Christianity - God and the Scientists
Summary
TLDRThis script explores the historical tension between science and Christianity, from the Scientific Revolution to modern debates on evolution and creationism. It discusses how scientific discoveries challenged religious dogma, leading to a shift in Christian views and the emergence of secular thought. The script also contemplates the impact of scientific progress on religious belief, suggesting that as science advances, it may render religion obsolete by providing comprehensive explanations for the universe and human existence.
Takeaways
- 🌟 The Scientific Revolution in the 17th century challenged the Christian view of the world, emphasizing reason, inquiry, and experiment over religious dogma.
- 🔥 The Catholic Church's response to the Scientific Revolution included silencing and punishing scientists like Giordano Bruno and Galileo Galilei for their ideas that contradicted Church doctrine.
- 📚 St. Augustine's approach to reconcile science and Christianity was to interpret the Bible in a way that accommodated scientific findings without threatening Church authority.
- 🌍 The heliocentric model proposed by Copernicus was a major challenge to the Christian geocentric view, suggesting the Earth was not the center of the universe.
- 👨🔬 The Enlightenment in the 18th century further pushed the boundaries of scientific inquiry, with figures like Isaac Newton and Benjamin Franklin contributing to a secular approach to governance and society.
- ⚛️ Charles Darwin's theory of evolution presented a significant challenge to the belief in divine creation, suggesting life evolved through natural selection.
- 🏛️ Despite the challenges, some Christians maintained a literal interpretation of the Bible, leading to events like the Scopes Trial and the rise of scientific creationism.
- 🤔 The script explores the tension between faith and reason, questioning whether Christianity can adapt to scientific discoveries without compromising its core beliefs.
- 🧬 Modern science continues to investigate the origins of the universe and life, with projects like the CMS experiment at CERN seeking to understand the moments after the Big Bang.
- 🌐 The script suggests that as science advances, it may eventually provide a comprehensive understanding of human existence and the universe, potentially reducing the need for religious explanations.
- 🔍 The historical progression shows that science has the capacity to change its theories in light of new evidence, unlike some religious doctrines that may resist such changes.
Q & A
What was the primary source of knowledge for Christians before the 17th century?
-Before the 17th century, Christians primarily saw the Bible as the main source of knowledge.
What movement emerged in the 17th century that challenged the Christian view of the world?
-The Scientific Revolution emerged in the 17th century, challenging the Christian view of the world and promoting a new way of thinking.
How did the Catholic Church respond to the rise of science during the Renaissance?
-The Catholic Church forced rebellious scientists into silence and used the Inquisition to suppress those who questioned their authority and the divinity of Jesus.
What was the impact of the Enlightenment on the relationship between science and Christianity?
-The Enlightenment gave rise to a new generation of scientists who pushed Christianity into retreat, with figures like Darwin challenging the main argument for God's existence.
How did the Scientific Revolution change the approach to knowledge acquisition compared to religious dogma?
-The Scientific Revolution prioritized individual curiosity, inquiry, reason, and experiment above religious dogma in the pursuit of knowledge.
What role did the Christian Church play in the early development of science?
-The Christian Church sponsored and encouraged the beginnings of science, believing that God had given humans the power of reason and assuming it would confirm their faith.
What was the significance of Nicholas Copernicus's discovery for the Scientific Revolution?
-Copernicus's discovery that the Earth was not the center of the universe was the first major challenge to Christian belief and marked the beginning of the tension between religious authority and human inquiry.
How did the Catholic Church's response to scientific ideas affect the progress of science in the 16th century?
-The Catholic Church's intolerance for ideas contradicting Catholic doctrine, especially during the Inquisition, stifled scientific progress by silencing scientists and making the publication of controversial ideas dangerous.
What was the impact of Galileo Galilei's support for Copernicus's heliocentric model on his relationship with the Catholic Church?
-Galileo's support for the heliocentric model led to his trial for heresy, where he was found guilty and forced to abjure his errors, illustrating the conflict between scientific evidence and religious dogma.
