By Staff Writer, Jill Lee

            Religion and science do not mesh together well. They seem to be the complete opposites of one another. They often lead to intolerance and countless arguments.

            According to the Bible, God created Earth and life in a matter of a few days.

            The creation account of Genesis Chapter 1 goes by this chronology: On the first day, light is created; on the second day, Earth’s water cycle is created; on the third day, Earth’s vegetation is created; on the fourth day, the sun, the stars, and the moon are created; on the fifth day, birds and fish are created; and finally, on the sixth day, animals and mankind are created.

            “I have found that this creation account harmonizes mainstream science [and religion],” Christian Club advisor Greg Switzer said.

            According to the theory of evolution, all living organisms descend from a common ancestor or ancestral pool and the diversity of life, existing today, is made from multiple processes of natural selection and genetic drift.

            It is here that the conflict between evolution and creationism can clearly be seen. Evolution disagrees with the Bible’s theories that life began and came to what we see today through natural means and without the influence of God.

            “There are people on both extremes,” Biology teacher Dale Lundin said. “There are people who throw evolution out the window and there are those who do just the opposite.”

            Most people fall in the middle, believing in one while tolerating the other. However, some are only loyal to their faith.

            “I do not believe in evolution,” Christian Club treasurer Marco Marquez (’10) said. “It’s just not logical. No one has been there. How can anybody be sure?”

            There is no way in which to solve the conflict between science and religion. Switzer and Lundin both agree that religion and science can coexist, either by logical agreement or simply by tolerance.

            “Science can change, but religion does not do that,” Lundin said. “Religion sometimes doesn’t want to provide evidence.”       

            For example, some might argue that evolution did in fact occur and that a higher power was the main source of it. Such is the view of a theistic evolutionist, one who believes in both creation and evolution.

            “I am not an atheist,” Lundin said.” “But, if some of our technology today had been back when people believed in spontaneous generation, then maybe some of the written stuff today would be different.”           

            Switzer, on the other hand, believes that the conflict between religion and science is within human interpretation.

            “You have to look both at the Bible and nature to come up with a conclusion,” Switzer said. “I do not believe in blind faith.”