How might Christians respond to university student strikes?

There are many things I am learning from my friends in the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES). They provide a perspective on global Christianity and bring up issues that in the affluent Western world we do not grapple with. Here I want to start to explore the issue of strikes (or class boycotts) by university students in the Majority World. In some countries, ranging from South Africa to Papua New Guinea, it is not unusual for a campus to be closed down for a substantial fraction of the year. Strikes are about a wide range of issues: student fees, racism, de-colonisation, politics, government corruption, university policies, sexual violence, ....
This disruption and the associated unpredictability has serious implications for the education of students, for campus life, and the relationship of government to the university.

Student protests are not unknown in the Western world, even right now, particularly in the USA on issues of racism and sexual violence. The Wikipedia page on Student protest, lists a long and fascinating list of actions. These range from protests at the University of Missouri in 2015-2016 to a two-year strike at the University of Paris in 1229!  Some protests are successful in bringing about significant change (even the fall of governments), while others end in tragedy such as the 1989 massacre of students in Tiananmen Square. Others just peter out...

However, most of the current protests in the Majority World are on a completely different scale to anything happening in the West. I have studied and worked at universities in Australian and the USA for the last 40 years, and I can only recall one or two day when classes were cancelled, and that was due to faculty strikes, not students. To be honest, I wish Australian students were passionate enough about some issue to want to strike! I particularly wish they were more concerned about social justice and educational issues.

The main question I am interested in is my title, "How might Christian students, faculty, and IFES groups respond to a university student strike on their campus?"

To get the flavour of the issues and one specific response look at this example from the Student Christian Organisation in Cape Town.

There are many possible responses: ignore, oppose, join, organise, moderate...
Given the diversity of issues and contexts, I think the answer will depend on the specific strike.
This is a complex issue with no clear-cut answers and I think it is best to first back up a bit and explore some other questions.

What lessons might be learned from the history of student strikes and demonstrations in different global contexts?

Why do these strikes occur?

What is my perspective as a faculty member?

What would be my advice to the strikers?

What might be a Christian perspective?

How can student Christian groups function and be a witness (in life and word) best in this context?

I will try and explore these questions in future posts. Feel free to post your own questions and answers.

Answering some good questions

I was asked by some friends some questions such as "Why do you believe in Science and in the Bible?". Here are some slides with my attempt at an answer.

Another question concerns the historical interaction of science with Christianity. This talk addresses some of that.

Talk at Theology on Tap

Tomorrow afternoon I am giving a talk, “Why is Science so Awesome? at Theology on Tap in Brisbane.

The current version of the slides for the talk is here.

Why is science so Awesome?

This coming sunday afternoon I am giving a talk, “Why is Science so Awesome? at Theology on Tap in Brisbane.

There are many things I find amazing about science, leading to me to awe, wonder, and questions. The immense size of the universe, the complexity of life, successful scientific predictions, and the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics. Why is the universe like this? Why can humans understand it so well? What does theology say about all this? The talk is intended for a general non-expert audience. 

 An earlier version of the slides for the talk is here.

This image of a pinwheel galaxy was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and is from here.

I don't know

This is my standard answer to many thorny questions in theology.
But, today I learnt that to Jesus sometimes this is not an acceptable answer!
Luke 20:1-8 records an incident where the Pharisees questioned Jesus authority. He responds by asking them,

⁴was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?" ⁵And they discussed it with one another, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why did you not believe him?' ⁶But if we say, 'From man,' all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet." ⁷So they answered that they did not know where it came from.

So if we say "I don't know" for political reasons, i.e., to just try and keep everyone happy, it is a problem. However, if we are genuinely not sure of the answer I think it is appropriate and consistent with the humility required by passages such as Job 38. Furthermore, we also see how the above encounter occurred because Jesus was responding the hubris of the Pharisees' own questions.

Common misconceptions about science and Christianity

In giving talks to diverse audiences about the relationship between science and Christianity here are few of the more common misconceptions I encounter about the associated issues.