How did the Protestant Reformation influence the Catholic Church's stance on scientific ideas?
-The Protestant Reformation, which accused the Catholics of forsaking the true Word of God, led the Vatican to rule that anyone contradicting Catholic doctrine was a heretic, intensifying the Church's opposition to scientific ideas that challenged their views.
What role did William Harvey play in the development of scientific methods in Protestant Britain?
-William Harvey, a physician who studied in Italy, brought back techniques of observation, conclusion drawing, and further observation testing, which contributed to the development of the scientific method and the advancement of science in Protestant Britain.
Outlines
🛕 The Clash of Science and Religion
This paragraph discusses the historical conflict between scientific discovery and religious doctrine, beginning with the creation story and moving through the Scientific Revolution. It highlights the shift from religious dogma to empirical inquiry and the challenges this posed to Christianity. Notable events include the Catholic Church's response to rebellious scientists and the Enlightenment's promotion of reason over faith. The paragraph also introduces the speaker's personal view that science is the primary route to knowledge and hints at the ongoing tension between science and religious orthodoxy.
🌟 The Astronomical Challenge to Christianity
This paragraph delves into the astronomical theories that contradicted the Christian view of a geocentric universe. It discusses St. Augustine's approach to reconciling biblical narratives with scientific findings and the subsequent dominance of Christianity over knowledge for a millennium. The Renaissance is presented as a turning point, with figures like Copernicus challenging the status quo and setting the stage for a scientific revolution. The paragraph also touches on the tragic consequences for those who dared to challenge the Church's authority, such as Giordano Bruno.
🔍 The Inquisition and the Suppression of Scientific Thought
The paragraph explores the dark period of the Inquisition, which sought to suppress scientific ideas that conflicted with Catholic doctrine. It describes the Church's intolerance towards heresy and the establishment of the Inquisition to root out dissent. The tragic story of Giordano Bruno is revisited, and his execution is highlighted as a significant setback for the scientific movement. The paragraph also details the methods of torture used by the Inquisition and the chilling effect this had on scientific inquiry.
📚 The Evolution of Scientific Thought and Religious Tension
This paragraph continues the narrative of scientific progress and its impact on religious authority. It introduces Guy Consolmagno, a Jesuit brother and Vatican astronomer, who represents a modern, more accommodating view of science within the Church. The story of Galileo Galilei is recounted, including his support for the heliocentric model and his subsequent trial for heresy. The paragraph underscores the shift from ideas to evidence-based theories and the Church's struggle to adapt to these new realities.
🏥 William Harvey: The Bridge Between Italy and England
The paragraph shifts focus to William Harvey, an English physician who studied in Italy and brought back the scientific method to England. Harvey's work on the circulatory system is highlighted as a significant contribution to biology, challenging the Church's views on human anatomy. The establishment of the Royal Society and the rise of scientific thought in England are discussed, setting the stage for the Enlightenment and the further integration of science into society.
🏛️ The Enlightenment and the Shift from Religious to Rational Authority
This paragraph discusses the Enlightenment, a period characterized by a move towards reason and democracy, with science at its core. Figures like Isaac Newton and John Locke are mentioned as influential thinkers of the time. The paragraph also touches on Benjamin Franklin's contributions to science and his role in the founding of the United States as a secular state, separate from religious influence.
🦠 Darwin's Theory of Evolution and the Challenge to Creationism
The paragraph focuses on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and its impact on religious beliefs. It describes the challenge that evolution posed to the idea of divine creation and the subsequent debate between religion and science. The Scopes Trial is mentioned as a pivotal moment in the struggle over the teaching of evolution. The paragraph also explores the views of modern critics of religion, like Richard Dawkins, and the ongoing tension between science and religious fundamentalism.
🦕 The Persistence of Creationism in the Face of Scientific Advancement
This paragraph examines the persistence of creationist beliefs in the United States, particularly in the Bible Belt. It discusses the historical context of the Scopes Trial and the rise of scientific creationism, which seeks to reconcile biblical accounts with scientific findings. The Creation Museum in Kentucky is highlighted as an example of how some Christians attempt to integrate dinosaurs and the biblical narrative, despite contradictions with scientific evidence.
