When Faith and Science Work Together

The fourth core value of the Center for Progressive Christianity gets to the heart of what distinguishes the progressive Christian movement from some of the loudest voices in American Christianity. It reads:

“By calling ourselves Progressive Christians, we mean we are Christians who embrace the insights of contemporary science and strive to protect the Earth and ensure its integrity and sustainability.”

This value contains two commitments, both of which are essential.

True or Fact?

First, progressive Christians embrace the insights of modern science. That may sound obvious to some, but it represents a meaningful shift in how we approach Scripture and faith.

We recognize that the Bible was never intended to function as a science textbook. Instead of forcing the Biblical text to answer questions it was never meant to answer, we allow scientific discovery to inform our understanding of the world, while we turn to Scripture for wisdom about meaning, purpose and how we ought to live.

For example, most of us learned in elementary school that Earth formed billions of years ago, and life developed through a long and complex evolutionary process. When we read the first Genesis creation story (Genesis 1), which describes the world being formed in six days with God resting on the seventh, we understand that it is not a literal scientific account.

But that doesn’t make the story untrue. An Indigenous saying I often return to: “I don’t know if it happened exactly like this, but I know that it’s a true story.”

Stories can communicate profound truths even when they are not factual descriptions of historical events. The Genesis creation narrative is an example of this. Rather than offering a scientific explanation for how the universe came to be, the story points to something deeper: that creation is sacred, that everything is interconnected, and that the divine Spirit moves through it all.

This approach shapes how progressive Christians read other parts of the Bible as well.

When we encounter stories of Jesus casting out demons, healing the sick, or performing miracles, we recognize that the gospel writers were interpreting events through the lens of the ancient world. Their understanding of illness, mental health, and natural phenomena was different from our modern scientific understanding.

Rather than dismissing the stories or insisting they must be taken literally, we look for their deeper meaning.

Take the story of Jesus casting demons into a herd of pigs that then rushed over a cliff. Some scholars suggest the story may carry symbolic political meaning—an image of oppressive forces being driven out of the land. Similarly, when Jesus heals people throughout the gospels, the stories repeatedly emphasize who receives that care: those he calls “the least of these.”

The point is not simply that extraordinary things happened. The point is that Jesus’ ministry consistently centered the marginalized, the forgotten, and those who were suffering.

As biblical scholar John Dominic Crossan famously said, “My point, once again, is not that those ancient people told literal stories and we are now smart enough to take them symbolically, but that they told them symbolically and we are now dumb enough to take them literally.”

Nurturing Earth

The second half of our core value flows naturally from the first.

If we truly take science seriously, then we must also take seriously what scientists are telling us about the condition of our planet. Progressive Christians therefore strive to “protect the Earth and ensure its integrity and sustainability.” 

Caring for creation is not an optional add-on to our faith. It is central to it.

Many younger people today cite the church’s perceived indifference toward environmental issues as one reason they have distanced themselves from Christianity. Too often, faith communities have either ignored the growing climate crisis or treated it as a political issue rather than a moral one. In some cases, people even suggest environmental collapse might hasten the end times—a belief that can foster dangerous apathy toward the planet.

Progressive Christians take a different approach.

We listen to scientists. We pay attention to what climate research tells us about rising temperatures, ecological instability and the urgent need for environmental stewardship.

At the same time, we return to the deep spiritual truths embedded in Scripture. The biblical creation stories remind us that Earth is not disposable. It is sacred. It is beloved by God. And humanity has been entrusted with its care.

Faith and science do not have to be enemies. In fact, when they are held together wisely, each deepens the other.

Science helps us understand the world as it is. Faith helps us imagine the world as it could be—more just, more compassionate, and more sustainable.

In a society increasingly shaped by misinformation and distrust of expertise, a faith that listens to science may feel countercultural. But for progressive Christians, it is simply part of being faithful.

And Earth—our shared home—depends on it.