Science & Religion

Science & Religion

1. standard image:science versus religion

2. historical revision:– objection A: not always conflict– objection B: deliberate choice

3. consequences of the revision for us

1. Standard image

• our idea about old times• secularized society• a fundamental conflict:

science vs. religion?

J.W. Draper, History of the Conflict between Religion and Science (1874)

A.D. White, A History of the Warfare of Science and Theology (1896)

Science & Religion

2. historical revision:– objection A: conflict is rare– objection B: deliberate choice

2. Revision: objection A

Conflict is rare

• medieval universities– Greek philosophy & Christian theology– fits, Thomas Aquinas– conflicts: eternity world, omnipotence God– 1277 Paris bishop Tempier bans articles based

on Aristotle– qualifications

2. Revision: objection A

Conflict is rare

• modern science– nature = creation– book of nature– natural theology (or physico-theology)

2. Revision: objection A

Conflict is rare

• examples: Newton, Swammerdam, Kepler, others

• Galileo?

Isaac Newton (1643-1727)

2. Revision: objection A

Conflict is rare

• examples: Newton, Swammerdam, Kepler, others

• Galileo?

Jan Swammerdam (1637-1680)

2. Revision: objection A

Conflict is rare

• examples: Newton, Swammerdam, Kepler, others

• Galileo?

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

2. Revision: objection A

Conflict is rare

• examples: Newton, Swammerdam, Kepler, others

• Galileo?

Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury, Galilée devant le Saint-Office au Vatican (1847)

2. Revision: objection A

Conflict is rare

General picture early-modern science:

• no fundamental opposition• science and religion go together, e.g. in

natural theology• study of nature = study of Creation

2. Revision: objection A

Conflict is rare

• are things different today?after Darwin etc.

2. Revision: objection A

polls 2003 and 2005:

• 90% Americans believes in God• 84% believes in immaterial soul• 84% believes in miracles(53% Europeans believe in astrology vs. 40%

Americans)(32% Europeans: Sun around Earth vs. 24%

Americans)

2. Revision: objection A

• 84% Americans believes in miracles• 72% with Masters or PhD

• 12% Americans: Darwinian evolution• 16,5% with Masters or PhD• 55% scientists

• 40% scientists believes in God• 15% National Academy of Science believes in

a personal God

2. Revision: objection A

Conclusion polls:

• science has little effect on personal beliefs• many scientists combine science and

religion• still secularization: see further

2. Revision: objection B

Conflict is deliberate choice

• 18th century France:– Enlightenment philosophes criticizing religion– not against deity per se, but against religious

institutions, Catholic church and clergy– larger project of reason vs. illegitimate power,

based on tradition, superstition and ignorance– half a Newton

2. Revision: objection B

Conflict is deliberate choice

• 19th-century England:– initially: science & religion:

• in natural theology• in Oxford and Cambridge• in gentleman-amateur scientists*

– new professionals claim monopoly– means: ridding science of religion

2. Revision: objection B

Conflict is deliberate choice

• 19th-century England:– initially: science & religion:

• in natural theology• in Oxford and Cambridge• in gentleman-amateur scientists*

– new professionals claim monopoly– means: ridding science of religion

2. Revision: objection B

Conflict is deliberate choice

• debates on Darwin’s evolution• Draper and White• secularization: not a process but a project

2. Revision: objection B

Conflict is deliberate choice

• debates on Darwin’s evolution• Draper and White• secularization: not a process but a project

2. Revision: objection B

Conflict is deliberate choice

• science as a secular religion:– Descartes’ bones as relics– Comte’s positivism– Wilhelm Ostwald’s energeticism:

• philosophy of life• Sunday services with sermons• songs, celebrations

2. Revision: objection B

Conflict is deliberate choice

• successful?• no in personal beliefs• yes in institutions: RS, universities, official

science• see UM buildings in Maastricht

3. Consequences revision

A. no essential conflict• variable relations• science and religion are flexible entitiesconsequence: questioning current thesis of

Clash of Civilizations (S. Huntington)

3. Consequences revision

B. conflict has political agenda• see professional struggle in 19th-century

England, see Draper en White• see recent Economist article• observation of ‘eternal’ conflict is really call

to arms

3. Consequences revision

C. standard image undermined• was self-complimentary, story of liberation• how enslaved were people in the past?

how liberated are we?• is science our new religion?