🤔 The Reconciliation of Faith and Science in Modern Christianity
The paragraph explores the various ways in which modern Christians reconcile their faith with scientific knowledge. It discusses the mainstream churches' acceptance of evolution while maintaining belief in a divine creator. The paragraph also touches on the views of Christians who question the literal interpretation of the Bible and those who see religion as a source of moral and spiritual guidance rather than a provider of scientific truth.
🧬 The Future of Religion in the Face of Scientific Discovery
In this final paragraph, the speaker contemplates the future of religion as science continues to advance and provide explanations for phenomena that were once considered the domain of the divine. The speaker suggests that science may eventually make religion redundant by providing a comprehensive understanding of the universe and human existence, including the origins of religious belief itself. The paragraph concludes with a reflection on the transformative power of science over the past four centuries and its potential to reshape our understanding of reality.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Scientific Revolution
💡Enlightenment
💡Darwin's Theory of Evolution
💡Religious Dogma
💡Inquisition
💡Copernicus
💡Galileo Galilei
💡William Harvey
💡Benjamin Franklin
💡Creationism
💡Higgs Boson
Highlights
The historical transition from viewing the Bible as the primary source of knowledge to the emergence of the Scientific Revolution.
The conflict between the Catholic Church and rebellious scientists during the Renaissance, leading to the silencing of scientific inquiry.
The 19th-century Enlightenment fostering a new generation of scientists, pushing back against religious doctrine.
Darwin's theory of evolution challenging the existence of God and impacting Christian doctrine.
The rise of science as a result of European thinkers discovering new ways to interpret the world, independent of religious texts.
The role of individual curiosity, inquiry, reason, and experiment in the Scientific Revolution, superseding religious dogma.
The challenges faced by scientists, including a personal account of hostility from animal rights activists.
The historical role of Oxford as a center for scientific discussion and debate, initially sponsored by the Christian Church.
The conflict between the eternal cosmos theory of Aristotle and the Christian notion of God creating the world.
St. Augustine's solution to reconcile圣经 and scientific findings, suggesting the Bible is written in human-understandable language.
The impact of the Protestant Reformation on the Catholic Church's stance towards science and the rise of the Inquisition.
The tragic story of Giordano Bruno, an original thinker executed for heresy, and its chilling effect on scientific progress.
The shift in the 17th century where the Catholic Church began to fight against scientific facts that contradicted its doctrines.
The story of Galileo Galilei, his conflict with the Vatican, and the tragic consequences of his heliocentrism support.
The contrast between the Catholic Church's resistance to scientific ideas and the Protestant Britain's embrace of the Scientific Revolution.
William Harvey's discovery of blood circulation, challenging the Church's view of the body as a divine creation.
The Enlightenment's promotion of reason and democracy, with science at the heart of societal progress.
Benjamin Franklin's contributions to science and the founding of a secular state in America.
The ongoing debate over the teaching of evolution and the Scopes Trial, highlighting the struggle between science and religious fundamentalism.
The rise of scientific creationism as a response to evolution, an attempt to reconcile the Bible with scientific method.
The exploration of the Higgs boson and its significance in understanding the origins of the universe post-Big Bang.
The belief that science will eventually make religion redundant by providing a comprehensive understanding of our universe and ourselves.
