Science, Predestination and Free Will

While the (in)compatibility of evolution and Christian beliefs is often at the center of the science-faith dialogue, it is clear that evolution is not a serious challenge to Christian faith. It is only a serious challenge to a literal interpretation of certain scriptural passages, and one that has never been insisted upon by orthodoxy.

Unfortunately, other areas of scientific research which really do offer challenges for Christian faith get far less attention. Right now, for instance, many in the scientific community are seriously discussing an issue that has been at the core of Christian faith since its beginning: do humans really have free will or not? Read about it here in a recent NYTs article. The question naturally arises in science for a simple reason: every system we have investigated has eventually turned out to be deterministic and computational (big words that mean "based on concrete rules"), even complex ones (except for systems that appear to be totally random). For every effect, there is a cause. Can the system of human choice be any different? Are humans "free moral agents" with full power over the choices they make, or is every choice we make just the effect of a computational algorithm caused by a combination of genetically-endowed resources and input from the environment? Are we just really complex machines?

Many experiments (the pioneering work of Benjamin Libet in the 70s, for example) suggest that decision making is indeed somewhat of an illusion. Libet hooked people's brains up to sensors and asked them to make simple decisions. What he found is that the area of the brain associated with the act of the decision (pushing a button, for example) was activated a split second before the area of the brain used in making conscious decisions. In other words, the decision was made before it was made, suggesting that decision making itself isn't what we think it is.

The implications here for morality and ethics are obvious. If our actions are determined not by a conscious choice, but by a system of hard-set rules, can we be held responsible for them? The question is a familiar one in Christian theology as well where the Calvinist viewpoint holds that humans do not choose to follow God, but that God chooses them through a system of pre-determination. This reformed view raises serious questions about free will: if no one chooses to follow God, does anyone choose to do anything? A strong reformed view is that every action of every human, good or evil, is predetermined by God for the purpose of God's continual and eventual glorification. Obviously this leads to the same ethical question science is raising: if none of our actions are the results of conscious decisions (but are rather the results of God's choice, or computational algorithms), are we responsible for them?

In resolving this conflict, I have to admit that science seems to have the edge. That's because science has identified a property of human thought that other species do not seem to have: the ability to reflect on our own thoughts. This unique ability affords us the ability to reach conclusions in our heads and consider them carefully before we commit to action. It allows us imagination: the ability to ask 'what if' and consider several possible conclusions. In more technical terms, it allows us to consider varying the input to our computational thought process in an unlimited number of what, thus reaching an unlimited number of outputs from which we can choose. Now, this is not to say that the final choice itself is not also computationally determined, but the ability to consider multiple outcomes, allow for some and dismiss others essentially yields us what we consider to be moral choice. It also yields responsibility.

While this synthesis of determinism, free will and responsibility isn't perfect or fully understood, I have to say that I have yet to hear such a satisfying synthesis of the Reformed and Arminian positions from Christian theology. Typically all one hears is talk of "tension" and "dialectic." I am not a biblical scholar, but I can't help wondering, can the scientific understanding of free will and determinism discussed above help us out here? It seems worth thinking about. What if, analogically, the biblical concept of pre-destination is taken to more like pre-disposition? From birth (or before) God plants in us the seeds that largely determine if we will follow him or not; these "seeds" include things like the religion of our parents, where we live, our genetic make-up, etc. While these factors are very likely to determine whether we follow God or not (most humans adopt the religion of their parents and geographical location unquestioningly), there is still a choice involved. Those "born as Christians" can choose to veto that status by considering variations on their environmental input and choosing an alternate conclusion; similarly, those not "born" as followers of God can undertake the same experiment, choosing to follow God. On this understanding, the reformed tradition of predestination carries a lot of weight: we have no control over who our parents are, what are genes tell us to do or think, or where we are born. But so does the Arminian tradition: since we can consider our own thoughts, we can imagine alternative scenarios for our lives, genes, and location and adopt any of the conclusions this exercise leads us to.

The picture that emerges both from science and Christian theology turns out to look very similar. Both tell us that because of our status as products of creation and physical beings in a physical world, nearly everything about us is the result of physical processes based on concrete (though complex) rules. However, because of a unique property that our species possesses, we have a special status in creation: the power to make choices.

I am not saying here that this is the only possible synthesis of scripture for free will, nor am I saying that science should dictate what we believe about God's nature and intentions. My main point is this: the investigation of God's creation does not pull us away from our faith, but draws us toward it, inviting us to consider the nature of God's actions in serious and possibly enlightening ways.