Just a couple very brief comments:
I think that any effective witness must occur within a context of
mutual trust and integrity. Those things must be earned. It seems
to me that usually such trust is obtained when the people share some
common passion or commitment. That can occur in a wide range of
contexts -- involvement in the same community projects or issues (eg.
local education, housing, community health care), involvement in
regional of global issues (eg. hunger, poverty, environmental
concerns), sharing in the same interests and passions (eg. science,
nature, art). As Christians we should be doing things that bring us
together as partners with non-christians and atheists. We have a
natural context in which to relate and gain trust and the right to be
heard.
Within the context of the sciences, I think that those of us who are
part of that professional community are the logical ones to witness
to others in the sciences. We gain the right to a hearing by
demonstrating professional and personal integrity. By sharing a
scientific understanding, the science/faith conflict barriers can be
set aside. We can therefore focus on the real issues which are
theological and philosophical.
The above is the reason why effort by non-scientists to evangelize
atheist scientist is usually so counterproductive -- especially if
the approach is one of trying to argue science.
Keith
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Received on Wed Oct 29 18:57:38 2008
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