Faith Versus Fact : Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible (9780698195516) (52 page)

harm done by accommodationism, 226–28

as method(s), 27, 28–29, 187

misuses of/harm caused by, xix, 107, 110–11, 152, 217–21

morality and, 107, 110–11, 212, 216–19

naturalism as guiding principle, 91–95, 216

natural theology as, 154

in NOMA view, xviii, 64, 106, 107, 110–11

pre-Christian and non-Christian, 212, 214

as pursuit of truth, xii, xx, 1, 5, 28–29, 187

rise of modern science in Europe, 212–16

scientific study of religion, 257–58

supernatural explanations in, 92, 93–94

as way of knowing, 93–94, 185, 187, 195, 198, 206–7, 222–24

See also
scientific ethics; scientific knowledge; scientific method(s); scientism

science, criticisms of

“religion gave rise to science” claim, xix, 151, 211–17

“science can't prove that God doesn't exist” claim, 152, 201–4

“science does bad things” claim, 152, 217–21

“science is based on faith” claim, xix, 69, 152, 204–11

“science is fallible and unreliable” claim, 151–52, 222–24

science organizations, as promoters of accommodationism, 7–8, 19, 93–94, 98, 112

See also
specific organizations

science/religion incompatibility.
See
religion/science incompatibility

science research funding, 7, 18, 19–20, 228, 240

scientific creationism, 14, 103–4

scientific ethics

science as morally neutral, 218–19

seen as arising from Christian morality, 212, 216–17

unethical misuses of science, xix, 107, 110–11, 152, 217–21

scientific knowledge, 187–89, 198

ability to perceive, seen as gift from God, 178

nature of scientific proof, 30–31, 32–33

as progressive and cumulative, 86–89, 157

as provisional, 28, 30–31, 95, 113–14, 117, 119, 151–52, 202, 222–24

seen as fallible/unreliable, 151–52, 222–24

See also
evidence; scientific method(s)

scientific method(s), 31–41, 86, 187, 198

collectivity, 38–39

criticality and doubt in, 26–27, 34–35, 38, 65, 94

falsifiability, 33–34, 65

hypothesis formation and testing, 31–33

parsimony, 36–37

replication and quality control, 35–36

toleration of uncertainty, 37–38

uses outside hard science, 39–41, 187–88

See also
evidence; falsifiability; methods, incompatibility between religious and scientific

scientism, xix, 53–54, 152, 185, 196–224

scientist-believers, xviii, 14, 95

as accommodationists, 98, 226

as argument for faith as basis of science, 213, 216

nontheist spiritual views, 101–3

prominent individuals, 99–100

statistics, 12

See also
specific individuals

scientists

as arrogant, 198, 227

as nonbelievers, xviii, 12–14, 95, 216

as promoters of accommodationism, 6–9, 98

spirituality among, 101–3

See also
scientist-believers;
specific individuals

Scientology, 22, 82, 84

Scopes trial, 2, 5, 134

Scott, Eugenie, 93–94

scriptural literalism, xvi, 49–54

cherry-picking from scripture, 74–77, 129–30

vs. metaphorical interpretations, 44, 54–59, 74–75, 129–30

as necessary to faith, 61–63

non-Christian, 53, 58, 75, 76, 106

seen as recent phenomenon, 57

statistics, 51, 53

See also
biblical literalism;
specific stories and claims

secular faith, 69, 207–8

secularity

considering a world without faith, xxi–xxii, 250–56, 260–61

in modern Europe, 254–55

secularism in nineteenth-century America, 3

self-deception, xxi, 28, 29, 179–80

self-sacrifice, 168, 174–75

See also
altruism

sensus divinitatis
, 178, 179, 181–82, 183

sexually transmitted disease, 241–42

sharia law, 251–52

Shermer, Michael, 28, 180

Shimkus, John, 247–48

Shroud of Turin, 122

sin, 22, 45, 51, 52, 71, 130, 148–49

sensus divinitatis
and, 181, 183

See also
original sin

Singer, Peter, 110, 174

Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson, 243

skepticism.
See
criticality; doubt

Skutnik, Lenny, 175

Small, Jeffrey, 217–18, 222

smallpox, 5, 235

Smith, Joseph, 62, 82, 121, 259

social aspects of religion

faith and community, 43, 52, 61–62, 85, 120

social benefit argument for faith, 98, 237, 253–54, 256

societal well-being and religiosity, 254–56

social behavior

of animals, 171–72

social instincts, 166–68

socialization of infants, 172

See also
morality

social norms and social change

morality and, 88, 170–71, 177, 189

religion and, 70–71, 77, 87–89

social problems, religious violence and, 53

social sciences

as scientific, 32, 39, 40, 186, 187–88, 195, 199

scientism and, 198–99

Sociobiology: The New Synthesis
(Wilson), 167

sociology, 40, 187, 188

soul(s), 55, 132–33, 136–37, 162

Soviet Union, Lysenkoism in, 220–21

Spinoza, Benedict de, 101, 254

spirituality, 101–3

See also
nontheistic religion and spirituality

Spufford, Francis, 43, 44, 61

Stalin, Joseph, 221

Stanyard, Roger, 98

Stark, Rodney, 211–12, 214–15, 239

stem cell research, xix–xx, 217, 240–41

Stenger, Victor, 21

Stenmark, Mikael, 45

string theory, 163

subjective experience, 158, 189–95, 200

suffering.
See
evil and suffering; religious harm

suicide, 244, 245

Sullivan, Andrew, 55

Summa Theologica
(Aquinas), 57, 58

superfluity(ies)

