April 28, 2003

Wayland profs mix faith with science
___By Jonathan Petty
___Wayland Baptist University
___PLAINVEW--As Joel Boyd completed a graduate research project at Rice University, he quickly realized how difficult it is to mix Christian beliefs with modern science.
___Working with his research group to determine how water behaves in small pools, Boyd stumbled across what he considered "a really great result." But when he started to publish the study, his academic adviser wanted to include how this result would have been key in the evolution of life.
___"I was not willing to state it that way," Boyd said.
___Although the difference of opinion didn't cause major problems, Boyd said, it illustrates some of the challenges faced daily by scientists who also are Christians and question parts of evolutionary theory.
___"A prime example is the Texas Tech professor who recently made the news for refusing to recommend people of faith for graduate programs in biology because you cannot explicitly endorse his evolutionary view of biology," Boyd said. "He believes you are not capable of being a functional biologist."
___Boyd, a 1997 graduate of Wayland Baptist University with bachelor's degrees in math and chemistry, received his doctor of philosophy degree in physical chemistry from Rice in 2002. As an assistant professor of chemistry at Wayland, he now prepares his students for the trials they will face as Christians in a scientific world.
___He has teamed with mathematics instructor Scott Franklin to offer a class on faith and science.
___Franklin, a 1998 Wayland graduate who received his master's degree from Texas Tech, was quick to join Boyd in the project.
___Scientists, he said, cannot separate their personal beliefs from their method of science.
___"The fact that you believe there is a Creator may have an influence on the choices that you make on what you decide to study," Franklin said. "A scientist, no matter how hard he tries, is never going to be able to separate his worldview from his method of science.
___"We are trying to introduce students to some of these views they are going to see. If you go to any state university, you are going to see very naturalistic and even anti-religion, anti-faith perspectives where they think any belief in a god is interfering with your science. They think you have to abandon that to be a true scientist."
___The Wayland professors disagree with that notion, arguing there is room for Christian beliefs in the world of science, especially when discussing the theory of intelligent design. Intelligent design is a modern theory that says all the peculiar details in science point to a creator or intelligent designer of the universe.
___Still, the professors don't try to tell Wayland students there is only one way to meld faith and science.
___"It is not a typical lecture class in that we are not teaching 'this is how to believe,'" Franklin said. "We are giving students the opportunity to explore the interaction that a scientist will have with his faith."
___Even Boyd and Franklin approach questions of science and faith with somewhat different perspectives.
___"We are not coming at it from the same direction," Franklin said. "It makes it very interesting to be able to present some of these perspectives because our viewpoints are very different."
___

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