Science and Religion Playing Nice

SCIENCE & RELIGION Playing Nice

Teachers John Hough and Sean Leugers ’96 will spend one week on the University of Notre Dame campus this summer. They will study teaching methods that enhance the dialogue between science and religion and challenge the notion that the two disciplines are in conflict in Catholic education. Science teachers will learn how to engage the Catholic vision of creation and the human person while upholding the integrity and value of independent scientific investigation. Religion teachers will explore how science informs and enhances their appreciation of God’s creation and action. “I have always been passionate about both science and my Catholic faith. This program offers us the opportunity to unite our Catholic faith and science. One of the main reasons young people leave the Church is the belief that science and faith are opposites,” said science teacher Sean Leugers. “This program at the McGrath Institute will guide us in integrating both faith and science throughout our curriculum at Moeller. Students will see and experience our Catholic faith and science as complementary ways of knowing, loving, and serving God.” “Book of Nature and the Book of Scripture, both of which point to and reveal the invisible God who is both transcendent to and immanent in the world. Despite the complementarity accorded to faith and reason in Catholic Tradition, the modern period has been marked by misunderstanding and conflict that has polarized science and religion. While acknowledging areas of tension and the need for respecting the integrity of the disciplines, the Science & Religion Initiative at the McGrath Institute for Church Life attends to areas where dialogue between religion and science can be fruitful and where integration is possible.”

Source: McGrath.nd.edu