God of the Gaps?

I recently found this article on Deseret News discussing religion and science and found it quite inspiring and uplifting. It did a good job of explaining some of the controversy and why we should try and clear up some common misconceptions that lead to the divisiveness between science and religion. I especially liked what was said about Intelligent Design and why it is neither good science or good religion:

"ID doesn't make predictions nor does it publish its 'results' in scientific journals, so if it is science then it is bad science," Holder said in an interview with the BBC in June. "If it is theology then it's bad theology because orthodox theology sees God involved in the whole process of the world, upholding and sustaining the laws he has ordained and bringing about his purposes through those laws. God is not to be confined to ever narrower gaps in scientific knowledge. Quite the opposite: God is to be found in what we know from science, not from what we don't know."

One of the major issues I have with Intelligent Design proponents is that they try to use hard to understand biological processes to prove God exists because in their minds, there is no other way to explain their observations. In their minds, God is seen in the "gaps" of scientific understanding, that in this lapses of knowledge we can see God's hand. This is one of the reasons ID proponents are so opposed to science: the more science learns about the natural world, the less important God becomes. I, however, believe God is the author of ALL truth, religious, philosophical, scientific, etc. When we gain greater understanding and light in ANY of these areas, we gain a greater understanding of God and His grandeur. To me, God is not in the gaps of scientific understanding. He is enveloped and interwoven into a babbling stream, a beetle on a flower, the laugh of a child, the morning sunrise, snow-storms, lightning, the full moon, and the countless celestial bodies we see on a dark night. He is a part of all of those things, because He created all those things. And the more we learn about those things, the more we learn about Him.

Greetings

After much deliberation (probably far too much, in fact) I've decided to start a blog. Yes, its true, they are a dime a dozen, including blogs discussing and exploring the Mormon faith (of which I happen to be a firm believer), science and other current issues. So why start this blog at all? Who cares what an undergraduate at BYU, majoring in Biology, has to say about the world? Truth be told, probably nobody cares what I have to say (except perhaps myself). My opinions on the current hot topics surrounding science and technology are not unique, to be sure, and are indeed probably so common that my voicing them here is redundant. Perhaps my desire to express my thoughts on some of the most debated topics are really just an outlet of my own thinking, a way for me to more fully formulate the ideas that are floating around inside my head and spit them out on paper (or computer) so I can fully realize what it is I think and believe.

And yet I feel that my desire for this blog really does go deeper than that. It began as I read the comment boards on news sites where people "discussed" (and I use that term in the broadest sense of the meaning) various articles. The most interesting (and frustrating) comment boards were the ones dealing with science: interesting because I happen to have a great love for the sciences and frustrating because of the many opinions I have come across on the internet, of which very few seem to be grounded in any kind of educated or factual basis. Instead, the rantings and snide remarks found on most comment boards are either regurgitations of things heard second hand from neighbors or talk show radio hosts, or are simply blurted out from the innermost reactionary processes of the brain without any kind of thought or deliberation.

Please, don't get me wrong. I hope nobody thinks that I view my opinions as being somehow superior to another's just because they are different (although I find it is one's tendency to naturally regard one's opinion in high status, I really do try hard not to do this). I have no problem with somebody having a differing opinion from my own. How boring (and frightening) would it be if we all thought exactly as I did! What frustrates me is not a differing opinion but an uneducated opinion. Though many who read this will have a far wider sea of knowledge and a much more comprehensive education on a variety of subjects than I do, I hope to help people (including myself) realize just how little we actually do know, and from that lack of knowledge build a much more educated opinion on the matters we deal with every day. I therefore hope this blog is not just a rambling of my random meanderings (borrowing the phrase from my sister), but is instead a passing of ideas and perspectives that may not have been seen before. And, like Socrates, I hope that I can help show people, even a few, that the only thing we can be sure we do know, is that we don't know much of anything at all.