Galileo And Other Faithful Scientists

Popes rarely apologize. So it was big news in October when John Paul II made a speech vindicating Galileo Galilei. In 1633 the Vatican put the astronomer under house arrest for writing, against church orders, that the earth revolves around the sun. The point of the papal statement was not to concede the obvious fact that Galileo was right about the solar system. Rather, the Pope wanted to restore and honor Galileo's standing as a good Christian. In the 17th century, said the Pope, theologians failed to distinguish between belief in the Bible and interpretation of it. Galileo contended that the Scriptures cannot err but are often misunderstood. This insight, said John Paul, made the scientist a wiser theologian than his Vatican accusers. More than a millennium before Galileo, St. Augustine had taught that if the Bible seems to conflict with "clear and certain reasoning," the Scriptures obviously need reinterpretation.

The Pope's speech was the latest episode in the age-old struggle to reconcile science and religion. The year's most intriguing book about God was produced not by theologians but by 60 world-class scientists, 24 Nobel prizewinners among them. Cosmos, Bios, Theos gives their thoughts on the Deity and the origin of the universe and of life on earth. For instance, the co- editor, Yale physicist Henry Margenau, concludes that there is "only one convincing answer" for the intricate laws that exist in nature: creation by an omnipotent, omniscient God. While many scientists are skeptics or are still seeking their own theologies, others are true believers -- not just in some mysterious cosmic force but in the God of the Bible or the Koran.

Religious leaders generally value scientists, whether believers or not, for their curious bent and careful explorations of the mechanisms behind the Almighty's work. Though determined Fundamentalists adhere to creationism, most Christian denominations no longer demand strictly literal interpretation of - the Genesis creation account. Catholicism encourages pursuit of scientific knowledge but opposes certain applications, from artificial contraceptives to human genetic engineering.

Some scholars bridge the gap between religion and science in the mode of Gregor Mendel, the 19th century Austrian monk who discovered basic laws of heredity. Stanley Jaki of New Jersey's Seton Hall University is both priest and physicist. He believes that science can describe the Big Bang beginning of the universe but is incapable of fathoming the ultimate origins of matter and energy, which will always come under the realm of religion. George Coyne, a Jesuit astrophysicist who directs the Vatican Observatory, warns against reducing science to religion, or vice versa. For instance, when the Big Bang theory was brand new, Pope Pius XII wrote that "scientists are beginning to find the finger of God in the creation of the universe." Coyne thinks the Pope was wrong to "take a scientific conclusion and interpret it in favor of supporting a theological doctrine." Working scientists "don't need God for our scientific understanding of the universe," he says, because "we don't pretend to have all the ultimate answers."