"We need science AND faith" says Christian apologist

Revd. Dr. Alistair McGrath on Saturday afternoon presented his lecture ‘Faith in a Scientific Age’ to a packed St. Paul’s Paget church hall, following on from his morning lecture on ‘Engaging with the World’.

The renowned theologian and Christian apologist has debated such stalwarts of ‘New Atheism’ as Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and the late Christopher Hitchens.

In this lecture he presented both his love for science and his argument that the common New Atheist view that science and faith are at war with each other is both overly simplistic and flawed.

He made the point that “atheism can be harmonized with the [scientific] evidence, but that atheism is not demanded by the evidence” and that “perhaps we need science AND faith to help us deal with the richness in the world around us”.

Sense of debate

Rev. Ant Petit explained that the Anglican Church deliberately sought out atheists and scientists in the community to ask if they would be interested in coming to such events as today’s lecture because they wanted to generate a “sense of debate” and present an opposing view to the argument that science and religion are locked in a constant battle.

Revd. Dr. McGrath also told the Sun how he loved Bermuda, having been here before in 1990, and thanked the government for “arranging such lovely weather”.

Catch him at the Cathedral

The lecture is part of a series of events occurring over the weekend featuring Revd. Dr. McGrath.

On Sunday, he will be speaking during the 10am service at the Anglican Cathedral in Hamilton, and at 2:30pm he will deliver a lecture at the same location on ‘CS Lewis and the Life of Faith’, speaking about the writer’s life and work in the light of the discovery of new letters written by the early 20^th century Christian philosopher.

To find out more, visit the Anglican Church of Bermuda’s facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/anglicanbda