Transcripts
in the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth and God said let there be
light the gathering together of the
waters called he seas God created man in
his own image
for more than 1500 years Christian saw
the Bible as the primary source of
knowledge but in the 17th century a new
movement emerged that challenged the
Christian view of the world the
Scientific Revolution it was a time when
people were looking towards a new way of
thinking about the world during the
Renaissance the rising power of science
forced the Catholic Church to silence
rebellious scientists the sentence says
the reason that you're burning is
because you've denied the divinity of
Jesus and because you questioned our
authority by the 19th century the
Enlightenment had given rise to a new
generation of scientists who pushed
Christianity into retreat
Darwin removed the main argument for
God's existence if science continues to
make discoveries that conflict with
Christian doctrine I wonder will the
Scientific Revolution ultimately make
Christianity redundant
what we now call science emerged about
four hundred years ago through the work
of a group of European thinkers who
discovered new ways of interpreting the
world they no longer relied on the
delivered Word of God the Scientific
Revolution put individual curiosity
inquiry reason and experiment above
religious dogma to my mind science is
quite simply the biggest challenge that
Christianity will ever have to face
I don't believe in God some scientists
managed to retain their faith but I
think science is our only route to
knowledge an idea that some people still
find threatening nowadays we all
recognize the power of science we look
to science to explain the world to solve
our problems but science also has its
enemies
I myself was subjected for 15 years to a
campaign of hatred and terror from
animal rights activists because of the
research that I did perhaps it's because
science necessarily challenges the
Orthodox view of the day in order to
make progress and often that orthodoxy
is fundamentally religious
today I'm professor of neuroscience here
at Oxford when the first colleges were
founded in the 12th century the
Christian Church was planting the seeds
of science
Oxford's been a seat of learning for
more than 900 years just 30 years after
the Norman invasion in 1066 scholars
were teaching here
Oxford became a center for discussion
for debate for investigation all of it
sponsored and encouraged by the
Christian Church the motto of the
University says it all really
dominus Illuminati Oh mayor God is my
light believing that God had given
humans the power of reason the church
championed the beginnings of science
assuming it would confirm their faith
this is the old school's quadrangle was
built in the early 17th century and it
was the focus of all the teaching of the
university is it's dominated by the
Divinity School there's logic
metaphysics grammar and history
there's mathematics there's astronomy
and here the school of natural
philosophy natural philosophy was a 17th
century word for science science being
nurtured in an ecclesiastical
environment as part of a religious and
classical education for hundreds of
years Christians had looked to the
leading experts on the natural world the
ancient Greeks to explain God's creation
in Christianity there is a central
notion that God created the world
Aristotle however probably the most
important of the Greek natural
philosophers argue that the cosmos was
eternal they thought that many Christian
ideas were rather silly
right from the start rational thinkers
forced Christians to consider the
possibility that the biblical
explanation of the world was wrong in
the 5th century the Christian theologian
st. Augustine came up with a solution
he says the message we find in the Bible
is accommodated to human capacities
which is to say that the Bible speaks in
language that we can understand and this
thing will account for some of the
discrepancies between what we find in
Genesis and what we find in the the
current or contemporary science
st. Augustine laid down the rules for
the relationship between science and
Christianity
the church would accommodate science
findings as long as they didn't threaten
its authority
for the next thousand years Christianity
remained firmly in control of all
knowledge and helped generate the first
glorious period of the Scientific
Revolution the Renaissance hard to
believe but in about fifteen hundred and
ten one of the most significant
developments with RNA saans took place
not in glorious Rome or in Venice or in
Florence but here in a sleepy little
town on the Baltic coast in Poland while
Italy was the center of Renaissance art
and literature a local priest made
Poland the focal point for science
Nicholas Copernicus came here in the mid
16th century after studying in Italy and
took services at from Bach Cathedral but
he spent most of his time watching the
sky and studying the movements of
planets in this tower in the cathedral
grounds Copernicus made an extraordinary
discovery that led to science his first
major challenge to Christian belief so
Margaret what was the standard dogma in
astronomy at the time that Copernicus
began to study astronomy no Barbara
