Science and Faith are not in conflict.
At some point—mainly during the “Enlightenment”—a serious divide between science and religion began. It has culminated in this belief today that the two cannot exist and lift each other. Now—I can see how the secular science type might laugh at this place - and rightfully so. Reconciling things like “evolution” with faith require intellectual and philosophical exercise. It is important not to forsake either science OR religion as both require faith.
1. Science Presupposes Faith
Science is a powerful method for investigating the natural world, but it is not self-sufficient. To function at all, it must assume certain realities:
The universe is ordered. Without order, experiments would yield chaos rather than repeatable results.
The universe is intelligible. If the human mind could not correspond to reality, the entire project of understanding nature would collapse.
The laws of nature are uniform. Science assumes that what worked yesterday will work tomorrow, otherwise prediction and discovery would be meaningless.
These principles cannot be proven by the scientific method itself without circular reasoning. As Aquinas observed in his Summa Theologiae, “all human knowledge begins from certain principles which cannot themselves be proved, but must be taken as evident in themselves” (ST I, q.2, a.1, ad 2).
2. Why This Faith Is Rational
Faith here does not mean “blind belief.” It means confidence in realities that are reasonable but not provable by experiment.
No scientist begins the day by re-proving the law of non-contradiction.
No astronomer verifies the rising of the sun before predicting its path.
No physicist re-establishes the uniformity of nature before running an experiment.
They act in trust—faith—that reality is ordered, intelligible, and stable. David Hume famously pointed out that the uniformity of nature cannot be proved by induction, since induction itself assumes uniformity. Science must therefore rest on what cannot be tested, only trusted.
3. History Shows Harmony
This harmony is not new; it is embedded in the very history of science.
Johannes Kepler described science as “thinking God’s thoughts after Him,” reflecting his conviction that the universe is rational because it is created by a rational God.
Isaac Newton concluded his Principia by declaring, “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.”
Albert Einstein, though not a Christian, spoke of a “cosmic religious feeling” and declared: “The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.”
Each of these thinkers recognized that science rests on trust in order and intelligibility.
4. Faith Provides the Foundation
Where does that order and intelligibility come from? For the Christian, it flows from the Creator. The Gospel of John identifies Christ as the Logos (John 1:1), the rational Word through whom all things were made. Creation is intelligible because it is the work of an intelligent God.
St. Thomas Aquinas argued in his Fifth Way that non-intelligent things reliably act toward ordered ends; an arrow does not fly to the target without an archer. Likewise, the laws of nature do not direct themselves, but testify to a lawgiver.
Pope John Paul II expressed this beautifully in Fides et Ratio (1998):
“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know Himself.” (Fides et Ratio, Introduction).
In other words, science (reason) and faith are not adversaries but partners, both oriented toward truth.
5. Conclusion: No Conflict, Only Complementarity
To practice science is already to act on faith: faith in order, intelligibility, and stability. The believer grounds that faith in God’s reason and fidelity. The non-believer may accept it as a brute fact. But in both cases, science depends on faith-like trust.
Far from being enemies, faith and science work together:
Science asks how the universe operates.
Faith provides the reason why the universe is ordered and intelligible at all.
As John Paul II reminded the modern world, faith and reason are not in conflict—they rise together as wings, lifting the mind to truth.