I have started to write these notes because I feel that I must get down on paper some of the thinking that has occupied a significant part of my mind for some years.

As a scientist I find great pleasure in seeing ordered explanations of things. Everything is carefully explained and there seems no room for doubt.

We all know that life is not like that. Most things happen in a jumbled way and there are very few occasions where decisions and reasons are clear and unambiguous.

This is the way with these notes. They are not in any particular order. It may be possible to organise them better later. I just intend to write things down as I think of them. I'm sure that by the time I've got my thoughts ordered enough to present them properly it will be too late to write them down.

So here we go.

Preface for St Andrew's Parish Magazine Tiverton Devon added 27th July

Back in March Fr Paul wrote a note on Religion and Science that encapsulated in a compact and positive way the "view from the pulpit". As a scientist who has an active exploring interest in religion I felt the urge to express the "view from the laboratory" in a similar way. Unfortunately I am far less efficient with words and my writings have expanded into several short notes. Each time I write something down I feel the need to explain something else and the notes tend to breed! So I have gathered them together under the complementary title of Science and Religion.

This is a copy of the original article. I have typed it in for two reasons. The first is to remind me of its essential simplicity of structure and the second to get a good measure of the amount of words that can be fitted on a page of the magazine.

Religion and science have not always enjoyed an amicable relationship. Some scientists have discarded the need to believe in any hypothesis which involves God. Some Christians are wary of scientific research because of the probability of it undermining their faith.

However, other scientists have seen in the order and design of the universe evidence for a creator. Yet others have remained Christians as their findings have increased their sense of wonder and awe.

Those that believe that they can embrace both God and science have sought ways in which the two can be held together. There was a time when people divided the universe into two separate realms with science being responsible for one and God for the other but time showed that science could not be restricted in this way. Thus as the sphere of science increased the domain of God decreased towards insignificance

Another way of approaching the problem was to see science and religion as addressing the same issues from different points of view. Thus conflict between the two could be resolved by recognising this fact. Religion was usually seen as tackling the question "why?" whilst science was normally concerned with the "how?" questions. This approach is still of some use.

However we cannot really separate theology and science. For there are questions that emerge which directly link the two disciplines. For example "Is the idea of God as consistent and faithful compatible with the world revealed by science?" Thus boundaries between religion and science cannot be neatly drawn.

Obviously questions such as the above are hardly easy ones to answer. Yet theologians and scientists have grappled with these difficult issues and found meaning and that religion and science are not mutually incompatible. Indeed, they inform each other. Further, God cannot be pushed out of any sphere of life - He is not just the God of religion he is also the God of science.

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