The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Karen Berry
Robert Gavlak wrote, in a guest column on Dec. 25, that religion and science don’t belong in the same classroom. As a Catholic school teacher with a BA in math and an MA in religious studies, I agree. I never taught math in my high school religion classes, though I did describe the symbolic significance of certain numbers often repeated in Scripture stories. I never saw anyone teaching religion in the same room with another field of study. Each discipline needs its own instructor with adequate educational training to teach that subject accurately.
Gavlak also wrote that “science and religion are polar opposites.” I definitely do not agree! If these were in opposition to each other, there would not be a Vatican observatory on Kitt Peak, and a Jesuit astronomer, Guy Consolmagno, SJ, PhD, would not have been teaching about the evolution of the universe as a frequent guest lecturer at the University of Arizona. The problem I see with some people’s wish to have evolutionary theory and creationism (Intelligent Design) taught together in public schools is that these people interpret the Bible literally, and so they view the story of creation as being in opposition to the theory of evolution.
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A favorite Scripture teacher of mine, Macrina Scott, once said, “Everything in the Bible is true…and some of it actually happened.” Truths are expressed through a variety of literary genres. The Bible contains myth, poetry, folk stories, songs, speeches, history, prophecy, etc. To take it all literally is to run into contradictions. For example, there are two different stories of creation in the book of Genesis, written during two different periods in Jewish history. In one, man is created last. In the other, he is created first. Which one are you going to believe?
Looking at the truths expressed in Chapter One of Genesis, we can see that everything God made is good…an often-repeated phrase. It is people who introduce evil into the world, but that’s in a later story. Also, there is a beautiful order to creation, illustrated by six days and using a poetic technique of parallelism for the first three days, then the next three days. God rests on the seventh day because that’s the Sabbath law, which was already in place by the time that story was written. It is an endearing picture of God and also a gentle reminder to the people that if God rested after six days of work, then they should too. These writers were not trying to be scientists. They had no knowledge of the vast evolving universe we know today. They were conveying some deeply held beliefs about the goodness and greatness of God by telling a story to encompass those qualities.
Robert Gavlak, in his criticism of religion, seemed to be confusing it with Christian Nationalism (which really isn’t very Christian at all). He said religion “tirelessly assaults the manifest intent of the Constitution to safeguard the freedom of discovery and the irrepressible quest for enlightenment that permeates the human spirit.” He advocated “prohibiting in the classroom what necessarily must remain in the church.” Well, I don’t want literal interpretation of the Bible to be taught in a classroom or in the church either. Scripture study, which seeks the truth, would be a “quest for enlightenment that permeates the human spirit.” No need to denigrate religion, Robert … especially on Christmas morning.
Sister Karen Berry is a Joliet Franciscan who has been living and teaching in Tucson for 41 years. She is the author of several books and many articles on topics of spirituality.