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This is a very old problem.  St Thomas Aquinas sought to reconcile science
with religion by dividing it into two realms that could not contradict
each other (reason and revelation).  To Aquinas God was a matter of faith
and not of proof.  Moreover,  he thought to be able to scientifically
prove God would destroy the beauty and value of faith.  After all if you
can prove it scientifically, then what's the point of believing? 

Newton who wrote on Noah's Ark and the Temple (yes, like many scientists
he was religious) in  ancient Jerusalem made a crucial step when he
explained gravity.  Until the scientific revolution a frequent answer to
why anything happened was the ultimate cause-God willed it.  Newton chose
to skip ultimate causes (the whys) and considered the hows and derived the
relationship of force, mass and acceleration that we enjoy today.  I find
it more useful than his work on the Ark.

A more modern approach suggests that a supreme being can not be proven
scientifically because the scientist can not isolate any instance where
God is not present.  That is by definition a supreme being includes
omniscience and omnipresence.  How could we ever isolate a miracle and
then reproduce it?  If we could- would we need God or be God?

I tend to like Aquinas's approach, the realm of reason and revelation are
mutually exclusive -science and faith are both wonderful things but for
different needs.  Science deals with what we can understand and faith
deals with the supernatural or what we can not understand.  Of course, I
have had students who told me that they could prove that God exists and
they understood his plan (I could hear Aquinas rolling over in his grave).
 Let the theologians deal with that and I will continue to rely on science
and faith.

Dr. Mac Sudduth
Coordinator of Science Grants
Premier DeKalb County Schools
Department of Research and Evaluation
3770 N. Decatur Road
Decatur, Georgia 30032-1099
678-676-0675
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