• Science involves reason, objectivity, and facts. In contrast, being Christian involves faith which is irrational.
• When it comes to the Bible non-Christians are more objective.
• Given there are so many religions, there is no apparent reason why I should start my investigations with Christianity.
• The Bible says the earth is 6,000 years old. To be a Christian you have to believe this.

The why question

"Science is wonderfully equipped to answer the question 'How?' but it gets terribly confused when you ask the question 'Why?'."

Erwin Chargaff  [distinguished biochemist]

Before Darwin, even educated people who had abandoned “Why” questions for rocks, streams and eclipses still implicitly accepted the legitimacy of the “Why” question where living creatures were concerned. Now only the scientifically illiterate do. But“only” conceals the unpalatable truth that we are still talking about an absolute majority.

        Richard Dawkins, River out of Eden 

Six propositions about science and the Bible

I have been thinking about the following question: What are the really key ideas that Christians need to understand about the relationship between science and the Bible?

This has been stimulated by two events. First, I will be giving some lectures next month on the topic at Protestant Theological Seminary in Novi Sad, Serbia.
Second, I have a friend is going to teach science in a Christian university in Africa, and has asked for advice on relevant materials.

So, here is my first pass at some of the essential ideas/propositions.

1. The God of the Bible is both the Creator of the physical universe and the Redeemer of humanity

2. Science and the Bible have distinct purposes and present complementary pictures of the reality of the natural world.

3. Science cannot explain why it works.

4. Both science and the Bible raise many confusing unanswered questions. This should not lead to invocation of mysticism, miraculous divine intervention, nor pessimistic postmodernism or relativism, but rather should lead to humble investigation.

5. Philosophical perspectives and the scientific knowledge that stimulates them do not have the same truth certainty.

6. A distinction must be made between belief in evolution as a biological process and belief in evolution as a world view (emphasized by Tim Keller).

I welcome comments and suggestions.

Recommended book on science and Christian belief

If you want a simple well-written book which is easy to read and gives a balanced perspective on basic issues about the relationship between science and Christianity I strongly recommend Michael Poole's, Exploring Science and Belief.

In the tradition of Lion Publishing it has really nice (and relevant) colour pictures and boxes discussing key concepts. It is at the level that intelligent young adults may enjoy an benefit from.

A great gift idea.

Testing the God hypothesis?

After the public lecture I gave in India last month there were lots of good questions from the audience. Members also had the opportunity to write questions and comments for me to answer later.

Here are a few that are similar:

Can you prove experimentally whether or not God exists?

If God is not an object of the five senses, how is one going to verify his existence?

Is God experimentally testable?

I do not think that the existence of God is experimentally testable. But that does not mean that there is no publicly available evidence that the God of the Bible exists.

First, the God presented in the Bible cannot be "tamed" or "controlled" by man. The name LORD (Yahweh) means "I will be who I will be". God is subject not object. We can only discover God and his true nature if he reveals himself. This is just like a human relationship. We cannot force a person to disclose their true self to us.

In science experiments we are dealing with objects: DNA, protons, cells, liquids. If we are clever can control them and probe them and discover their "true" nature. But it should be stressed that often the knowledge we gain is indirect or "mediated". For example, we never truly see single electrons, just their effects.

I should also add that in science one can never "prove" anything. The best one can do is gather a lot of evidence that most people accept as evidence for something being true. Even if one has evidence against a hypothesis that does not mean that people will reject it.

So what evidence is there for God's existence? I think one needs to look at the historical person of Jesus, the evidence for his resurrection, and how he changed the lives of the disciples. Why were they willing to go to their deaths claiming that Jesus was God and had risen from the dead?

To me, the Bible presents a consistent, comprehensive, and coherent view of the world and humanity. It answers questions such as why does science work?

A good place to start the search for understanding

I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

This is how Job responded to God's challenge to him and his friends.

