Science and Religion
Ways
of Viewing the Debate
A Clash of Paradigms
• Currently
in the United States there are two paradigms that are competing for explaining
the universe and our place in it.
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Religious: Predominantly Judeo-Christian
• There are
other religions but the Judeo-Christian perspective is the most predominant and
therefore the one I will deal with in this talk. If we had more time we could
discuss other world views and how they relate to these issues.
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Scientific
Three Perspectives
• In an
order to create some kind of order out of the chaos of the religion/science debate I
am going to use a classification system that divides the debate into three
different approaches:
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Conflict
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Independence
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Dialogue/Integration
I. Conflict (1)
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Individuals in this
category believe that a person cannot believe in both evolution (I.e.
macroevolution) and God.
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Scientific
Materialism
•
Individuals in this group
consider the fundamental reality of the universe to be matter, I.e. matter is
all there is in the universe (no spiritual realm at all).
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Natural laws act on
matter to explain everything.
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The universe is
ultimately mindless and purposeless (except for whatever temporary meaning
mankind gives it).
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Therefore, the scientific
method is the only reliable path to knowledge about this universe.
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Individuals in this
group:
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Richard Dawkins:
“The Blind Watchmaker”, “The Selfish Gene”
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E.O. Wilson:
“Consilience”
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Daniel Dennet:
“Darwin’s Dangerous Idea”
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Francis Crick: “The
Astonishing Hypothesis”
I. Conflict (2)
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Biblical Literalist
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Individuals in this
group believe the Bible is literally true.
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They believe the
universe is very young- about 6,000 years old.
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They believe there is
more to the universe than just natural laws acting on matter.
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They believe in a spiritual realm with a God who gives
meaning to the universe.
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Individuals in this
group:
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Fundamentalist
Christians, Jews, and Muslims
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Creation Scientists
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Institute for Creation
Research http://www.icr.org
I. Conflict (3)
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New Critiques
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Individuals in this
group see the theory of evolution as wrong and critique it from different
perspectives.
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Individuals in this
group:
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Phillip Johnson
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Has written a number of
books, the most famous is “Darwin on Trial”. Johnson is a lawyer
who has raised criticism of scientific materialists who promote atheistic philosophies as if they were a
part of science. He attacks evolutionary theory as if it were inherently
atheistic.
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Michael Behe
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His book,
“Darwin’s Black Box” made a significant “splash”
several years ago when it was first published. Behe is a biochemist who argues
that the “irreducible complexity” of biochemical systems show that they cannot be the product of
gradual evolution. Therefore, Behe assumes life must have originated through a
predetermined divine plan of intelligent design rather than a dynamic open-ended process in which
interaction with a changing environment plays a critical role.
II. Independence (1)
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Individuals in this
second approach to the religion/science debates believe the way to avoid
conflict is to keep the two fields in separate compartments. It is believed
that science and religion each have their own jurisdictions and should not
meddle in the affairs of the other.
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They believe science and
religion:
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Ask different questions
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how versus why
questions
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Study different domains
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the objective material
world versus spiritual/moral world
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Employ different methods
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science is based on human
observation and reason whereas
religion is based on divine revelation
II. Independence (2)
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Religious Perspective
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Christians, Jews, or
Muslims of this persuasion give scripture a central religious role without
insisting on biblical literalism or defending Creation Science.
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They take the Bible
seriously, but not literally.
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Some think God is a
primary cause who works through the secondary causes of the natural world that
science studies:
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“God acts through
laws of nature, using them as his instruments for achieving intended
goals.”
II. Independence (3)
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Scientific Perspective
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The most famous
individual who advocates this view is Stephen Jay Gould. He considered himself
an agnostic and articulated a principle called, non-overlapping magesteria (NOMA).
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A magesterium is a domain
of teaching authority. Each domain has its own distinctive questions, rules,
and criteria of judgment.
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The magesterium of
science covers the empirical realm:
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What is the universe made
of (facts)?
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Why does it work this way
(theory)?
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The magesterium of
religion extends over question of:
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Ultimate meaning
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Moral Value
III. Dialogue/Integration (1)
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Individuals in this
category are seeking to find a middle way that reconciles science and religion.
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They do not see science
and religion as an either/or way of viewing the universe.
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They believe that a
dialogue between the two ways of knowing the universe can come to a deeper
understanding of the universe.
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The many different
research agendas make it impossible to make a simple characterization of this
perspective. Rather than trying to elucidate any particular perspective I will
simply direct you to resources that you can use to discover the different
views.
III. Dialogue/Integration (2)
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Catholic Church
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The church has been
deeply involved in a dialogue.
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The Pope has sponsored a
number of conferences over the past fifteen years at the Vatican with world
famous scientists and theologians in an attempt to find common ground between
science and the Catholic faith.
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In 1996 the Pope
published an important statement on evolution and its relationship to the nature of man.
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The Center for Theology
and Natural Sciences
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One of the primer places
for serious academic research in this field.
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Located in Berkeley
III. Dialogue/Integration (3)
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Counterbalance
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A non-profit educational
organization working to promote counterbalanced perspectives on complex issues.
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Underwritten by one of
the originators of Microsoft Word, Adrian Wyard.
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Have a very extensive website.
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John Templeton
Foundation
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Goal: to encourage a
fresh appreciation of the critical importance---for all peoples and
cultures---of the moral and spiritual dimensions of life.
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Established by the famous
investor, Sir John Templeton.
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Sponsor conferences
around the world in which they bring together important scientists and
religious thinkers.
III. Dialogue/Integration (4)
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In my humble opinion,
the best book on the subject.
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This lecture is based on
his book.
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Disclaimer: I took some
direct quotations from his book without citing them for smoothness of lecturing.
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Available in our school
library
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The prize award is always
set to be higher than the Nobel Prize.
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Current award: over 1
million dollars!