Merging science, faith and writing

I still get a little uncomfortable when I’m asked why I studied Geology at university - even though I've just graduated. Why? Because the main reason I pursued Geology at undergraduate level was to learn in-depth about the marvels of God's creation. Of course, I couldn't write that on the UCAS form. It ‘wouldn't be appropriate’. So I waxed lyrical about how I could never just look at a volcano or interesting rock formation; how I always wanted to know how and why it was formed (which, for the record, is true). Leaving God out of the picture wasn't just limited to the UCAS form. Even with family members and fellow Christians, I often found myself disguising my Godly motivation in order to make my decision seem more...intellectual.

 

It's not that I didn't care about academics. Rather, I wanted to undertake a degree that I would actually enjoy, as opposed to getting a degree for the sake of saying I had one. And for me, the idea of studying the formation of our planet and seeing God's hand in its shaping was pure pleasure. The prospect of hard-nosed geologists shoving the theory of evolution down my throat didn't deter me. Even when my palaeontology lecturer, a self-professed Christian, declared that, ‘anyone who doesn't believe in evolution is an idiot’, I remained convinced that once I knew the finer details of Earth's complexities, my faith would only be increased.

 

It turns out that I was right.

 

As a result of my degree, I find it more incredulous than ever before that anyone could look at the Grand Canyon or the Himalayas and not believe (at the very least) in a Master Designer. All around us, pure artistry is on display - artistry that could never have happened by chance. We can even observe this in birds and animals. To say that one species merely evolved into another does not justify the enormous variety, differing ecological niches…I could go on. Through my degree, God revealed Himself to me more deeply than ever before. And I desire to share my revelation with other people.

 

Initially I thought I was going to share this revelation via Geology, following the path of Christian geologists who had proven that the Grand Canyon was only a few thousand years old (and not a few million as is the common secular consensus). This was before I was seized with the writing bug. I have always loved to write, especially non-fiction. As a child I created wild, fantastical stories, most of which I never finished. As a teenager I kept journals, mostly of the online variety. Even when I didn’t have time to write, I consistently dreamed up articles and narrated prose in my head.

 

A short course in science writing during my third year confirmed my insatiable appetite for non-fiction writing. By its completion, I had reached a decision. No longer could I escape my desire to write. I didn’t want to do science. I wanted to write about science, to expose myself to a variety of different subjects and attempt to find God’s hand in it all. This realisation brings me to the here and now - the beginning of my Master’s in Science Communication. Through my new degree (and, yes, the Geology cynics have raised their eyebrows at my change in career) I aim to equip myself with the skills needed to write about science for non-specialists, without patronising my target audience. How exactly am I going to be God’s spokesperson through all this? As yet, I haven’t got a clear-cut answer and I’m very much relying on His leading. All I know is that I long to communicate to the world that the beauty around us can no longer be justified by the word ‘random’. There is a designer. God.