Saints Light
Hard Questions · Lesson 14 of 16

Do Faith and Science Conflict?

Faith and science both seek truth from the same God, Catholic scientists helped found modern genetics and cosmology, and the Galileo affair was a real mistake but not proof of a war between them.

This is a summary of Lesson 14 of Answers to Hard Questions. The full lesson takes about 3 minutes in the Saints Light app.

Saint Augustine in His Study, a painting by Sandro Botticelli
Saint Augustine in His Study, Sandro Botticelli, c. 1490-1494

What this lesson teaches

  • Faith and reason come from the same God, so they cannot truly contradict each other.
  • Catholic scientists like Mendel and Lemaître founded genetics and Big Bang cosmology.
  • The Galileo affair was a real mistake by Church officials, but not the myth often told.
  • Science asks how the world works; faith asks why it exists and what it is for.

Catechism paragraphs this lesson cites

  • CCC 159
  • CCC 283-284
  • CCC 337
  • CCC 2293-2294

CCC means the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Saints Light teaches it in its own words and never quotes it. Look up any paragraph in a printed copy or at vatican.va. See every lesson by paragraph in the Catechism index.

Scripture read in this lesson: Wisdom 11:21 (11:20 in some modern Bibles); Psalm 18:2 (19:1 in most modern Bibles).

A sample question from this lesson

Why does the Church say faith and science cannot truly conflict?

  1. Because science is always wrong
  2. Because faith never makes claims about the world
  3. Because the same God gave us reason and revealed the faith, and truth cannot contradict truth
  4. Because the Church controls scientific research
Show the answer

Because the same God gave us reason and revealed the faith, and truth cannot contradict truth. The lesson cites CCC 159: the God who reveals the faith also made the world and our minds.

The lesson in the app has three questions, each with an explanation.

Read the full lesson in the app

"Do Faith and Science Conflict?" is lesson 14 of Answers to Hard Questions. In Saints Light you get the whole teaching, the Scripture quoted in full, all three questions and a step to live it this week.

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