As my undergraduate career in Biology progresses, I find myself being surrounded and exposed to “more serious” thoughts on evolution, religion, life, lizards–everything, really. After some heated discussions, or rather, “calm orderly discussions with underlying passion,” I feel I must make this assertion. Because after these discussions, I get the distinct impression that it is the general consensus that religion and science cannot be reconciled–and that is so very wrong. The moment it becomes apparent I am a Christian, I get that sort of condescending look that says, “Aww you poor thing, you have yet to let go of beliefs that hinder you from truth and knowledge.”

C’mon, you’d want to punch them too.

But I’m not that angry. Not really. It’s quite understanding if you consider the two groups of people running amok these days:

1) “Hardcore” Christian fundamentalist who run around spouting creation “science” without knowing anything about science. I appreciate the good intentions, but you are not impressing nor convincing anyone with your ignorance. Please stop, it’s embarrassing.

The God I know is very intelligent, and created me with a love for discovering, exploring, and learning. I seriously doubt he wants me to disregard all that so that I can following him blindly. He gave me a choice, and a brain. Obviously I am suppose to use both to make a decision.

2) “Hardcore” scientists who like to disregard everything but science, because science is the only concrete, reliable, testable, blah blah blah.

Because yeah, everything in life can be explained by science. That’s why my friends are always “searching for themselves” and trying to “find the meaning of life” or a “purpose in life.” (I am not being facetious, these are their exact words, they are serious, and it breaks my heart.) Last I checked, science has no answer to these questions, and nor does it try to. It is outside its scope, as it should be. In other words, we must look outside science. Is that so bad? Why are you allowed to disregard the spiritual just because it boggles your mind? Why cannot the “ignorant” Christians disregard science because it boggles their minds? I have no problem with atheist who have thoroughly considered everything and unbiasedly searched for the truth (like a good scientist should). They had their choice, and they used their brain.

I will close with some words I found from someone a little more eloquent than I. I don’t agree with everything he has said in his book, but this particular excerpt I like.

“A nonbeliever, of course, puts his or her trust in science and finds no value in faith. And I certainly agree that science allows believer and nonbeliever alike to investigate the natural world through a common lens of observation, experiment, and theory. The ability of science to transcend cultural, political, and even religious differences is part of its genius, part of its value as a way of knowing. What science cannot do is assign either meaning or purpose to the world it explores. This leads some to conclude that the world as seen by science is devoid of meaning and absent of purpose. It is not. What it does mean, I would suggest, is that our human tendency to assign meaning and value must transcend science and, ultimately, must come from outside it. The science that results can thus be enriched and informed from its contact with the values and principles of faith. The God of Abraham does not tell us which proteins control the cell cycle. But he does give us a reason to care, a reason to cherish that understanding, and above all, a reason to prefer the light of knowledge to the darkness of ignorance.”
-Kenneth Miller, Finding Darwin’s God 1999

As promised, here are pictures of my lovely plants, Kipp and Galton. Kipp meaning adorned with a crown (kinda looks like a crown, yes?) and Galton meaning “from the rented place” (ugly name, yes?). I got Kipp from Kim for my birthday, and he has since grown quite a bit! Galton I got from my apartment when they had a paint-a-pot day. Hence, the name.

Aren’t they lovely? If you like Kipp, you can find others like him at eggling.com or at Urban Outfitters. Kip is a Basil plant, and smells really nice! I can’t wait til he gets big enough to snip and eat. Galton is an Oregano plant, and doesn’t really smell like anything as far as I can tell. I don’t mind waiting to eat him.

Herbs seem a lot easier to grow than flowers, so I thought it wise to stick with them, seeing as I seem to have a touch of death on anything under my care. Although, after watching tiny seeds grow slowly each day gets you rather attached. All that hard work they put into sprouting! It makes you stand back in awe at God’s creation, not unlike when I saw the Grand Canyon, or the mountains in Colorado and Tennesee. Just, you know, on a smaller scale. Now whenever I see little plants growing, I can’t bear to step on them. Unless it’s grass. Who cares about grass.

I’m hoping to take the plant science class they offer here. Except, I’m afraid I’ll be quite sick of plants after I’m done. It’s either that or Zoology, and I don’t care much for those. *sigh decisions, decisions.

Yes, I am a sucker for all things kawaii. Not too long ago Kim and I made this spiffy purchase for 1,029 yen (~$10 USD) from strapya (Kim got the blue counterpart).

Isn’t it beautiful? According to the package, it is alive and thriving off some fabulous bio-gel technology. Whether it really is or not, I’m not sure, but I love it all the same. As if I needed any more plants, right? (NOTE TO SELF: Post pictures of my oregano and basil plants!)

But wait! I visited the site again today, and now they have baby trees! (Where is Linh #4 when I need her?!)

Hey, a biology major is entitled to have a variety of plants in her room, yes? Anyhow, strapya service is great (even if their English is not ;P), so I would recommend them. They’ve got keitai (cell phone) accessories out the wazoo and some fun gifts too. They also has a new line of accessories for the DS Lite, and I must say those cases are pretty slick. Shipping’s not bad if you buy everything at once and get a nice flat rate. I’m very tempted to get a cool new DS stylus as well… time to tiêu tiền!