How to Develop a Science/Religion Worldview

With the state of science education as it is today, with so many atheist and agnostic scientists trying to justify their religious beliefs with their science and failing to separate the two (see Discover article summary below), virtually every serious student of the sciences will be faced with an apparent conflict between science and religion. There are three ways this conflict can be addressed: assume science is correct and religion is wrong; assume religion is correct and science is wrong; or develop a worldview that allows science and religion to coexist, both laying claim to some aspects of the truth. I would hope that most people can achieve the third. This article describes the worldview I have developed that allows the two to coexist. I have found that many people have different worldviews that all succeed but which differ from mine. It seems there are many ways to solve the dilemma and I present mine not because it is "right" or "the only way" but because it works very well for me and might act as a starting point for you to develop your own worldview. Of course, I would be thrilled to hear how yours develops and differs from mine, because my worldview is still in flux and continually being improved by comments from others.

 

My advice to you in developing your own worldview is to read profusely. Read both what LDS writers are saying about science and religion and what scientists are saying. Read critically. Never accept something just because it's been published in a book. Not even Moroni wants you to do that -- he tells us to read, study, and pray, not to accept it blindly. Study the scriptures, but read the stories in them carefully, trying to understand what they're really saying, not being fooled by the pictures you imagined as a child. Hugh Nibley said the following about this, "The apparently strange and extravagant phenomena described in the scriptures are often correct descriptions of what would have appeared to a person in a particular situation. You and I have never been in those situations.... They were reporting as well as they could what they had seen from a vantage point on which we have never stood." [Before Adam] Always keep this in mind when studying scriptural accounts of historical events.