A little faith in velocity
St. Michael’s new course covers science and religion

Cameron Dexter | staff editor
cdexter@smcvt.edu

St. Michael’s College has a new interdisciplinary course that brings science and religion into the same classroom and asks students to bring their opinions to the table. 

The course is being taught by religious studies professor James Byrne and biology professor Douglas Green.

Prof. Douglas Green, a professor in the Biology department. Larry Frisoli, photo

The course represents the ongoing dialogue between science and religion, Bryne says.

“It’s a scholarly investigation of historical and contemporary discussions in science and religion.”

This is an important issue of our times. What people are taught in school can sometimes vary, depending on where you live. Students need to be prepared in college to discuss these issues intelligently with modern perspectives, he says.

“The function is to bring a scientific perspective and balance together with what Professor Byrne can provide,” Green says.

The course is not designed to push any one agenda and is held in an open discussion forum to promote student discussion, Byrne says.

Senior Mike Nadeau says that the course touches on a lot of topics, and that both sides of the discussion are represented equally.

Nadeau joined the course for the in-depth discussion, he says.

“It isn’t about conflict. It isn’t about science versus religions," Nadeau says. "It’s science and religion. It’s not a fight."

Catholic school…Catholic slant?

It was Byrne's idea to start the class, and he says the course didn’t receive any discouragement from the college administration.

The administration encourages this kind of course and other interdisciplinary courses like it in the St. Michael‘s curriculum, he says.

The course counts as religious studies credits, but currently does not count as a biology class, however that might change in the future, Byrne says. 

There are 16 students in the class that represent a broad spectrum of belief.

The Chapel of St. Michael the Archangel resides just feet away from the academic halls. Larry Frisoli, photo

“Atheists, agnostics, believers… people who think religion is stupid and ignorant," he says.

"We’re all swimming in the debate,” Byrne says.

Green says that because it’s about what the students think, many of the discussions have been from the heart.

“But it's more than just asking the students how they feel about these subjects,” he says.

Byrne is more concerned with what the topics are and what the interests of the students are. He says he's also concerned with how the course fits in with the campus as a part of the mission of the college.

“There’s a long tradition in the catholic church of the dialogue between faith and reason. And this dialogue is often taken by many as a fight, an opposition and historically this hasn’t been the case,” he says.

Origins in the classroom

Byrne says the point is to empower the students with the skills to continue the reflection afterwards.

As you ripple outwards  past the classroom and out into other dialogues, discussion reaches outside the classroom, and we’ve achieved a lot, says Byrne.

As in any class, the discussion is open-ended.

“We’re not trying to force conclusions on anybody, quite the opposite,” he says.

Discussion last week, says Byrne, was focused on questions such as, “How do we know something? What is a fact? What do we actually know?

“This is a theory of epistemology and how we know what we know. These issues come up in science, too, says Byrne.

Green says a fundamental point of this debate between science and religion is the nature of reality.
“It can be tested and examined, and there are facts that we gather from these exercises,” says Green.

Iif a tree falls in the woods and there is no one around to hear it, it does make a sounds. The debatable issue should really be what does it mean and does this matter, he says.

He says in this realm there is a reality and a sense we can learn things. We see this in history because there is a sense that we know more as history.

Byrne says that the questions up for debate in the future will cover the nature of science and religion. Students will be asked: What can science explain? Can it explain religion? Can religion explain science?

They will also consider evolution, creationism and the Darwin debates. Focusing on the relation between morality, science and religion. They will consider whether religion itself is a scientific adaptation?

An aquarium tank and informational bulletin boards in the hallway of the biology department, third floor JeanMarie Hall.     Larry Frisoli, photo

To balance the religious and philosophic aspects of the course, Green will hold a science experiment so students can see science at work, says Byrne.

The aspects of the course, in Green’s eyes, have been the nature of science and the nature of religion.

He says, people need to spend time understanding what science is and what religion is and what it isn’t, hopefully finding some middle ground.

“This is a complex world. Knowing how to discuss things in different ways and in different contexts is really important to discuss the range of problems that we have,” says Green.