ok, OC, now I've done it.....
UNITY AND SCIENCE: CELEBRATING DISCOVERY
In 1889, Unity co-founder Charles Fillmore wrote that scientific research had created a need to reinterpret scripture and that bridging science and religion would be a central purpose of the movement that was to become Unity. Charles and his wife Myrtle spent much of their lives studying biblical scripture which they believed helped them better understand divine purpose. They also delighted in reading about science. The Fillmores saw new scientific discoveries as sources of new insights.
A core belief of Unity is that we have a Creator, that we have the ability to experience divine presence, and that we are empowered by expressing that presence as love. We are rooted in early Christian beliefs that encouraged each individual to seek their own personal relationship with God. We are non-creedal, meaning that we do not ask anyone to declare any particular set of beliefs. Unity was founded as a movement to help persons of all faiths to develop a fuller relationship with our Creator and to enjoy the discovery of new insights in their own spiritual journeys.
Unity embraces critical thinking which calls for careful evaluation of evidence and reflection on the underlying meaning of observations and experience. In this we continue the tradition of Socrates (469–399 BCE), a founder of philosophy, whose own religious contemplations caused him to conclude that the essence of that which is divine is inherently good. Critical reasoning, Socrates argued, is a way of seeking insight and pursuing that which is good. Critical reasoning is the basis for modern science and also of sound scriptural interpretation.
St. Augustine (354-430), one of the most influential early founders of Christianity, wrote a treatise on the interpretation of Genesis in which he advised Christians to interpret scripture in ways that are compatible with empirical observations. To do otherwise, he cautioned, would make the scriptures seem "foolish" and weaken our understanding of their underlying meaning. Several of the founders of modern science believed that using critical reasoning to systematically study nature would yield insights of religious importance.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is considered the inventor of the modern scientific method. He promoted the use of logic to develop testable propositions and empirical observation to eliminate those that proved false. He devoutly believed that the systematic exploration of causation in nature would ultimately point to the existence of our Creator. Accordingly he encouraged the study of scripture, which he called the "book of God’s word," and of nature which he called "the book of God’s works." Another founder of modern science and philosophy, Rene Descartes (1596-1650) shared Bacon’s belief that studying nature would ultimately enhance human understanding of that which is divine. Descartes argued that God is perfect, and therefore is not a deceiver, so there is nothing to fear from studying the laws of nature. Both Bacon and Descartes believed in the essential benevolence and goodness of the Creator as did Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), a founder of modern physics, whose own extensive studies of religion led him to conclude that the essence of God is "love."
It is unfortunate that some people mistakenly think that no form of religion can fully embrace and celebrate scientific discovery. In Unity we encourage and celebrate scientific discovery. The founders of Unity were in accord with Sir Francis Bacon. In Unity, we see new scientific discoveries as new insights into God’s creation. We especially marvel at how science has dramatically expanded our human perception of the scope of creation.
In ancient times, it was believed that a very young earth was at the center of a rather small universe. The stars were thought to be only a few hundred miles distant. But in 1609, when a religiously devout scientist named Galileo Galilei became the first human to study the sky through a telescope, he saw something that was vastly different – a much older and far bigger universe.
Today we can marvel that we live in a galaxy with billions of stars and that our universe contains billions of other galaxies. Even more amazingly, evidence now indicates that all of the vast quantities of matter and energy across the entire universe emerged spontaneously from a single sub-atomic "quantum nugget" of immense heat and unimaginable density. The theory of the "Big Bang," first proposed in the 1920s by a Belgian physicist and priest named George Lemaitre, has been well substantiated by subsequent observations.
Numerous leading scientists have concluded that the earliest moments of creation were astonishingly precise. Several physical constants had to be almost exactly what they are or chaos, rather than creation, would have resulted from the Big Bang. For example, if gravity had been slightly greater, re-collapse would have ensued; if gravity had been slightly weaker, the stars from which all heavier elements come would never have formed. Extraordinary precision, not randomness, prevailed at the initial creation of our universe. That precision enabled the entire universe (us included) to have emerged. The story from the "book of God’s works" seems to affirm that the creation of our universe was no accident.
We live in what appears to us to be a three dimensional world moving through a fourth dimension that we call "time." Science, however, suggests that there are several dimensions of existence beyond the four dimensions that we can readily perceive. For nearly a century, scientists have been trying to discover how the basic physical forces of the universe are linked together. It seems that the only way that scientists can mathematically explain what has been observed is to posit the existence of dimensions beyond the four in our observable universe. These dimensions apparently exist throughout the universe, within every atom. That means these dimensions exist within each of us. Belief in the existence of additional dimensions of reality is fundamental to all religions.
In a sense, each of us carries within ourselves multiple copies of the "book of God’s works." The text exists in the subatomic particles, atoms and encoded
molecules of our genes. The science of genetics began in the 1850s, in the gardens of a monastery in Austria, when a monk named Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) became curious as to why pea plants exhibited different characteristics. Scientists who study our genetic origins have discovered that all of us modern humans are indeed members of one extended family that originated in Africa within the past 200,000 years. Some research suggests we may even be descended from a single mother. We are all the products of one creation story and we carry the text of it in our genes. [FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium,Franklin Gothic Medium][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium,Franklin Gothic Medium]The "book" we carry within us tells us of our underlying unity. [/FONT][/FONT]If religious leaders across the world would celebrate our common story of creation, and interpret their scriptures accordingly, perhaps the differences that separate us might be lessened. The curiosity of scientists who follow in the footsteps of a monk in a monastery has made that a possibility as never before in human history.
Research into evolution, the cornerstone of modern biology, has been difficult for some persons of faith to accept. Being non-creedal, Unity does not issue declarations of doctrine. It is our tradition to encourage every person to critically examine evidence and to make their own decisions regarding their personal beliefs. It is fair to say, however, that many Unity members would likely agree with the conclusions of the Rev. Professor Baden Powell (1796-1860) on matters related to evolution.
Powell was an active Anglican minister and a professor of geometry at Oxford University. He was one of Great Britain’s leading mathematicians in the 19th century and he carefully studied the research of Charles Darwin (1809-1882) as published in 1859 in Darwin’s landmark book [FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium,Franklin Gothic Medium][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium,Franklin Gothic Medium]On the Origin of Species[/FONT][/FONT]. In 1860, Powell published a remarkable essay titled "On the Study of the Evidences of Christianity" in which he concluded that Darwin’s reasoning was sound, that his findings should be accepted as well grounded science, and that Darwin’s findings posed no threat to Christianity. Powell marveled how the new research revealed "the grand principle of the self-evolving powers of nature." He realized that science had given humanity a vital new insight – that creation is continuous.
