<p>It is not possible to reconcile science and religion.
You cannot teach evolution and believe in intelligent design at the same time. If she thinks she can do it, she just lies to herself. It is a very serious topic to take on in a college application essay and, chances are, what she writes will raise a lot of questions in a person who reads it, at best.
At worst, it will antogonize him. Think about it: an atheist will likely be offended by the mention of the religion and the believer will be offended by the science part of it.
Not to mention that in my experience the believers that try to be scientists are usually rather lousy scientists. There are many topics to write about, why would you choose such a risky and difficult one?</p>
<p>"It is not possible to reconcile science and religion.
You cannot teach evolution and believe in intelligent design at the same time. "</p>
<p>But no one said that was what she was writing about. There are many religious people who don't believe in intelligent design. Heck, there are religious people who don't even believe in God. Religious people represent a very broad spectrum not just fundamentalists.</p>
<p>Sorry, fizik, but you're just plain wrong. You can believe in evolution and in God. Maybe not in "intelligent design" as that is currently discussed, but you can also have faith. Many scientists do. Intelligent design is not the only view of creation that is consistent with religion; it's only the most recent and reactionary. (For example, just off the top of my head, no one knows exactly how the universe came into being. You can believe that the Big Bang occurred, but how do you know that it is not a divinity that began the process, and that evolution is not part of God's design? That's one way of reconciling science and religion; the more we know, the more we can marvel at the wonders of God's plans.)</p>
<p>As far as the topic of an essay is concerned, I say go for it. It can make for a terrific essay, and I'd hate for your d to begin censoring herself at 17.</p>
<p>I my self am an atheist, and if a school didn't want me because of that very superficial reason, they were clearly not the school for me, likewise with you daughter. That is an intrinsic, vital part of who she is, she should have not to hide that, of course she can't try to convert the admission office:) Good luck!!!</p>
<p>Heck, there are religious people who don't even believe in God.</p>
<p>Yes, that is exactly what comes from attempts to reconcile faith and scientific method. I think that it is just more honest and productive to choose one and stick to it.</p>
<p>"Yes, that is exactly what comes from attempts to reconcile faith and scientific method. "</p>
<p>There are faiths that predate the scientific method and that also are basically atheistic. One example is Buddhism. Another is Taoism.</p>
<p>The lead article in last Sunday's Chicago Tribune Magazine featured college essays written by 16 Chicago area members of the class of 2010. One young man, bound for Yale this fall, wrote about his personal search for God. The essay put a piece of this kid's life into relief in a most poignant way, and the topic obviously "did the trick" in New Haven, too!</p>
<p>There are plenty of deeply religious scientists. It IS possible to be both religious and espouse scientific enquiry.
Gregor Mendel was a monk. Here is an excerpt from an article by Albert Einstein, published in 1930:</p>
<p>
[quote]
On the other hand, I maintain that the cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research. Only those who realize the immense efforts and, above all, the devotion without which pioneer work in theoretical science cannot be achieved are able to grasp the strength of the emotion out of which alone such work, remote as it is from the immediate realities of life, can issue. What a deep conviction of the rationality of the universe and what a yearning to understand, were it but a feeble reflection of the mind revealed in this world, Kepler and Newton must have had to enable them to spend years of solitary labor in disentangling the principles of celestial mechanics!
[/quote]
<p>As for writing on religion for a college application essay, go for it.</p>
<p>Didn't Pope Pius XII say 50 years ago that evolution was compatible with faith and Pope John Paul II made news in a different political climate when he said the same thing?</p>
<p>Just as long as the essay doesn't leave the reader with the impression that the writer is not open to any new ideas/opinions/viewpoints ( and if they weren't- would they even be able to benefit from college?), I don't see the problem.</p>
<p>ZM, to answer your question, I'd let the reference stand.</p>
<p>In a curious way, it might be a negative, a positive, or a null...you can't tell and you can drive yourself nuts overthinking it. As a parallel, I know that I don't appeal to all potential clients. I could bland myself out and attempt to appeal to everyone, which far too many people do, but the heck with that...better to work with those with whom there is a mutual "click." </p>
<p>An admissions officer at D's college once mentioned that she upchecked students who came in interviewing on the preppie side...there were enough grunge, alternative, Goth, whatever that she wanted some preps as part of the student body. I don't think that would work at Williams or Middlebury but go figure. I think that the more, ah, liberal a college's reputation, the more they might value a little religious diversity.</p>
<p>Fisik, I disagree with you that religion and science are incompatible; also disagree that religious types make bad scientists. Many of the top physicists are deeply religious; they cannot help but see a divine being in the order of the cosmos. The more they understand, the more the realize how phenomenally complex our universe is. </p>
<p>In terms of evolution v. ID - I know some very, very religious people who do not disbelieve evolution. Their take is that it is part of God's plan (yes, this is different from ID) - evolution is the mechanism by which God created man; it's the same idea as God creating physics/physical laws and setting everything in motion. </p>
<p>That said, those who dogmatically follow religion are probably going to just not like the sciences; the "why" part simply would not appeal to them. </p>
<p>Finally, science has been used to advance religious causes. Consider that scientific inquiry, in the 19th century, showed how fertilization works. This was used to advance the cause of the Church; at the time, everyone believed that life begins at quickening. </p>
<h2>I'm an atheist, by the way.</h2>
<p>As for the actual question... while admissions officers are not professors (usually) nor high-level administrators, they DO select the incoming class. Your D would be out of place among her peers if she writes an essay that avoids any touchy religious topics.</p>
<p>I wrote an essay about religion (not the evangelical sort) and from what I can tell, it didn't hurt me...</p>
