All people of faith will applaud this proposal. History, as well as common sense, tells us that there should be a healthy respect between science and faith. The scientific method was after all developed by Christians in the reformation era who denied the Aristotelian presupposition that the universe is infinite and therefore all reasoning must be deductive. They argued instead that since this is God’s creation, every area is open to exploration. Introducing the inductive method brought about the scientific revolution and the emergence of people like Isaac Newton who not only pioneered great scientific discoveries but wrote Sunday school theology. There was no conflict.

And there is no conflict today. All science proceeds on certain faith presuppositions. In the case of the sociobiologist, that presupposition is materialism, that nature alone explains existence. Christians make a faith assumption that God began the universe and life. Many scientists, like Francis Collins, have found complete compatibility between science and religion. I am sure Collins and every other Christian will welcome Edmond Wilson’s proposal—a long sought-after truce in the struggles between naturalism and theism.