Sky and Telescope - June 2017 - 84

FOCAL POINT by Camille M. Carlisle

Two Routes to the Truth
Science and faith offer different but kindred paths to grasping reality.

84

J U N E 2 0 1 7 * SK Y & TELESCOPE

Sun even when people thought it was
the other way around.
Science teaches us, in other words,
that absolute truth exists. It doesn't tell
us why, or Who that Truth is. Science is
a marvelous tool, but in our marveling
we must not forget that science is our
interaction with and understanding of
physical reality. It's immensely power-

of Hippo, one of the greatest minds of
his time, came to know God better by
asking hard questions. In my life I, too,
have found that God can stand up to any
question I throw at Him. It might take

Trying to prove or disprove God with science is like trying
to screw in a flat-head nail with a screwdriver.
ful, but it's not metaphysical; it can't
grasp God. Trying to prove or disprove
God with science is like trying to screw
in a ﬂat-head nail with a screwdriver.
The handyman, discovering that he
can't ﬁnd grooves in the head of the
"screw," concludes that the nail doesn't
exist. But that's ridiculous. The nail is
there, he just didn't use the right tool.
And any handyman worth his toolbox
doesn't use a screwdriver on every job.
So, too, trying to "catch" God with
science, or concluding that He can't be
real because His beautiful universe is
too much about drama and too little
about perfect engineering ("It's not
how I would design it!" we complain) is
using the wrong tool for the job.
So what is the right tool? Reason is
one of them. God gave us our reason,
and He wants us to use it. St. Augustine

years to ﬁnd the answer, but it exists.
Prayer is another tool. If you want
to know someone, you have to spend
time with that person. My faith is not
merely a head faith, founded on careful
research and principles. I have heard,
felt, and seen God - transcendent
peace while reading Scripture, a Eucharist that at one moment is just a wafer
and the next is a Presence radiating love
so real I can almost see it shimmer, so
powerful that I cry. God is real, and He
loves us tenderly and passionately. This
also is truth. It's not a truth I'll ﬁnd in
my astronomy textbooks, but it's one I
know in my core.
¢ CAMILLE M. CARLISLE is Sky &
Telescope's science editor.

TOP: BIGSTOCK PHOTOS.CO M / KSEN A32, E XOPIX EL, A LIN A MD

MANY READERS ARE familiar by now
with my fondness for black holes. For
me, black holes are the Labrador puppies
of the cosmos - so cute, so delighted by
existence that in their merriment they're
unintentionally destructive.
But there's something I love more
than black holes. That something is a
Someone.
God.
Astronomy is, in many ways, the
bone and marrow of my life. But
God's presence is the heartbeat. Like a
heartbeat, He's often almost imperceptible. But I sense Him like a pulse, just
beneath the surface of reality.
It's something too many of us
forget, that reality has layers. Occasionally people ask me how I can be
Catholic and a science journalist. The
answer is simple: Truth does not contradict truth. Both science and religion
are a pursuit of truth. They're after
different aspects of truth, different
layers of reality, but they're still both
fundamentally about truth.
Science itself is based on the
assumption that truth exists. Science
wouldn't work without it. We assume
that there's a right and a wrong way
to describe the universe. Dark matter
exists or it doesn't. Quantum mechanics is right or it's wrong. It isn't right
for some folks and wrong for others.
Truth is truth whether we know the
truth or not; Earth revolved around the
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Sky and Telescope - June 2017

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