<p>Allmusic posts: "It doesn't sound as if that is the tack that Zoos's DD is taking at all; on the contrary, she is revealing a reconciliation of a personal conflict, a topic"</p>
<p>That's exactly how she presented it. Almost verbatim.</p>
<p>THe gist is that she always thought she would be a scienctist and has done everything to put herself on that path, but is now leaving herself open to a career in the ministry, but always working to reconcile two belief systems (those are my words, not hers) in her own life. She is not an evangelical, by the way. An old fashioned, mainline Protestant.</p>
<p>"You cannot teach evolution and believe in intelligent design at the same time. "</p>
<p>What a presumption. That has nothing to do with her essay and nothing to do with her belief. You're not too educated about people other than yourself, are you? Please leave politics out of the question, ok?</p>
<p>Marite and TheDad, thanks so much for the insight. It's exactly why I posted here asking the question. Much appreciated!</p>
<p>I sometimes wonder if people in other parts of the country or people who aren't familiar with church-going people assume that everyone who is a Christian is an evangelical. Frankly, we think some of the Christian religious extremists are a bit "out there" too.</p>
<p>Daughter believes wholeheartedly in evolution and has done some important research on genetics during her internships.</p>
<p>Northstarmom, I ditto your comments exactly. I was worried about this too, as one of my son's main essays was about the challenge he faced in deciding to not go through with confirmation in an Italian Roman Catholic family. So he talked about both religion and ethnicity. But the essay really showed off his ability to think for himself and to take the tougher road. He explained his reasons and why the experience tested his valuses and how he grew as a person due to the experience.<br>
Since he got into a variety of schools (ivies, LAC's and state schools), I guess it was received well enough. I certainly wouldn't advise my child to re-do her essay just to make it "fit" what is perceived to be a safe topic. I would think it helps to see an applicant's inner self in addition to their activities and honors.</p>
<p>FountainSiren:</p>
<p>Let's get this straight. To convince me and others that Protestant Christianity is not mainstream at Dartmouth, you offer the following: The current president of the student government there, in his official capacity, recently gave a speach in which his profession of Christian faith was central and explicit. He referred repeatedly to Jesus, by name, and exhorted his fellow students to imitate Him. Some other students accused him of insensitivity and abuse of his position. A well-known campus publication sprang to his defense, and brought in a Big Gun from outside the college (whose initial reputation was made hysterically decrying atheism at his college, where he had been a BMOC and a member of Skull & Bones). An actual current student, however, who agreed with him, wrote
[quote]
To be fair, the majority of student commentators on the “Jesus incident” have not signed on to the secular temper tantrum. . . . The conservative outcry in the media was perhaps overblown and asymmetrical to the intensity of the initial objections.
[/quote]
As far as I'm concerned, you have proved my point, not yours. At Dartmouth College, an institution founded with an explicitly Protestant Christian agenda, Protestant Christianity remains a mainstream position. Notwithstanding the inexplicable fashion among right-wing pundits to use the rhetoric of embattled victimization they often decry in others, Christians are not embattled victims here in the U.S. -- not in the corridors of power, not where I live, and not where you go to school.</p>
<p>"Notwithstanding the inexplicable fashion among right-wing pundits to use the rhetoric of embattled victimization they often decry in others, Christians are not embattled victims here in the U.S.--not in the corridors of power, not where I live, and not where you go to school." - JHS</p>
<p>Once again, as usual in my experience, Christians who want to practice their religion in the public domain, and who have experienced intolerance, are automatically lumped in with "right-wing pundits." </p>
<p>I had personal experience with this in my own kids' public schools. In explaining my dissenting view from many of the things being "taught" my sons, I had to provide the disclaimer "I'm not a right-wing religious fundamentalist zealot - just a mainstream Catholic" (although I think even that bit of info was frightening to our district higher-ups). In other words, any time a person raises questions re curriculum that touch on religious belief, one is accused of being the above. Maybe these people aren't victimizing Christians, but in their own little way they are bigots. And unless one comes from a religious point of view, I have found, it is very difficult to understand it--perhaps almost impossible.</p>
<p>No, hereshoping, I'm not lumping Christians who want to practice their religion in the public domain with right-wing pundits. If you read what you quoted, I was lumping right-wing pundits with right-wing pundits. To be clear: It both amuses and annoys me when right-wing pundits use the rhetoric of victimization to present professing Christians as an embattled minority in the U.S. establishment. And I notice that some professing Christians (e.g., FountainSiren) appear to believe them. I also notice that feeling like an embattled victim is a pretty good motivational strategy -- every football coach in America tries to convince his team that they are disrespected by the Powers That Be and their opponents -- so I don't expect it to go away.</p>
<p>I consider myself a religious person. I have spent 50 years as a Jew, and 20 years raising children as Jews, in the midst of establishment American institutions, quite happily. But to do that, and to be attuned to religion, is to be reminded constantly of how pervasive Christianity is, and how pervasive Christian concepts of morality and faith are even among people who are not active, professing Christians. I have spent a lifetime studying -- not always voluntarily -- the incredible beauty and some of the dangers of different varieties of Christian doctrine. I have very little patience for whining about that from my fellow Jews or other religious minorities; as far as I am concerned that is just part of being a non-Christian in America. Personally, I find it ridiculous to suggest that my faith or my sense of confidence in the world might be threatened by a public creche, a hymn, or a prayer invoking Jesus, not to mention a speech -- those have never been my fights (and I happen affirmatively to LOVE a lot of explicitly Christian art, music, literature, and rhetoric). And I understand what you are saying about people who are bigots about religious concerns. At the same time, I doubt you had many babysitters tell your young children that they would burn painfully in hell forever if they didn't renounce your faith. I had several. It colors one's view of what intolerance means.</p>