homophobics yet the earth was thought to
be surrounded by unchanging stars and
Christians believed it was the center of
the universe why they thought the Sun
and the planets circled around a
supposedly stationary earth is one for
closure of a goonie
but in his study Copernicus wrote a book
that argued against this Christian view
he claimed that the earth was actually
one of the planets orbiting the Sun open
canopy cells for Yugi or Copernicus
finished his masterpiece in 1533 and he
knew his ideas were revolutionary
Opelika Vineeta Gogia the Vatican
realized that Copernicus his
speculations contradicted the biblical
view that the earth is stationary at the
center of the universe but it was
willing to tolerate his ideas for now Co
Co Co da get skittish Vilna the Catholic
Church was a powerful institution how
could it be threatened by one person
even if his ideas were revolutionary
saying let me bug on them Amazo dijo the
Pope was hoping that despite all his
research Copernicus's conclusions would
be proved wrong about that that's also
be the issue
there's no doubt that here in from book
in the heart of the church
Copernicus planted a seed a seed of
tension between religious authority and
human inquiry which has grown over the
following five hundred years it was
others who followed Copernicus who
invented science to test his rooms who
suffered for championing his dangerous
idea
Copernicus's new theory soon pitted
science and christianity against each
other in the scientific revolutions
darkest hour this was a true tragedy
because the church is made of human
beings who don't want to admit they're
wrong
you
as a scientist today I'm free to put
forward any idea as long as I can back
it up with evidence but in Italy 400
years ago I would also needed the
approval of the Vatican
until the 16th century the papacy
tolerated scientific ideas that
contradicted the Bible but by the late
1500s the Protestant Reformation had
emerged and was accusing the Catholics
of forsaking the true Word of God
in response the Vatican ruled that
anyone who contradicted Catholic
doctrine was a heretic
and so began Sciences darkness down
just a stone's throw from sant peter's
this forbidding building is the papal
police station it's the notorious
Inquisition set up in the 16th century
to defend against heresy
scholars who speculated about the nature
of the world could find themselves
branded heretics in the late 1500s one
of the most original thinkers was a man
named Giordano Bruno while studying for
the priesthood Bruna became captivated
by Copernicus his theory that the Earth
orbits the Sun is it fair to say that
reading Copernicus's book set the stage
as it were for Bruno's own ideas
it must have because the Copernicus in a
way opens up a new world for knowledge
and Bruno says Copernicus stopped at the
sphere of the fake stars and Bruno goes
past the eighth ninth tenth and however
many spheres you'd like to name he
thought there were other Earth's he
thought there might be creatures on
these other Earth's and that's one of
the issues that gets him in trouble with
the church because if there are multiple
earths how many earths is the Pope Pope
of in 1600 the Inquisition had Bruno
burnt at the stake he wasn't a real
scientist but his death was a huge blow
to the emerging scientific movement
would it be fair to say that what
happened in this Square the execution of
Bruno had a very serious impact on
Italian science it's devastating I think
for both science and for the church one
it makes controversial ideas dangerous
secondly it makes publication of
controversial ideas dangerous
I think Bruno's execution marked the
beginning of a battle between faith and
reason the dangers I faced for my
science came from a small group of
fanatics but during the Renaissance most
threats to scientists had the backing of
the mighty Catholic Church this is the
Inquisition handbook of torture 1643
it's volume 1 actually you know the
Inquisition might not have invented
these kinds of horrendous techniques but
they certainly adopted them with relish
not only to force confessions from those
who are accused but quite frankly to put
the fear of God into everyone else
questioning Catholic dogma could have
fatal consequences in Italy fear of the
Inquisition forced scientists
underground those brave enough to speak
out were quickly silenced
seems very likely that poor Brunel had a
contraption like this clamped on his
head just before he was burnt at the
stake it's an interesting device really
it clamps around the neck like rat and
and this thing pushes down on the tongue
to stop the victim proclaiming against
the church at the moment of death and
what is resting on is a papal whipping
block knowledge of things like this must
surely have terrified people I mean the
worst that a scientist could expect
these days is they get their paper
rejected from the journal they send it
to maybe their grant application gets
turned down well in poor Bruno's day
this is what might have happened to you
in the 17th century the Catholic Church
still insisted that the earth was the
center of a universe that was only a few
thousand years old
but today scientific evidence has forced
it to change its views
