There are some people who, knowing where I stand on my views, feel that my reading of the Quran is a waste of time. Others are encouraging it, maybe hoping that I will change my mind about my non-belief.
But what is the process of changing one's mind? Is it an appeal to logic? Or to emotions? Either way, I feel that (certain) facts and faith are not so opposite sometimes.
Take evolution. It is seen as a fact based on theory that had been proven. I am more inclined to believe in the evolution theory, as opposed to the fact that God created the world. But is because of my education that makes me predisposed to the scientific ideas?
I've read Lee Stroebel's The Case for a Creator, a book where he criticises the evolution theory. Not being myself a biologist - the explanation he offers, some using DNA terminology, are not something I can easily follow. Lee Stroebel didn't manage to convince me - "yes, there must be a God then!" But perhaps his job was done - it did impress me enough to think, "Yeah, maybe there are holes in the evolutionary theory." That's the first step. And that's all you need for now. Water doesn't erode a rock in one day, but given time, it will.
No one knows everything. Some of us rely on scientists for discoveries, whose work is then established as facts. Take the nitrogen cycle. It is presented as facts to me. But the truth of why I accept it is that because of my faith in the education system. I feel safe to take it at face value that it is true. Then again, who's to say the education system is free from bias or propaganda masquerading as truth?
If I accept the words in the Quran, it is because of faith in Islam. But if I accept the scientific method, isn't that also due to my faith in the rigors of the scientific community that they will not feed me with lies? Because I cannot possibly test all the facts myself to verify it for sure - it will take more than several lifetimes. And scientists are also human, subject to their own agendas (smoking does not give you a risk of developing cancer, anyone?)
Life is complicated.
Perhaps that's why so many people turn to words that are unchanging and immortalised in books passed down for thousands of years. It's much simpler not to have to navigate through a muddle of confusion like that.
Perhaps one day, I'd be proven wrong to put my faith in science. Hell, established facts of long along are disproved all the time (case in point, Pluto)! But at the very least, it was a path I had chosen, and a choice I bear responsibility for.
I don't want a simplistic explanation based on a book that never undergoes a revision despite the fact that the world continues to change. I don't want a world that is ready-made for me, with norms of thousands of years ago imposed on me.
Give me choice, give me the wonder of discovery. I have faith that muddling through all the complexity of life, my life will be richer for it.
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