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Science and religion

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How much influence did religion play in the scientific research and

Experiments in the history of science?

Religion has from early times spawned a conflict with science and still has an

effect even today. There are two different directions of thought between religion and scientific research but religion has always played a major role and has affected especially in the early years what was acceptable knowledge and what was rejected. A scientist, whatever his or her personal, metaphysical or religious beliefs, rejects all supernatural and transcendental explanations. Scientific knowledge is the heritage of humanity – it is verifiable by all because it is founded on rational explanation and on experiments, which can be replicated. On the contrary, religious belief is an act of faith based on revelation. This by definition is non-verifiable, and is totally different than scientific knowledge. Just some of the early conflicts came from the Catholic Inquisition for having proposed the theory of multiple worlds burnt Giordano Bruno alive. Michel Servet was burnt on the order of Calvin for theological reasons because he looked into the human body and made the first discoveries about human blood circulation. Galileo had to recant in front of the inquisition, summoned for having turned his telescope towards the unknown cosmos and for having produced partial proofs in support of the Earth orbiting the Sun, making the Earth no longer the center of the universe. Then there was condemnation of the important work of Darwin who laid the basis and the framework for understanding the living world on the basis of material causes – natural selection- to explain the evolution of life. Also important to look at is the “conflict thesis,” which is the theoretical premise of an intrinsic conflict between religion and science. The term was originally used in historical context: its proponents claim the historical record is evidence of religions perpetual opposition to science. The “conflict thesis,” arose to prominence in the last quarter of the nineteenth century largely by the efforts of John Draper and Andrew White. The notion of a conflict between science and religion comes right out of Draper’s popular book History of the Conflict between Religion and Science. In this paper, I want to show that religion has not only in the past had such an enormous effect on scientific research and the scientists themselves but that this trend has continued throughout history even today.

The clear difference between sacred and profane objects, places and times has always helped religious believers to focus on transcendental values and/or the existence of a supernatural realm. Scientists, whether they believed in God or not, probably had things, places, or times which they considered “sacred” in the sense that they are venerated in some way. But one notices that science itself does not involve such a distinction and it neither encourages nor discourages it. Some scientists may believe that some things are sacred, and others won’t. One of the greatest scientists Albert Einstein believed in the presence of God despite his inventive piece of work. In his book, 'The World as I See It' {pp. 24 – 28}, he notes that 'the cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research.' This clearly shows the level of kind of inspiration that religion creates in scientific research.

Religion and science have always differed on many issues and as a result, spurring conflicts. The conflicts arose since there were many scores to settle and egos to stroke from both ends. From these conflicts, science would make careers out of the spoils through research. For example, during the time of Columbus, educated Christians did not believe that the earth was flat. Initially, the scientific belief was that the world was flat. This conflict was later to spur scientists to do more research on the same and come out with explainable facts as to why the earth is not round but rather elliptical in shape. In David Lindberg's book, 'When Science and Christianity Meet', the historical conflicts are clearly explained. The Galileo affair {p 57-58}, for example, was a constant battle between Christianity and science. To a large extent, we see that these conflicts were actually a blessing in disguise to science since they would motivate scientists do dig deeper into their brains and to prove their facts.

Human’s search for basic reality in historical times took them to discover that religion and science always seemed to take different positions which led many to question if actually God existed. Other issues that arose include those of Energy, the Spirit as well as Universal consciousness. These questions have always elicited so many conflicts in history and even today. A simple example is Galileo’s assertion that the sun was the centre of the universe which went against what everyone had always though that it is the earth which was the centre of the universe. This caused a row in the church back then and although it took time for his theory to be approved, he was for a long time considered as an enemy to the teachings and beliefs of the church back then. It should also be noted that the church leaders were sometimes even more powerful than the political leaders at that time in history.

According to David Hume, God and the order that is existent in the world is one and the same person. Using this line of thought, it can therefore be concluded that science and religion are after all not as different as earlier thought to be, they all are on one end or spectrum as each other. Science uses mainly observations to come to conclusions while religion makes use of analytical arguments which can only be based on unquestioned faith. An example is the ontological argument by Anslem which can only be used by people with faith and not experimental justification through observation. Therefore the two i.e. religion and science seek to answer the question about what forms reality or how human life and it’s surrounding works. They however take different routes in this bid.

The world has also been viewed in the past as to be conceived on movement, flow and changes. This is according to the study of Eastern religions such as Taoism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Science also has a similar approach in that it alludes to sub-atomic physics and the field of galaxies and heavenly bodies. These are therefore treating the world as constituting of units which are in a state of constant motion and in sync with each other.

There are also those that claim that science is highly constrained by a factor referred to as ‘Methodological naturalism’. This gives the idea that no theory or scientific investigation can properly prove or refer to supernatural beings such as gods, demons r even angels. This therefore implies that scientific explanations should be in terms of only natural and no supernatural entities should be used to try and justify phenomenon in the world.

