A new way to embrace both science and faith
Mike McHague’s engrossing new memoir reveals a compelling path through the realms of both science and faith
I guess I’m lucky. I’ve never really had a total crisis of faith. I was brought up in a Christian home and have spent my life going to one church or another. Unlike most people, who at some point or another, end up going through existential ponderings about whether faith and religion is all a load of tosh, I somehow avoided this.
Not that my beliefs have remained the same. Far from it. Due to an open mind and insatiable desire to keep growing, keep learning, keep becoming, my faith has evolved dramatically. Fundamentalists would now consider me a backslider no doubt, but for me my faith feels more real, more integrated, more holistic than ever before.
Like I say, I’ve been lucky. I’ve always managed to have people around me who have accepted me as I am no matter what. I’ve always managed to find the right friend or the right author or the right mentor at just the right moment who has helped me process where I am with my thoughts. And helped me see that I’m not alone.
So yes, I’ve had my doubts, uncertainties, questions, scepticism, and cycncisym along my journey through life, church, and faith. But somehow I’ve managed to avoid ever feeling totally lost or alone. I’ve always had a place to belong no matter where I’ve been with my faith.
The more I’ve thought about this though, the more it’s become clear that I’m an outlier. I’ve managed to take as smooth a journey as can possibly be made through the rough terrain of making sense of faith in a modern, scientific, secular society. Most people don’t get to make such a smooth journey. For many, it is a traumatic journey, often made in isolation, and one that is deeply disorientating.
Finding God in the Waves
All of that brings me to a wonderful new book by Mike McHargue, also known as Science Mike. His book, which comes out today, is called Finding God in the Waves. For those of you who have questions about whether faith and religion has any place in our modern world and, perhaps, feel like you’re on your own, this book is for you. And particularly, if you are journeying through doubts and questions and your faith feels overwhelmed by uncertainty, Mike’s words are a gift that will fill you with hope.
Though Mike’s journey could be summed up as losing his faith and then finding it again, the truth is that the faith he found again isn’t the faith he lost. Instead, he found a new way to engage with what he’d lost.
So often, a crisis of faith leaves us feeling that we will never find anything worthwhile in the Bible, church, or prayer again. But Mike offers us a way forward that embraces science and faith in a way that is both intellectually and mystically credible.
The gift of this book is in creating a safe space for everything to be on the table. Mike doesn’t shy away from anything. No matter how irreconcible science and faith might seem on some issues, he isn’t afraid to honestly go there. But he doesn’t write in order to persuade. This isn’t Christian apologetics. This is simply his story. His discoveries. His journey. But it’s a journey that I’m convinced will bring so much hope to those who feel there is no longer a way ahead for them.
For those ready to give up on faith and church, Mike’s story shows us that maybe, just maybe, there is another way.