after a successful academic career guy
Consolmagno became a Jesuit brother and
is now one of the Vatican's official
astronomers so this is the meteorite lab
and this is where the working culture is
yeah we think these things were made
four and a half billion years ago in a
solar nebula of gas and dust but what
turned the dust into a solid rock nobody
knows can just pick you up on one thing
you said just a throwaway remark about
events that were happening
four-and-a-half billion years ago right
to say that doesn't raise the slightest
concerns in your mind the slightest
doubt you're totally aligned with
cosmological estimates of the age of the
universe absolutely of course the point
of the Bible is not the science of the
Bible is not a science book I've written
science books the one thing you know
about a science book is that it goes out
of date after about three years Bible's
been around for 2,500 years for what it
says it's not out of date well though
but it's not a science book is it the
Word of God it is not the dictated Word
of God God whispering this into some
scribes hand who's writing it down we're
not Muslims it's not the Koran it is a
human interpretation of divine
inspiration 400 years ago it was another
astronomer who'd caught the Vatican's
attention
Galileo Galilei was one of the most
respected scientists in Europe he helped
the Vatican set up its first observatory
in Rome and taught astronomy at the
finest universities in the Catholic
world in 1609 he even introduced the
church to a new invention the telescope
the telescope of course was first really
demonstrated to the world by Galileo as
an astronomical telescope in January of
1609 and one of the first things he did
was to bring it to the Jesuits at the
Roman College and Galileo is fated as a
great conquering hero what the Vatican
didn't realize was that Galileo's new
observations of the stars planets and
their moons supported the heretical
views of Copernicus they confirmed that
the earth was not at the center of God's
universe Galileo announced his
controversial discoveries hoping that
his friend the Pope would protect him
instead he was tried for heresy
by a vote of seven to three Galileo was
found guilty he was shown the
instruments of torture he was a 69 year
old man with severe arthritis and he
decided to confess he said I abjure
curse and detest my errors
Galileo arguably the first true
scientist was condemned as a heretic it
was a disaster for science
the real tragedy of Galileo wasn't just
that he was put on trial for something
that was not a religious issue but that
the church was so slow in accommodating
itself to the evidence as it piled up
because the church is made of human
beings who don't want to admit they're
wrong this was a true tragedy
the real problem was that Galileo had
changed the rules of the game he was the
first astronomer to base his theories on
evidence the church didn't like that one
bit the Catholic Church sponsored and
encouraged philosophers and thinkers
including Galileo as long as what they
delivered was simply ideas but then
Galileo arguably the very first
scientist discovered a way through
experiments of testing ideas and knowing
whether they were wrong when science
started to produce facts not just ideas
the church just didn't know what to do
they fought against it
while the Inquisition's iron grip was
stifling science in Catholic Italy in
Protestant Britain scholars were laying
foundations for the next phase of the
Scientific Revolution the beginning of
an explosion of knowledge in 1609 an
Englishman made his way to take up an
appointment here at some Bartholomew's
Hospital in life
his name was William Harvey a physician
who studied at Padua in Italy where
Galileo was a professor you can almost
see Harvey carrying the baton of science
from Italy yes the tradition of Galileo
and so on across to to England yes and
of course it was an extremely exciting
time for science in this country and we
have the birth of the Royal Society in
1660 s it was a time really when people
were were looking towards a new way of
thinking about the world and you can see
Harvey as a sort of a crucial figure at
the beginning of this movement
the church based its views of biology on
the writings of ancient philosophers and
the biblical teaching that man was made
in God's image but Harvey's
revolutionary observations suggested the
body was made like a machine there was
this concept that the parts of the body
didn't necessarily actually have a
function but they were simply there
because that's the way that God had
designed them and you know that was it
that was the end of the argument but one
of Harvey's genius moments was the
discovery and the demonstration that all
the parts of the vascular system played
a very important mechanical role he was
able to show that blood moved around in
two closed loops and of course this is
the fundamental basis of all
cardiovascular physiology ever since
william harvey himself was still half a
mystic he wrote about the heart as the
son of the microcosm as a household god
that serves the rest of the body but the
techniques that he brought back from
italy of making observations drawing
conclusions and then testing those
conclusions with further observations