Giordano Bruno for example pointed out that Christianity was totally irrational and disagreed with all other religions. He said that we only accepted it through faith and that there was no scientific backing to these beliefs. Since Bruno had no secure place in any church be it protestant or Catholic, he waged a strong fight in order to disapprove what he called false teachings of the church. He also held the concept of multiple worlds or infinite worlds which left no room for the basis of most Christian faiths whose central belief was one God. He could not conceive at all the teachings of the church in the Bible which alleged that God and nature were different entities. He tore apart the fabric that was the basis of the Catholic beliefs and dogma such as the virginity of Mary, the mass as well as crucifixion.

Bruno thought that only the ignorant people could take the teachings of the church seriously and even took its teachings literally. He said that the church encouraged naivety and ignorance through self-preservation. He was later to be sentenced to death by fire because his teachings were against the church. His work on Science has been honored and it has gone to become a symbol of scientific martyrdom. Jacobi (1743-1819) for example claimed that Bruno had been killed because of trying to enlighten the church against its flawed teachings to its members. Giordano Bruno therefore goes as not only a scientific martyr but as someone who had real enthusiasm and vision of a larger universe more than other people had envisioned during that time. He was not a mere sectarian who was out to create mob hysteria but rather someone inspired in the quest for truth on how the world ran and what it comprised.

In history, we also have the work of Michel Servet which elicited much criticism especially from the church back then regarding science and religion. This is especially the work he wrote about circulation. This was against what the church taught and since he was the archbishop’s doctor, he was immediately stopped from practicing it and ordered to stop the work that he was doing. He was arrested and sentenced to death by burning, an act that was very much instigated by Calvin in the year 1555.

In Islam, science supports religion and on the other side religion supports science. Muslims believe that everything written in the Quran must be true and that god is all-knowing about the universe. It is for example written in the Quran that the moon was bisected into two parts which were then joined together. Just recently NASA discovered that miraculous fact which is referred to as The Lunar Rill. In the moon there is also, the Quran also states that the moon became like an old dried trunk which is also a fact that has bee proven recently that there is no life on the moon as there is no water on it. Again it is a fact that is held by both the Quran and science that there can be no life without water. We can therefore view science and religion as two field that complement each other but which later disagree at times.

Darwin’s theory on evolution actually goes down as one of the most controversial works ever because it attacks the very basis of what Christianity values and beliefs is based. Darwin alleged that man was not created by God but evolved from earlier primitive forms. He used evidence of fossils he found which were believed to have existed millions of years before. Influenced by the ideas of Malthus, he proposed that the theory of evolution occurred through natural selection. He extended his theory to humans as they were considered as a form of animal, it was alleged that he also underwent evolution through an ape form to what he was now. The whole Anglican Church was united in condemning what Charles Darwin had written and the beliefs he held. He even eventually lost his faith completely as he could not find any evidence that supported the theory of creation. He however continued to support his local church but only as a social institution even if he did not subscribe its teachings. It also became very apparent that the theory of evolution is based on three principles which are that matter cannot be destroyed, force is persistent and that motion is continuous.

The church now is more into trying to merge the creationism theory and evolution stating its stand that Christian faith and scientific view on evolution actually do not conflict but man should be regarded as a special creation and that the god should be considered the genesis of both the spiritual and monogenic look at creation. There have even been estimates made jointly by Christians and scientists on the date when creation could have taken place. The agreeable date is 4004-Oct-22BCE which is accepted by Christian scientists although some have intimated that a 6000year old is not possible. There have also been strong reactions from an Early prophet with the Seventh day Adventist church stating that the fossils were as a result of floods. Many other theologians and clerics also view evolution as God’s means of developing the various species he had created. However, the more conservative church members are very vocal in criticizing the evolution theory stating that is seminal to atheism and immoral scientific research.

In conclusion, it is true to say that the church and science will continue to have conflicts as well as have issues that they both agree on. Probably one of the pertinent aspects of this includes stem cell research which has come under so much criticism from the church. This is because many people think it is as if man is trying to play God as creation of life is considered by many religions as divine and should only be done by God. Many scientists are in support of this because it has gone a long way in helping treat people with terminal illnesses such as cancer. The church has also been urged to give a posthumous apology to Darwin because his theory has been proven and is now widely accepted worldwide. The church is also under pressure to account for its actions during historical times as it persecuted scientists for the views they gave because as we have come to discover some of their conclusions have been proven to be true.

Cloning, which is the creation of life in the laboratory by scientists is also a common phenomenon. Different governments are under pressure to stop funding this research as it goes against the teachings of many religions. God is considered as a supreme being beyond which science cannot explain and that’s the reason as to why any attempts to justify creation by any other means is met with harsh criticism even today. Even in the US, the learning curriculum is highly conscious of what evolution education has in society and is therefore taught very sparingly because of what the reaction of mainly the Christian population might say about it.

Therefore the church can be viewed as being too protective of its teachings and faith that it did not accommodate science especially in the early times. Those who went ahead to support certain beliefs often faced anger from the church and given the very powerful stature the church had then, this was met with very dire consequences. As seen, some scientists and philosophers such as Bruno even got sentenced to death while others were excommunicated from the church. However, more than ever before the church is becoming more and more receptive towards scientific research although very cautious about the extreme and sensitive issues especially those that hint atheism. It is yet to be seen what will eventually happen to the believers although recently there have even been churches that have been established which proclaim wholly to scientology.