Is there a conflict between science and religion?

Steve Savides, Pastor at First Congregational United Church of Christ, discussed about how he was talking about the Creation stories in the book of Genesis in confirmation class when one of the confirmands came out with this statement, "I don't believe in God.  I believe in evolution."  How did she ever get the idea that it was a matter of either/or?  God or evolution?   Faith or science?  There are many voices that frame the matter in precisely that way, from those fundamentalist Christian friends who insist that Creationism or (its latter day cousin Intelligent Design) be taught in public school classrooms to Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist and evangelist of Atheism.  Both of these voices insist that science and faith cannot co-exist: one voice, the voice of reason or the voice of faith, must drown out the other.  There are many today who believe science and religion cannot peacefully co-exist and that believe there is an inherent conflict between the two.  It’s important to note that this conflict model of the relationship between religion and science is actually a very recent development.  The writers of Genesis did not view science and religion as being in conflict.  They wrote their poems of creation as works of art and theological reflection without concern for their scientific accuracy.  The wisdom writers of the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job, used thoughtful observation of and reflection upon the order of nature as a source of theological truth.  To look upon the world, to them, was to see the presence and workings of God.  Jesus in his teaching clearly carried on in that very same wisdom tradition.  The early church learned to embrace the science of the Greeks, the cosmology of Aristotle, and see them as being helpful, even indispensable tools on the Christian journey. The church saw science and religion as complimentary, not in conflict.  There are two specific historical moments, however, when a very serious conflict between science and religion arose.  Those moments, both relatively recent, have birthed the “conflict model” of the relationship between science and religion.   The first came with the scientist Galileo, who defended the Copernican discovery that the earth in fact revolves around the sun rather than the sun revolving around the earth.  Bertolt Brecht’s wrote in the play “Life of Galileo" how science and religion are inherently in conflict.  Brecht wrote from the other side of Darwin and the Scopes Monkey trial, the second major historical event that led many to see this conflict.  It really wasn’t until the 19^th Century that this so-called “conflict model” arose.  It’s a very recent idea that science and religion cannot peacefully co-exist.   In my own congregation, we have been led by the thoughtful reflections of David Cook, a distinguished and retired Lawrence professor of physics who views religion and science as complementary rather than contradictory.  It’s David’s testimony, the biblical testimony, and the testimony of our own faith history that has led us to declare ourselves a church open to science.   How about building a relationship between science and religion, reason and faith, that is founded on mutual respect and shared humility? Could we all be open to that?