I think the following is more along the original track: It is not possible to reconcile religious dogma with science when the two conflict. Dogma and logic are both uncompromising. The best we can manage is tolerance of people we disagree with.
Speaking of tolerance, I think the best we can do in dealing with students whose religious beliefs conflict with scientific evidence might be to make sure the curriculum of every science course is well-steeped in the philosophy of science. Students need to understand the rules for doing science, and they need to understand why those rules are important for them to understand. Science is how we learn to cure and treat diseases, improve transportation systems, make building earthquake-resistant and kids' pajamas flame-resistant. It gives us the tools to recognize a problem like global warming and fix it before it gets too serious, if we choose to use them. It's basically just logical problem-solving, not so fundamentally different from what people use every day for practical challenges, but applied with more discipline and better tools in order to solve more challenging problems. Students also need to see that scientists are conscientious people who do the best they can and want the best for the world they live in, just like most people. I think the polarization we see in our society has everything to do with how people use technology to interact only with like-minded people instead of their immediate neighbors. People easily demonize a group when they have no personal connection to it, so the more scientists can personally connect with non-scientists, the better off we are as a group. Jim Crants
