10. Beyond Description - Part 1

During an autumn stroll, a mother and her school-aged daughter were admiring the beautiful array of colored leaves. They were discussing what lay behind this quietly spectacular transformation.

“Mom, why do the leaves change color?”

“Well, dear, in the spring and summer, the leaves make food for the tree. Inside each leaf, there are millions of tiny green molecules called chlorophyll. The chlorophyll makes the food by collecting light from the sun, carbon dioxide from the air, and water from the ground. Then it puts them all together to make sugar and starch. In the autumn, the tree stops making food because it doesn’t need any in the winter. When that happens, the chlorophyll breaks down, and with it goes the green color. By that time, the other molecules in the leaf become more obvious and they give off the red, orange and yellow colors that we see today.”

“That’s not what Grandma says,” commented the little girl.

“No? What does she say?”

“She says G‑d paints them. . . one at a time.”

Whom should the child believe? Mom? Grandma? Both? Neither?

Those who side with Grandma are to be admired for their piety. Still, it is unfair to totally reject Mother out of hand. Is it not possible that the scientific explanation has some truth and some value? If so, it is unwise to reject it out of ignorance. It would amount to saying, “Religion, I know and like; but science, I don’t really understand. Therefore religion is better.”

Sometimes people reject a scientific explanation because it seems to conflict with the religious view. True, there is nothing wrong with accepting one view over another, but on what basis? Can one rule out an explanation based on direct observations and plain logic? After all, one trusts observations and sound reasoning in other areas of life; why not here? Faith is fine, but here is a problem with “blind faith” that ignores the observed facts and rational deductions of science.

Those who side with Mother are to be praised for their sophistication. Still there may be more to Grandma than meets the eye. One should at least know whether religion provides insights into the natural world, before rejecting it. It is unfair to say, “Science, I know and like; religion, I don’t really care to understand. Therefore science is better.”

Rejecting religion out of ignorance is no better than rejecting science out of ignorance. It’s like the story of the rabbi and the scientist who wound up seated together on an airplane.

“You must be a rabbi,” opened the scientist.
“Yes, I am,” confirmed his neighbor.
“I know all about Judaism,” quipped the scientist.
“Do you really?” the rabbi responded, a little piqued.
“Sure: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
“I see. And vhat, may I ask, is your occupation?”
“I am an astrophysicist.”
“Oh, really?” The rabbi paused a moment, then countered, “I know all about astronomy.”
“Come now, Rabbi. What do you know about astronomy?”
“Tvinkle, tvinkle little stah.”

Some would reject the religious view in the leaf color debate because they imagine G‑d to have human dimensions and features. They envision Him as an invisible, bearded baritone holding a nylon paintbrush, a tin of latex paint and a stopwatch to make sure all those leaves get done on time. Of course they reject the religious explanation of natural events as a childish fantasy. On those terms, who wouldn’t?

But what if “He” is an Absolutely Infinite Being using the brush of photoperiodically-induced cellular physiology dipped into pigments like chlorophyll and carotene? Surely if the Creator is capable of making something from nothing, He can also regulate existing chemicals and processes.

Neither science nor religion is as stiff and boxed-in as many people think. Science has room for the Creator, and religion has room for science. Individual scientist or theologians, or even whole sects of them, may be too biased or uninformed to recognize this, but authentic science and authentic religion are quite compatible and even complementary.

What is the basic difference between scientific and religious explanations of events? Followers of either system accept the validity of our sensory experiences. So too will they agree pretty much on what they observe in terms of temperature, weight, volume, brightness, duration, etc. They should also agree on the validity of sound, logical proofs and deductions. Where they differ is in the questions they answer.

Essentially science is concerned with how the world works, while religion addresses why the world works that way. Without knowing what for, what good is the what?