(Job 42).

A good default position is that everything is more complicated than we may think. We are not God.

What can science do?

At times I make the following claims.

"Science is not philosophy. It can say little about meaning and purpose."
"Science cannot explain why it works."
"Science cannot explain the purpose or meaning of things."
"Science cannot tell us what is ethical, of value, or just."

Commenting on this, Sudarshan, makes an excellent point in response:

[see the first Comment on this post]

Isn't this such a cop-out statement to make? can we instead say that "science has not yet explained the purpose or meaning of things and what are ethics, values or just."

His point is well taken. However, I would modify my claims to something like:

"Science has not yet explained why it works, the purpose or meaning of this, and what is ethical, or value, or just. However, it is not clear that it will ever be able to."

Why is that?

Science deals with quantities and concepts that must be objective, i.e. in principle everyone should agree on what these quantities and concepts are, regardless of their culture, gender, race, religion, geographic location, ...

In contrast, meaning, values, and purpose are usually not objective - they can vary significantly between cultures.

What is the meaning and purpose of life? There are many possible answers to get rich, to have a family, to be famous, to serve others? How could science ever assign a relative value to these?

The claim that only science can answer such questions (or the more moderate position that only questions that science can answer are meaningful and important) is often referred to as scientism.

But, that does not mean that there is no true answer.

I think that is where we have to turn to alternative approaches and sources of information (and revelation).

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8

Who is questioning who?

We all have questions about God and for God? On one level this is fine, but on another we need perspective. God is God and we are not. This comes through clearly in the book of Job. After 37 chapters of Job and his friends arguing about the answer to the question, "Why is Job suffering?" God finally speaks.

As we read the Bible we may have questions but we need to careful to not overlook that it has questions for us!

Chapter 38 begins

¹ Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
² "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

³ Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.

⁴ "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

This is an engraving by William Blake from his Illustrations to the Book of Job.

The tension between free will and predestination

One endless theological conundrum is the relationship between free will and predestination. [Related issues actually occur in physics with respect to the compatibility of theories that are deterministic and those are not... but that is another matter.] I make no claim to understand this mystery and do not think I ever will, just like there are many things in physics I struggle to understand but do not necessarily expect to be able to understand..

An important passage is in Romans 9 where Paul discusses the issue in terms of God hardening pharaohs heart:

¹⁴What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! ¹⁵For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." ¹⁶So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. ¹⁷For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." ¹⁸So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

But did Pharaoh have any choice? Today (3 a.m, in Toronto!) I was reading Exodus 9 about the ten plagues that preceded the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. I noticed that for the first five plaques it says that

the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

In contrast, for the remaining five it says:

the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh

Hence, it could be argued that what is going on is similar to in Romans 1 where Paul argues that
"since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to"their own sinful desires and the natural consequences of them.

This does not resolve the tension but amplifies it. We should live with it!

Answering tricky questions

We all have questions. Others challenge us with their questions. It is fascinating for me to see how Jesus dealt with peoples questions. Some he answered. Some he did not. Jesus always seemed to get to the real issue behind the question. This morning I read this account in Mark 11:

And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, ²⁸and they said to him, "By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?" ²⁹Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me." ³¹And they discussed it with one another, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?' ³²But shall we say, 'From man'?"— they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet. ³³So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

I don't know

I am quite comfortable giving this answer to many theological and scientific questions. Why shouldn't I be? There are so many things we do not understand and what I personally do not understand is an even longer list....

How do we reconcile free will with predestination?
Why does God allow suffering?
Why do the evil sometimes prosper?
When is war just and right?
Should Christians support capital punishment?
What happens to people who have never heard the Gospel?
......

It is fine (and to some extent good and appropriate) to wrestle with questions such as these. But part of the life of faith is accepting that I will never have completely satisfactory answers and trusting God anyway...

Living with both certainty and ambiguity and confusion is something I do as a scientist which helps me live in a similar way as a Christian.