Divine intelligence

Barbara Bradley Hagarty, National Public Radio's religion correspondent, has written a book about her research into science and spirituality.

On the local NPR station the other day, a reporter interviewed Hagarty about her findings.

And they're interesting.

Hagarty said she was concerned that her faith in God would dissolve in the face of scientific discoveries about the universe.

But she said her faith was confirmed. "I can believe in an intelligence that strings together the universe...."

When I feel my heart beat, when I see my granddaughters smile, when I watch a sunrise or sunset, I believe that these and other wonders are not the product of coincidence, but the work of a loving Creator, that Super Intelligence "in whom," St. Paul writes, "we live, move, and have our being."

Science doesn't scare me as a person of faith. It fascinates me, showing me that I live in an amazingly complex, mysterious world.

And science confirms what I say in the Nicene Creed at every Eucharist: God is "the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen...."

And if a skeptic says to me, "That's a faith statement," then I will say in response, "Yes, it is."

Isn't it the same for the scientist? He or she has to have faith, too: faith in the scientific method, faith in instruments, and faith in his or her ability to intepret data correctly.

Science, religion--it's all faith.