The False Choice Between Science and Faith

Abstract

When a conflict between science and faith is perceived by the child, who will help them? Parents, grandparents, and other caretakers can model the embrace of both faith and science. In some situations, schools and teachers can foster both spirituality and science education. More commonly, with proper guidance and practical examples from different faith traditions, religion teachers can model and incorporate the compatibility of faith and science in a religious education program.

Keywords:

• Spirituality
• whole child
• religious education
• faith and science
• false choice

Notes

1 https://theconversation.com/is-there-a-place-for-religion-in-the-science-classroom-26368 Joseph Ferguson summarizes the problem well and suggests religion/science conversations be explored in the science classroom so that students will engage in, rather than avoid, the science being taught.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Catherine Maresca

Catherine Maresca is the founding director of the Center for Children and Theology in Washington DC, USA, and the author of Violence and Nonviolence in Scripture: Helping Children Understand Challenging Stories. She has been a catechist with children ages 3–12 since 1982, and she leads courses for the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. E-mail: [email protected]