A Short History of Science and
Religion
~ by Ernie Stokely 9-25-2007
The 20th and 21st Centuries-
Rise of Fundamentalism, Evangelicalism, and Progressiveism
Before moving to religious
movements of the last century, no discussion of science
and
religion would be complete without at least mentioning Albert Einstein
(1879-1955). Einstein was born of Jewish parents, but was never
a practicing Jew during his lifetime. Throughout his life Einstein
believed in God, but not a god who intercedes into the daily physics
of the universe. Einstein's great contribution was, of course,
his ideas on relativity. These notions have had tremendous impact
on the understanding of basic physics, and in fact upset many of the
tenets set down by Newton. Einstein never liked quantum mechanics,
yet his early work set the stage for the development of this branch
of physics. At the quantum level strange random events occur, and "communication" takes
place instantaneously across large distances. To the lay person,
the quantum world remains shrouded in mystery. His
work powerfully drove home the inadequacy of ancient religious
understandings of science, and it forced religious believers to
examine even more deeply their own god theology and their reconciliation
between modern science and religion.
The Rise of Fundamentalism
In the 19th century there were two significant movements in Christianity
that would be played out in the coming centuries - conservatism and liberalism.
Liberalism in particular adopted many of the ideas from the philosophy
of the times, and rejected the more orthodox teachings of Christianity.
Finally, in the 20th century some Christians had had enough. They set
out to formalize what it meant to be a Christian. Fundamentalism was
born in the 1920s. Theologians at the conservative Princeton Theological
Seminary played a role in this movement with their writings. In 1909,
Lyman Steward, a businessman and Christian philanthropist, wrote a 12-volume
series called The
Fundamentals. This series of books became the foundation for the
fundamentalist movement in the United States. Fundamentalists belong to
all the major Christian denominations, and fundamentalism exists in all
of the major religions today (especially troubling is the current Islamic
fundamentalism and its beliefs regarding the lack of sanctity of human
life). The fundamentalist belief often assumes the Bible is inerrant;
hence, the fundamentalist cosmology follows that of the Iron and Bronze
age understanding of the Bible. For example, fundamentalists may believe
that the earth was formed as recently as 4,000 years ago. Evolution is
rejected out of hand. The experimentation with stem cells is also another
point of departure between many fundamentalists and scientists. There
are many points of disagreement withscientific findings.
Evangelicalism is
often confused with fundamentalism, although the two movements share some
common characteristics. Evangelicalism is often characterized by Biblical
inerrancy, and this causes conflicts between evangelicals and modern science.
Progressive Christianity
is a relative new movement that can be considered to be a branch off of
liberal Christianity of the 19th century. Progressive Christians have
a metaphorical understanding of the Bible, and attempt to reconcile modern
science with their Christian beliefs.
There are a number of late 20th century and early 21st century writers
on the subject of religion and science, many of them having a negative view toward
religion. These include Richard Dawkins, Steven Weinberg, Sam Harris, and many
others. There are also progressive Christian writers, as well as many writers
with a more fundamentalist viewpoint.
The Argument Over the Creation -
Conservative and fundamentalist Christians reject the evolutionary and
"big bang" stories of the history of the planet, and insist
on adhering to the Biblical stories of the creation (there are two of
them) in Genesis. "Creationism"
is a word that has been coined to describe the process whereby God created
the universe in 7 days. Scientists were content to let religious believers
have the right to believe in creationism until they began in intercede
in the schools and change the way science was taught to children. Scientists
became alarmed and felt that this jeopardized the scientific future and
competitiveness of the U.S. in the world economy. Thus, there have been
bitter, vocal outbreaks between the two camps over the creation story.
"Intelligent design" is another way to suggest that God interceded
into the evolutionary process by laying out the design of life found in
nature. Scientists reject this theory as well, and consider it a threat
to an enlightened, modern understanding of biology, cosmology, and the
other natural sciences. This battle still rages in the United States.
Go to Theologies and Biblical Beliefs
page.
Index:
Introduction
The Ancient World
The Greek Era
The Rise of Christianity
The Middle Ages
The Rise of Science and Enlightenment
The Enlightenment by Great Scientists and Philosophers
Galileo, Newton, and Kant
Reason and Enlightenment
Fundamentalism, Evangelicalism, Progressiveism
Personal Theologies of God