that was certainly the beginning of the
scientific method it helped to fuel the
explosion of science that happened in
this country in the 17th century giving
those early scientists methods to allow
them to challenge the written word
whether it was the words of Aristotle or
the words of Scripture
in the 18th century a new movement swept
through the Western world thinkers such
as Isaac Newton and John Locke realized
that the laws of the universe were there
to be discovered not read about in Bible
it was the age of enlightened democracy
freedom and science replaced religion at
the heart of society for me the person
who epitomizes the Enlightenment is an
American Benjamin Franklin he was not
only a statesman but also a celebrated
scientist who found a rational
explanation for the wrath of God
thank you very much
in 1750 Franklin suggested that
lightning was just a form of electricity
in a Georgian period churches were
always the tallest building around and a
lot of them had a lot of wood in them so
they when they were struck by lightning
they would just burn down and it'll be
awful for your community not only
because your largest Civic building had
you know burnt to the ground but also
because it would show that someone in
your community had done something pretty
bad because God did it exactly exactly
so Franklin decided that he would
protect churches from this from the
electrical fluid so he went on to
develop the lightning rods so if I just
shot this in I would ask you not to
touch the table for reasons that will
become apparent very quickly hmm
churches weren't always keen to have
science mix with religion and quite this
level and they did see that it was
Franklin trying to circumvent God and
God's will
Franklin did say that if you really want
to circumvent if you don't want to
circumvent God's wishes you should
actually not have a roof on your church
because rain is also a natural
phenomenon but obviously now all
churches have lightning rods on them so
does work I imagine if God wishes to
punish you can find it other ways
Franklin was also the first scientist to
help found a nation with a new form of
government
his championing of scientific
rationality inspired the first country
built on Enlightenment principles but in
many ways Franklin was was really if not
the father of the United States
certainly one of the principal thinkers
behind the secular state absolutely he
was one of the founding fathers he did
not want the organized church ticket
have anything to do with the running of
a nation he thought it was a bad idea to
have church estate combined and
therefore split it off so creating a
secular state in America
Ben Franklin was the son of a Puritan
immigrant he intended to go into the
church himself but here in London at the
age of 19 he first wrote his views about
conventional religion rejecting the
ceremony the pomp the dogma for me Ben
Franklin really symbolizes the
Enlightenment the age of reason and the
free thinking the openness the rejection
of authority during that period
continued the process of undermining the
authority of the church it was
scientists brought up on these end like
movement principals who pushed
Christianity into a retreat which
continues to this day
Darwin removed the main argument for
God's existence
you
I think that Sciences biggest challenge
to Christianity was Charles Darwin's
theory of evolution in 1859 Darwin
published on the Origin of Species which
suggested that life on Earth was not
designed by God but had evolved through
a process called natural selection my
colleague Richard Dawkins has become the
best-known critic of religion some would
say the Archbishop of atheism for him
evolution is the best reason for not
believing in God Richard I guess you
could say that after Copernicus and
Galileo evolutionary theory was the
second great challenge to conventional
religious belief how did Darwin himself
deal with it
he was well aware that it was a great
challenge and he was appropriately
cautious before releasing it he delayed
for something like 20 years after
writing it out and then some people
think the main reason for his delay was
caution because of the effect would have
on the religious establishment
Christians had always believed that
human beings were made in God's image
but Darwin's theory implied that we are
in fact Apes Darwin removed the main
argument for God's existence because
before before Darwin it looked as though
the evident apparent design of living
things could only be interpreted as as
actual design some people seem to have
come to terms with evolution as they did
with Copernicanism by saying it's just
an illumination of the wonders of God
I've had it remarkably unconvincing
because the suggestion is that that God
in deciding to create life chose to do
it in precisely the way that made it
look as though he wasn't there well you
could say that the difficulty was
creating the physics of the universe
with all its improbabilities in such a
way that it would allow evolution to
occur that's a much better way to look
at it I mean that's a that there's a
certain amount of plausibility about
that I find it ultimately implausible
because it suggests that
an intelligent creator would need an
