From Rhode Island-Well before he became Rhode Island’s Episcopal bishop, the Right Rev. W. Nicholas Knisely lived in two worlds. As a priest and rector of a church in Bethlehem, Pa., he looked after people’s spiritual needs. Then he’d hop in a car and travel across the river to nearby Lehigh University to teach physics and astronomy.
His double role came about in part because the school had learned that before he became a priest he had earned degrees in both astronomy and physics. In agreeing to the post, however, Knisely had one condition: that he’d be allowed to teach class wearing his clerical garb.
But as Bishop Knisely recounted to packed pews at a forum last week at St. Andrew’s-by-the-Sea, the priestly attire created quite a stir. Many were stunned to see a man of the cloth teaching science.
He says he understood their confusion. For so long, they had believed that religion and science were fundamentally at odds, the result of long-worn stories about the church’s treatment of Galileo centuries ago and more modern stories about fundamentalist believers trying to ban the teaching of evolution in school.
But the gulf between the two spheres is not nearly as wide as one might think, says the bishop, who points out that both disciplines are seeking truth but have different ways of ascertaining it. For the scientist, the ultimate test is whether it can be replicated or verified, usually in a laboratory. For the religionist, the ultimate determinant, beyond looking at revelation, is whether it’s an idea that endures, is widely accepted by the faithful, and bears fruit.
More here-
http://www.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20130728-r.i.-episcopal-bishop-w.-nicholas-knisely-bridges-the-religion-science-divide.ece
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