By Abigail Sanchez-Aguilar —
Most people grill burgers. Dr. Sharon Dirckx grills Christians.
“At my very first week at Bristol University, they hosted an event called ‘Grill a Christian,'” she says. “Basically it was four Christians sitting on chairs in a row in room full of people who could ask whatever they wanted.
“Half way through the evening, I put up my hand and asked, ‘Surely you can’t believe in God and be a scientist at the same time,'” she remembers.
The reply slashed her assumptions: “Saying that science is in conflict with belief in God is a bit like saying that the software programs and processes that undergo Instagram is in conflict with the existence of Kevin Systrom, its founder and CEO.”
Sharon Dirckx (it’s a Flemish last name) grew up in a secular family. She loved science and especially biology. She got a PhD from Cambridge University in brain imaging and worked in that field for 10 years. Now, she is an international speaker/debater on the existence of God and the compatibility of science and faith.
Because of her love for science, she accepted without challenging the notion that science and were irreconciable. But since she was allowed to ask questions of lecturers, friends and others, she came to faith. A critical component for her was learning that there are Christians who believe that God used evolution to carry out his creation. This view sees the Genesis account as literary, not scientific.
