The war of Science and Christianity- (long but I think worth reading)

"You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake."
-Jeanette Rankin

Hostility abounds when reading both religious articles on science and scientific articles on religion. Any scientist who is religious or makes hypotheses inclusive of a higher Intelligence is certainly subject to verbal or active persecution. Anyone immersed in religious circles who believes particular scientific views contrary to orthodox religious views are perceived very critically, may be considered less spiritual, or the ultimate Christian insult, "liberal."

Of course it is unfair to say that this is always the case, and to do so would be incorrect. We are, however, at war with one another.

This leaves those Christians in the sciences feeling much like metal between hammer and anvil.

What are the causes? Is this war needed? Can it end?

Before addressing these questions, let's look at the history of the S&C War. One could say that science experienced the suppressive nature of religion in the medieval age. One must wonder though, is this truly the beginnings of the S&C War? Certainly natural philosophers (precursory nomenclature for scientists) were persecuted and excommunicated by the church, but on a second glance backward through time, we see that free thinking in general was prohibited by those in power, and this is the real persecution. It expands beyond science and into religion, since the commoners were not allowed to read or own a Bible. In the Age of Reason, we see a beautiful amalgam of science and theology. Sir Isaac Newton made the statement that describes both his beliefs and those of his contemporaries, "Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind that it never had many professors." So the question arises, when did the war begin? The answer seems to point clearly to the Darwinian Revolution.

Here lies the answers to when the S&C War began, why it began, and why it persists.

When The Origin of the Species was written in 1859, there was no animosity between religion and science, which is as it should be, since Christianity should not be concerned with the mechanisms of how God created. However, in the early 1900's, the Christian population believed, as many still do today, that God created everything both separately and immediately. The notion of common descent, especially applied towards men, was contrary to the popular interpretation of inspired Biblical teaching. To the eyes of Christians, Darwinism left no room for God.

What could have happened is this scenario: the Christian population pushes pride aside and asserts that their interpretations of the Bible may or may not be correct. To discover the answer, they objectively look at the evidence and weighing it, pick the more probable paradigm- their current Creation model, or common descent. Of course this is not what happened at all. The Christian population assumed that what they already believed was infallible, and assumed that this apparent attack on religion was the first shot fired in the S&C War, and many viewed other scientific theories of origin such as the Big Bang Theory in the same artillery barrage.

In response to this perceived attack, a few Christians took charge of an offensive against Darwinism. This was manifested in the Scopes Trials of course, but was preceded by Harry Rimmer who founded the “Research Science Bureau” without actually being a scientist, and Ellen White who founded Seventh Day Adventism who’s claims came by "revelation." This latter organization claimed that geological phenomena and fossil findings were produced in full by the Biblical global flood, claimed that the earth was less than 10,000 years old, and therefore not enough time existed for evolution to take place. A very influential writing that subscribes to these views, The Genesis Flood, was written in 1961 by Henry Morris (again, not a scientist) and is still in print. These individuals and their organizations have shaped the views of Christians and antagonized the scientific community for over 80 years. As Christians, we should be absolutely outraged that we have been hoodwinked by this bad science. The general Christian population was and is not a group of scientists who can successfully analyze data from various fields of science, and so these hypotheses that seemed scientifically sound to the non-scientific seemed to eliminated any doubt that the original Christian interpretations of the Bible were correct. Meanwhile, this bad science was attacking the scientific community who did know better and attacking their progress. This fueled the fire for hostile responses and completely eradicated any sense of respect for religion within scientific circles.

Allow me to explain BAD SCIENCE- put very simply it is to put conclusions upon the evidence, rather than derive conclusions from the evidence. An example-those who believe in a young earth expect evidence to support this, and so fantastical theories are derived to explain how this could be. True evidence of the age of the earth are looked at after the conclusion is already reached, and explained away using these extravagant and unrealistic theories. BAD SCIENCE is assuming that the current understanding and interpretation of the Bible supercedes what is clear in nature. (Our interpretation and exegesis of the Bible is a dynamic enterprise, and fallible. Think of the difference in how a biography is written today, and what the four gospels look like. Now think of writing styles at least twice as old as the gospels and consider how different they ought to be. It should be clear that the possibility of misinterpretation is high.)

Let me remark here the sad irony that we Christians who proclaim to be such avid seekers of truth, are not honest with observable evidence!

Is this war needed? Of course not. Yes, Christians should be unyielding in battles regarding our sense of morality. This is not such a war. The Bible is very, very silent on any scientific knowledge, and simply does not address the issues of HOW God acted and continues to act. Does not nature only act because God formed the laws they ceaselessly obey? So If God acts, what is the difference to him whether we judge it to be by natural or supernatural means? In both, God acts! It seems that today it is common for Christians to either dismiss evidence for scientific theories, while others ignore it completely, and still others listen only to the far fetched theories accommodating particular Biblical interpretations.

Can it end? Time alone will tell. I think that as long as Christians refuse to look at all the evidence without bias and from there make an informed and intelligent decision (I'm not saying the beliefs must change), we will never be respected within the scientific community. That is what we must do to end the S&C War. The scientific community for their part must diminish the hostility towards those who hold religious views.

The animosity against us [Christians] must fade, and we must stop giving them reason for such animosity.