Letter to the Editor: Science and religion don’t have to compete

Published 3:50 pm Friday, August 29, 2025

Editor’s note: This letter is a response to Rich Elfers’ column, “Can science and Christian fundamentalism intertwine? Absolutely,” published July 30, and the letter “Science and religion are diametrically opposed,” published Aug. 6.

My take away from Rich Elfers’ article is that fundamentalists don’t have to lose their faith to believe in science.

Although I’m not sure I understand Larry Benson’s point thoroughly, my take away from his letter to the editor is that fundamentalists can’t hold onto faith and believe in science.

Here are my thoughts.

I don’t think religion, and science are competing with each other.

I think some religious folks make them compete with each other. I also think that some atheists make them compete with each other.

However, I think they are asking different questions about truth.

I think science is asking how? I think religion is asking why?

The first time I heard this concept was from a science teacher I had a class with 35 years ago in college. The first thing he said on the first day of class was that science and religion are asking different questions about truth, so they aren’t competing with one another. One asks why, and one asks how.

While my mind began to race at the thought of this, someone in the class asked “Why is the sky blue?” The teacher then said “Do you want the science answer or do you want the religious one?“ The student responded with a shrug, saying “The science one?” The teacher then said “You’re asking the wrong question. The science question would be: How does the human eye see the sky as blue? The answer is that nitrogen is the most abundant gas in our atmosphere. Nitrogen reflects all of the colors on the color spectrum except the light blue that our eye sees. Because human eyes see color as the only color not reflected, we see the sky as light blue.”

Then another student asked “OK, why is the sky blue?” The teacher said “Because God made it that way.“

As a 19 or 20 year-old young man, this was profound for me. That was the moment I realized I could hold onto my spirituality and still engage in evidence based living.

I’m 56 years old now, and I still believe in God. I also live an evidence based life, and look to science and the scientific process to provide much of that evidence for my life.

Jeff Benson

Enumclaw