God and the Folly of Faith: The Incompatibility of Science and Religion - Softcover

Stenger, Victor J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1616145994 ISBN 13: 9781616145996

Verlag: Prometheus Books, 2012

Inhaltsangabe

A thorough and hard-hitting critique that is a must read for anyone interested in the interaction between religion and science.

It has become the prevalent view among sociologists, historians, and some theistic scientists that religion and science have never been in serious conflict. Some even claim that Christianity was responsible for the development of science. In a sweeping historical survey that begins with ancient Greek science and proceeds through the Renaissance and Enlightenment to contemporary advances in physics and cosmology, Stenger makes a convincing case that not only is this conclusion false, but Christianity actually held back the progress of science for one thousand years. It is significant, he notes, that the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century occurred only after the revolts against established ecclesiastic authorities in the Renaissance and Reformation opened up new avenues of thought.

The author goes on to detail how religion and science are fundamentally incompatible in several areas: the origin of the universe and its physical parameters, the origin of complexity, holism versus reductionism, the nature of mind and consciousness, and the source of morality. In the end, Stenger is most troubled by the negative influence that organized religion often exerts on politics and society. He points out antiscientific attitudes embedded in popular religion that are being used to suppress scientific results on issues of global importance, such as overpopulation and environmental degradation. When religion fosters disrespect for science, it threatens the generations of humanity that will follow ours.

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Victor J. Stenger (1935 - 2014) was an adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado and emeritus professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Hawaii. He was the author of the New York Times bestseller God: The Failed Hypothesis, God and the Atom, God and the Folly of Faith, The Comprehensible Cosmos, and many other books.

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GOD and the Folly of Faith

The Incompatibility of Science and ReligionBy Victor J. Stenger

Prometheus Books

Copyright © 2012 Victor J. Stenger
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-61614-599-6

Contents

Acknowledgments.......................................................13Foreword by Dan Barker................................................15Preface...............................................................251. Introduction.......................................................312. The Earliest Skirmishes............................................473. The Rebirth and Triumph of Science.................................674. Darwin, Design, and Deity..........................................1015. Toward the New Physics.............................................1276. Particles and Waves................................................1417. Cosmos and Creator.................................................1658. Purpose............................................................1999. Transcendence......................................................22310. Beyond Evolution..................................................24911. Matter and Mind...................................................26112. Metaphor, Atheist Spirituality, and Immanence.....................27313. From Conflict to Incompatibility..................................28314. Why Does It Matter?...............................................301Notes.................................................................323Bibliography..........................................................363Index.................................................................389About the Author......................................................407

Chapter One

INTRODUCTION

A reasonable way to interpret the long history of the conflict between scientific and religious models is to see these institutions as competing for the same ground, rather than operating in different domains.

—Gili S. Drori et al.

The notion that science and religion have been long at war with each other is widespread but, as we will see, is somewhat of an oversimplification. The warfare model is largely the consequence of two influential nineteenth-century books: A History of the Conflict between Religion and Science by English-born American chemist John William Draper (died 1882), and A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom by the cofounder and first president of Cornell University, Andrew Dickson White.

Draper had reacted angrily to proclamations from Rome asserting papal infallibility and claiming that revealed doctrine took precedence over the human sciences. He wrote that since coming to power in the fourth century, the Catholic Church had displayed "a bitter and mortal animosity" toward science and had its hands "steeped in blood."

White's attack on religion was much broader, not limited to the Catholic Church, but like Draper's, it was motivated at least partially by ideology. At secular Cornell, White wished to create "an asylum for Science—where truth shall be sought for truth's sake, not stretched or cut exactly to fit Revealed Religion." His book was largely in reaction to attacks from the religious community for his refusal to impose religious tests on students and faculty. Nevertheless, White's efforts at Cornell helped lead to the conversion of the great private universities in America and Europe from the church-centered institutions they were originally to the secular ones they are today.

The second volume of White's tome documents the long history of meddling by religion in medicine: the legends of supernatural intervention in causing and curing disease, including miracles and satanic influences; the resistance against dissection and other anatomical studies; opposition to surgery, inoculation, sanitation, and the use of anesthetics; and demonic possession. While we still have faith healers and faith healing cults, these are not part of my concern in this book, which is the current intellectual battleground of theology and science.

Modern historical scholars, some with ideological motives of their own, have severely criticized the accuracy of Draper's and White's accounts, saying they oversimplified what was a far more complex relationship. Historian John Hedley Brooke asserts that Draper's and White's arguments are "deeply flawed." He objects to their assumption of a dichotomy between nature and supernature, which he says oversimplifies the theologies of the past. He writes, "If a supernatural power was envisaged as working through, as distinct from interfering with, nature, the antithesis would partially collapse." Or, he says, another way to put it is, "an explanation in terms of secondary causes need not exclude reference to primary causes."

In fact, a dichotomy does exist between nature and supernature. Later I will elaborate on the distinction between primary and secondary causes, but Brooke's mistake here is to assume, without some kind of evidence or rationale, that the mere fact that primary causes are theoretically possible means that they actually have a substantial likelihood of existing. Time and again we will run into this line of reasoning by religious apologists. Just because science cannot prove Zeus does not exist, we can't conclude he does.

The strongest indictment of Draper and White that I have seen is in The Great Courses lectures by chemist and historian Lawrence M. Principe, whose strong proreligion bias comes out no matter how hard he tries to hide it and to appear even-handed. According to Principe, Draper's book is "one long, vitriolic, anti-Catholic diatribe." As for White, Principe says he "did not share the rabidity of Draper and did not sell as well," but he also uses "fallacious arguments and suspect or bogus sources."

Let's take a look at one example that casts doubt on Principe's impartiality. He claims, without reference, that White said, "Earth's sphericity was officially opposed by the Church." I have looked through White's book, however, and find no claim regarding an official Church doctrine on the shape of Earth. White refers to certain figures in the early Church, such as Lactantius (died ca. 320) and John Chrysostom (died 407), who mainly distrusted science of any sort. But in contrast to such figures, White notes, "Clement of Alexandria [died ca. 215] and Origen [died 254] had even supported [sphericity]" and "Ambrose [died ca. 340] and Augustine [died 430] had tolerated it." Furthermore, White adds, "Eminent authorities in later ages, like Albert the Great [died 1280], St. Thomas Aquinas [died 1274], Dante [died 1321], and Vincent of Beauvais [died ca. 1200], felt obliged to accept the doctrine of the earth's sphericity." On this point at least, Principe was attacking White for an error that White did not make.

In short, some historians have not been particularly careful or accurate in their criticisms of Draper and White.

Most discussions on the history of the interaction between science and religion focus on Europe, and, indeed, my main concern will be science and Christianity. However, it must be remembered that while Western Europe languished in the Dark Ages, science flourished for over seven hundred years during the golden age of the Islamic empire. In a recent wonderful book, The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Prometheus Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2012
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1616145994
• ISBN 13: 9781616145996
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 408
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV; info@simonandschuster.nl; ; Herculesplein 96; Utrecht; 3584 AA; Niederlande