Last week, Brian Williams closed NBC Nightly News with this statement: “It has been a week of biblical proportions.” Maybe someone should have informed him that this week, not last, happens to be Holy Week – the week of biblical proportions.

However, Williams was right. Scientific reports challenging Christian foundations infused the news the week before Easter. On our own campus, Christians advertised their faith with “Do you agree with Paul?” shirts, fliers and handbills. However, neither seems to deter or increase our fascination with the supernatural or religion in general.

NBC, like many other news sources, reported a study’s finding that patients undergoing cardiac bypass surgery, who were prayed for and who knew they were being prayed for, experienced more post-surgery complications than patients who were not prayed for. Funded by the John Templeton Foundation, the study spent 2.5 billion dollars gathering data about 1,800 patients from six different hospitals. Is this evidence that prayer does not work? Most people agree: no, absolutely not. Even those who don’t believe in a higher power or prayer still laugh at the attempts of this study.

However, this study does prove something – American culture continually looks to science as the absolute truth in the world. Science is the trump card, and eventually we will be able to give concrete scientific evidence that disproves the existence of God.

Our capacity to intellectually debate has become overly simplified in both the realm of Science and God. With science, facts have become research studies. However, when we report these studies in every day conversation, rarely do we include all variables within the study – how many people were studied, who was studied, what their lives are like, etc. No study can include all factors and the academic community must continually strive to report unbiased findings. However, even in the highest realm of academia, studies are continually interpreted as support or as evidence against an individual’s research.

Almost everyone relies on statistics to prove their point. Remember the 2004 elections? I don’t know how many times Kerry used a statistic and Bush countered it with another statistic disproving Kerry’s evidence or vice versa. There is a truth value behind every statistic; it is used to convey a message, so statistics must be as interpreted as much as the Bible. Yes, statistics can be true. To date, 2,353 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq. But what am I telling you when I say this? Is the number arbitrary if we value one human life?

While Science has become the new God for some – that which allows us to predict our lives – God remains the absolute power for others. Last week, quotations from the apostle Paul covered walls and shirts. Like a statistic, these quotations had a truth value; they meant to convey a message. And also like a statistic, they left out key factors, most importantly the context of the quote. How can I tell you whether or not something is true, or was meant to be taken literally, if I don’t know what context Paul said it in? Furthermore, these quotations have been translated in different ways from different languages and meaning will always be “lost in translation.” Also like Science, God has become the endpoint for our arguments. For some, if God said it (or Science “proved” it), then it must be true, but what if the Bible speaks about fundamental human truths that can be reasoned?

I don’t believe in science and I don’t believe in God. I do think that Science and God have fundamental truths. However, to me, a belief means to put absolute trust and confidence in the subject. But these beliefs limit our possibilities to debate and interpret our own lives. Using reason -the fundamental principle of science – we can arrive at the fundamental truth of God: love all humans.

Therefore, belief should rely in the power of the human mind and heart, not abstract concepts that displace responsibility.

Renee Thessing is a junior in LAS. Her column appears on Thursdays. She can be reached at [email protected]