If something is logical, it is justifiable according to reason.

Science is the systematic study of ‘things’ through observation and experimentation.

Faith is defined as complete trust or confidence in something or someone, or strong belief based on spiritual understanding rather than physical proof.

Toss a water balloon off the roof of your house. It is logical to reason that it will burst when it lands on the ground or the unsuspecting person below.

Observation and experimentation shows that water balloons typically burst when striking an object — or head — when dropped from a considerable height.

Faith can be hope that the balloon will not break and that something supernatural — or at least not usual — will intervene in some way to keep the expected outcome from happening. Faith can also be that the balloon will indeed burst when it strikes your brother’s head … uh, or whatever … because that’s what you know has happened in the past in your personal experience.

If the balloon breaks, logic, science and faith are — or can be — validated.

If the balloon does not break, logic is not abandoned and science is not proven wrong, nor is there necessarily evidence that something miraculous has happened. The balloon just didn’t break, and the expected outcome did not take place.

Galileo Galilei was condemned by the Catholic Church for heresy in the 17th century because he (simply put) said the earth revolved around the sun. Today people still use this as ammunition against the church in claims that science and logic are universally abandoned by people of faith.

In October 2016, Dr. Lawrence S. Mayer, a scholar-in-residence at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Dr. Paul McHugh, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at JHUSOM, released a special report entitled, “Sexuality and Gender: Findings in the Biological, Psychological, and Social Sciences,” published in The New Atlantis.

Their report concluded that very little evidence exists to support theories that people are born homosexual or transgender.

The Human Rights Campaign — America’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil rights organization — immediately demanded that Johns Hopkins censor the study and issue an apology. The school has yet to do so, saying their faculty has academic freedom to publish their findings.

The study, in part, calls transgenderism a “fad” and points out that transgender persons of all ages are eight times more likely to attempt suicide than those in the overall U.S. population (41 percent compared to 5 percent). 

HRC claims JHU’s refusal to disavow the study puts gays at higher risk in health and safety, according to Academia.org.

If the study had found scientific support for the idea that homosexual and/or transgender people were “born this way” there is no doubt that HRC would have lauded the study and placed Mayer and McHugh on pedestals as heroes of the movement. But Mayer and McHugh’s findings were contrary to what individuals represented by HRC believe.

Johns Hopkins’ science contradicted their faith.

If science advanced and proved that the earth does indeed revolve around the giant star we call the sun, then it would be wholly illogical for people to hold on to a contradictory belief in light of the evidence. There is no threat to the Bible or faith in general because people at one time misunderstood.

A person who doesn’t believe can always find a reason not to believe. A person who believes can always find a reason to keep believing.

JHU should not cave in to HRC’s demands simply because their scientific evidence does not support what HRC wanted it to support. It’s misplaced faith versus scientific conclusion.

Can the science be wrong or future studies reverse this? Yep.

But it’s illogical to rant and fight against the very methods you would champion if it only had gone your way.

News editor Brett Campbell can be reached at brett.campbell@dailyleader.com or 601-265-5307.