Gary Leimback: God seems willing to try different things until something works

On Oct. 4, 1957, the Russians launched the Sputnik satellite into orbit around the earth. This initiated a response to push American students into studying science at an accelerated pace.

I was intrigued by chemistry and entered college on a chemistry scholarship. Before my second year in college, I attended a Christian camp in Southern California with about 600 other college students learning Christianity from some world-renowned professional theologians. After the camp I spent a few days roaming the streets of Hollywood with some “Jesus Freaks” from the Hollywood Presbyterian Church that I identified with, boldly trying to spread the gospel of Jesus.

It never occurred to me that there was any conflict between science and religion.

In 1968 I learned in my child psychology class that 30% of all U.S. students never finish high school. I have tracked this number since then and only within the last several years has this number dwindled to about 20%. I would guess that the lack of a high school education might make people more vulnerable to following misinformation found on the internet. What is worse, some Republican leaders and media spokesmen have politicized this misinformation, adding an unfortunate air of authority.

In fighting the COVID-19 virus, science has become the only way to stop the pandemic. Vaccinations, which Americans have always accepted, have saved us from polio, measles, mumps, diphtheria and other potentially pandemic diseases. All major churches have worked with governments all around the world in their missionary and outreach programs to use vaccinations to fight diseases that have ravaged foreign populations for generations.

The so-called anti-vaxxers must be viewed as a dangerous quirk in the history of humanity. But without vaccination they will eventually die out, as we have seen with several conservative anti-vaxxer talk radio hosts. This sounds cruel, but the real cruelty is found in the anti-vaxxers who don’t give a damn about their own health or ours.

There is a strong anti-science stance among evangelical churches, both Protestant and Catholic. Fortunately, many mainline Catholic and Protestant churches support science.

The interesting thing about the mutations of the COVID-19 virus is that it has demonstrated before our very eyes the validity of the latest version of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. It shows the intricate mechanics of how genetics and evolution are so tightly wound together. Genetic mutations are one of the key drivers of evolution as shown by the continuing evolution of the COVID-19 virus.

I believe God and evolution go hand in hand bringing us to where we are now. Who do you think created DNA?

It is also enlightening to view the many pictures brought to us by the Hubble telescope. We see a massive universe with marvelous pictures of galaxies, nebula and star clusters that simply astonish us. The universe is estimated to be 13.77 billion years old. If God is eternal, he is a very patient God to wait so long before creating human life. In a universe so massive, we must adjust our concept of God to be perhaps quite different from what we thought. As the theologian J.B. Phillips used to say, “Your concept of God is too small.”

As God first gave the Hebrews the laws of Moses, then he gave them Judges, and then Kings, and finally a Messiah, He seems willing to try different things until he finds something that works. The same could be true of human life, thus Cro-Magnon man, and others, then Homo Sapiens. The rarity of finding a planet with the right atmosphere and chemical compositions required for life, the right distance from the sun, and so forth are claimed to be the result of chance by some. However, it seems more probable to me that it is solid evidence of an intelligent God.

Many look to physics to either prove or disprove God’s existence. But it is really chemistry that provides the best evidence of God’s existence. The periodic table of chemical elements displays incredible rationality that attests to the creative hand of a higher power.

It is obvious that God, our creator, is the creator of all the chemicals in the universe, and as such, is an incredible scientist.

Gary Leimback lives in Salt Lake City and sees education as the key to human survival. It is abhorrent that any religion should promote ignorance of science.