligent design either. Nor can they teach about the weaknesses in neo-Darwinian theory.
And these same students get less than 2 hours a week in religious education at their churches and virtually no classes on the harmony between science and the Bible.
Are we not surprised that this is the case? I would put forth that we should be surprised that it took so long for this drop in religious faith to occur.
So, what can we Christians and specifically we apologists do about it? I would like to suggest that the conflict between Science and Faith is man-made. This conflict is fueled by ideologies that seek to perpetuate this conflict.
- Use science to show the beauty and majesty of God’s creation
- Emphasize that the same God who created everything from subatomic particles to galaxies also created them
- We can show young people that there is harmony between scripture and science i.e. dual revelation.
Psalm 19 Astronomy Society 