Can Creation Scientists Do Real Science?

In a recent interview, Dr. Danny Faulkner, an astronomer here at Answers in Genesis, responded to the claim that creationists can’t be scientists. Dr. Faulkner holds a PhD in astronomy and taught astronomy and physics for over 26 years at the University of South Carolina Lancaster before he “retired” to come to AiG.

Here’s his response to the secular claim about creation scientists.

I’ve researched, published, and coauthored many journal articles, and I’ve presented at science and astronomy meetings.

Some people want to make this arbitrary distinction that you have to buy into the metaphysical assertion that there is nothing more than the physical world. In his book and TV show Cosmos, the late Carl Sagan began with this very famous statement: “The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.” And many people hearing that think that’s a very profound scientific statement, but there’s not a bit of science in that—it’s a very broad, bold assertion of his worldview. It’s a denial of anything other than the physical.

But you can’t know that as a scientist. You can believe that, and you can assume that. But it’s an assumption, a belief, a faith statement. Now people say it’s not religious—but it’s a faith statement of no faith, so it is a faith statement.

They’re trying to say, “Well, science is all physical, all natural” since it involves studying the physical world using the five senses. But that does not mean that it is the only reality. Do we conduct our science usually without invoking miracles? Yes! That’s because the world exists and that’s what we’re trying to model. There’s a certain pattern and regularity to the way the world works, and science studies that; but that doesn’t mean the world has always worked that way or always will. I can’t prove scientifically that miracles have happened, and I can’t prove scientifically that they haven’t happened.

There’s no incompatibility at all between belief in science and belief in God and in Christianity. And I’m not the only person saying that! The person who literally wrote the book on physics and astronomy, and who invented calculus, was Sir Isaac Newton. And he wrote ten times more on theology and the Bible than he did on math and science. So if you are going to take that approach, you just kicked one of the greatest scientists of all time to the curb because he can’t be a scientist.

What those kinds of tactics tell me is just how vacuous and depraved their worldview is. They’re really desperate when they have to throw out that kind of argumentation. It’s an attempt to stiff-arm people to get them to ascribe to their secular faith system.

There are many gifted and highly qualified scientists both from history and present day who are biblical creationists. Nothing about believing in and starting with God’s Word disqualifies someone from being a scientist.

You can learn more about creation scientists on our website.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.