as evidence against fine-tuning argument, 163–64

parsimony in science, 36–37

superfluous intelligence argument for God's existence, 134, 183–86

theistic evolution as, 149, 159

supernatural and paranormal phenomena, xii, 6, 34, 80, 93, 112–20

defining “supernatural,” 42–43, 113–14

evidence standards for, 116–17, 120–24

miracles, 109, 116–17, 120–24

scientific study and testing of, 93–94, 114–15

viewed as outside the realm of science, 112–14, 226

See also
religious claims;
specific stories and claims

superstition, faith as, xii, 109, 258

Swan, Rita, 232

Swinburne, Richard, 45, 48

syncretism, 100–106

Taoism, 42, 65

tapeworms, 139

Tasmanian devil, 149

Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre, 223

Templeton, John, 17–18

Templeton Foundation, 8, 14, 17–20, 103, 228

Templeton Prize, 18–19, 45, 46

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 1

Teresa, Mother, 117

terminal illness

faith and, 252–53

opposition to assisted dying, 243–45

Tertullian, 68

Thacker, Justin, 73

theism.
See
faith; religion
entries

theistic evolution, 132–40, 226–27

acceptance rates, xiii, 60, 132

as Catholic Church's position, 61, 132, 133

human evolution seen as inevitable, 140–47, 156

logical problems with, 150

range of views on, 135–38

scientific problems with, 138–40, 143–44, 145–47

theological problems with, 147–49

See also
human inevitability

theodicy, 81, 148–49

theology, xvii, 209, 259

apologetics and rationalization in, 66–67, 75, 77–81, 88–89, 153, 157

literalism in Christian theology, 57–59

stasis and change in, 87–89

See also
natural theology;
specific theologians

theory of everything, 159

Thomas Aquinas, Saint, 55, 57–58, 215

Thompson, Judith Jarvis, 169–70

Thomson, J. J., 99

Tolstoy, Leo,
The Death of Ivan Ilyich,
191–92

transubstantiation, 61, 84

Trivers, Robert, 179

trolley problem, 169–70

true beliefs/rationality argument for God's existence, 156, 177–83, 226

Truman, Harry, 218

truth

defined, 29–30, 186

religion and, xii, xx–xxi, 43–46

science as pursuit of, xii, xx, 1, 5, 28–29, 187

See also
knowledge; religious claims; scientific knowledge; ways of knowing

Tyson, Neil deGrasse, xi

uncertainty, 37–38

See also
certainty; doubt

universe

end of, 164

multiverse theory, 163

origins of, 28, 32, 37, 146, 245

Universe in a Single Atom, The
(Dalai Lama), 105–6

universities

church condemnation of the University of Paris (1277), 215

science and religion institutes at, 6, 19

university secularism, 3–4

U.S. Congress, 7

House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, 250

U.S. National Academy of Sciences, 12, 249–50

vaccinations, xix, 5, 217, 235–36, 241–42

Vander Woude, Thomas, 168, 174–75

Varieties of Religious Experience, The
(James), 42, 44, 118

Varieties of Scientific Experience, The
(Sagan), 118

Voltaire, 29

Vrba, Elisabeth, 182

Waal, Frans de, 171

Wallace, Alfred Russel, 134, 183

war, 111, 152, 217–18, 221

Watson, James D., 216

ways of knowing, 185–96

the arts and humanities as, 185–86, 190–94

hard science as, 93–94, 185, 187, 195, 198, 206–7, 222–24

knowledge and truth defined, 186–87

mathematics and philosophy as, 188–89, 198

morality as, 189–90

NOMA (non-overlapping magisteria) view, xviii, 4, 64–65, 106–12, 196

“other ways of knowing” trope, xvi, xix, 24–25, 66, 150–52, 185, 186, 195–96, 227–28

social sciences as, 186, 187–88, 195, 198

Weinberg, Steven, 220, 221, 237

Welby, Justin, 79–80

When God Talks Back
(Luhrmann), 62

White, Andrew Dickson, 3–4

Whitehead, Alfred North, 106, 212–13

Whitmer, David, 121

Why Evolution Is True
(Coyne), xiv, 157

Wieland, Carl, 75–76

Wieseltier, Leon, 54

Wigner, Eugene, 159

Wilson, Edward O., 167, 198

Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
(Gould), 144–45

World Science Festival, 7–8, 20

Young, Brigham,
71

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