Science Must Serve Society, And So Must Faith

Who will resolve the conflict between Science and Faith and Serve the People?

I saw the Facebook sharing of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie, “First Public Research Facility To Put Agriculture On Fast-Forward Launched At ICRISAT[1],” which can be summarized via its own 1^st paragraph:

Efforts to modernize crop breeding took a giant leap today with the unveiling of ICRISAT’s new facility, which is projected to significantly lower time and cost of crop varietal development.

Manong Willie was for 15 years, January 2000 to December 2014, Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India, hence his interest in things ICRISAT up to now. The ICRISAT slogan in his time was “Science with a human face.”

Meanwhile I, having been international consulting writer for things ICRISAT January 2007 to December 2014, now write 100% for the Philippines, especially agriculture.

I say, yes, crop breeding is “Science with a human face,” but it takes years and years for that human face to emerge!

But for one, I must thank ICRISAT for having bred new varieties of sweet sorghum, one for more sugar in its stems for more ethanol, being grown by Rusni Distilleries for biofuel; and another for more sugar for more food products for the Indian farmers – and Filipino farmers. Sugarcane is sweet; sweet sorghum is sweeter!

Revelation today: Aside from Science, there is something else that is Big that needs to be tapped to serve the people – their own Faith.

I have been reading the article-sharing of Sy Garte, an atheist who became a Christian believer: “I Assumed Science Had All the Answers. Then I Started Asking Inconvenient Questions[2]” (March 2020, Christianity Today). He was a Communist, atheist, scientist, a researcher in biochemistry and molecular biology. But slowly, he began to question his non-Christian beliefs  He says:

As I studied science and began my research career in biochemistry and molecular biology, I formed a passionate attachment to a life of knowledge rooted in the scientific worldview. I found comfort and joy in the beauty, complexity, and wisdom of the scientific description of reality. But I also began wondering whether there might be something more to human existence than science and pure reason.

That led him to other ponderings:

I also began to contemplate other questions. Where did the universe come from? How did life begin? What does it mean to be a human being? What is the source of our creativity – of art, poetry, music, and humor? Perhaps, I thought, science cannot tell us everything.

No, Mr Garte, science cannot tell us everything. And since you mention creativity, art, poetry, music, humor – I am now thinking how the Christian faith can turn into reality a borrowed slogan like

“Faith with a human face.”
(superimposed “Ethics for all religion” icon from Globethics.net[3])

And I submit that now the United Nations’ worldly factors for sustainability, which are technical feasibility, economic viability, environmental soundness, and social acceptability, must include a 5^th & universal factor:

Faith in action!@517

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[1] https://www.cgiar.org/news-events/news/first-public-research-facility-to-put-agriculture-on-fast-forward-launched-at-icrisat/?fbclid=IwAR32dF-a1fUqJHuPDLwekQGQ7uzSHCcZ0wLNkF89pIPLAtTfHsAzYDRyQWk

[2] https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/march/sy-garte-science-answers-inconvenient-questions.html

[3] https://www.globethics.net/whom/religious