even bigger explanation himself this
wonderful University Museum at Oxford
exudes Victorian confidence in the
special power of human beings it was
here in 1860 that Samuel Wilberforce the
Bishop of Oxford defended Christianity
against the onslaught of thomas henry
huxley a great champion of Darwin
there's no doubt that Darwin's discovery
of a natural mechanism that could
explain the origin of all life on earth
including human beings without divine
intervention was a serious challenge to
conventional religious belief Christians
are still uncertain and divided about
how to respond to evolution the
overwhelming evidence for Darwin's
theory has led the mainstream churches
to concede that humans were not
literally made by God but they cling to
the idea that God made evolution
possible this kind of accommodation has
become a familiar pattern it's not a
matter of overturning what we fought
before it's more a matter of saying that
what we were taught when you're seven
years old is still true but there's so
much more going on that we couldn't
possibly have handled when we were seven
years old well I mean you seem to be
talking about a kind of plasticine God a
God that pickins stretched and deform to
fit any shape you want to informed by
science but stretched still to fit with
the changing image of the reality of the
world that science is giving us it's no
more plasticine than the universe is
plasticine as our understanding of it
shifts the plasticine is up here yes as
I'm older my mind can stretch a little
bit closer to the dimensions of the god
that was out there all the time
mainstream Christianity has been so
influenced by the enlightenment that its
views are now totally different from
those of 400 years ago but the beliefs
of some Christians in the United States
have hardly changed at all a recent poll
found that almost 1/3 of Americans still
believe that the biblical story of
creation is literally true it's
extraordinary to think of the word
fundamentalism which we nowadays
associate with extreme governments
Islamic regimes actually originated here
in the United States I'm gonna find out
how it could be that in this secular
country built on the success of Science
and Technology those kinds of
fundamental views of Christianity could
still survive this is Dayton Tennessee
in the heart of the Bible Belt in 1925 a
state law was passed that made the
teaching of human evolution illegal a
local teacher John Scopes was tried for
breaking this new law the Chicago
defense lawyer Clarence Darrow was
pitted against William Jennings Bryan a
former presidential candidate
the trial took place in this courtroom
now you have given considerable study to
the Bible how much mr. Brian yes sir I
have tried to you claimed it everything
in the Bible should be literally
interpret I believe everything in the
Bible should be accepted as it is given
there how some was illustrative for
example ye are the salt of the earth
I would not insist that man was actually
salt or had flesh of salt but it is used
in this sense of salt to saving God's
people Scopes was found guilty young his
trial marked the start of a battle over
the teaching of evolution but still
continues in some American states I am
simply trying to protect the Word of God
the greatest atheist or agnostic in the
United States professor Ron numbers who
grew up near Dayton was born into a
fundamentalist Christian family my
father was a fundamentalist preacher
here the seventh-day Adventists were the
people who gave the world young Earth
Creationism
young earth means what exactly well that
you don't believe there was anything
here more than about six thousand years
early fundamentalists were appalled by
the diluted form of Christianity that
had emerged from the Enlightenment it
was the influence of Germany German
scholarship and some English scholarship
especially that scared the bejesus out
of evangelicals in America they would
send over young scholars and they would
come back tainted with this they didn't
believe in the virgin birth or the
resurrection anymore they didn't believe
Moses had written the first five books
of the Bible it was knowledge of science
that convinced Ron to abandon his
beliefs he now lectures on every aspect
of fundamentalism including the
fundamentalist version of science almost
to a person these fundamentalist profess
to love science
they love sight back in the 1920s at the
time of the Scopes trial here
the anti evolutionist argued against
evolution on the grounds that it didn't
deserve the good name of science it was
too speculative there wasn't enough
evidence and science was something
wonderful in the 1970s American
fundamentalists came up with their own
version of science scientific
creationism creationists based their
core principles not on observation
experiment but on the Bible the Creation
Museum in Kentucky was set up in 2007 to
give Christians a history of the natural
world that fits with a literal
interpretation of the Bible amazing to
think really about one in 500 Americans
have already been to see this exhibition
even in its first year could have a lot
of influence on opinion the Lord God
said
the Bible states that God created the
universe and all life on Earth in six
days
so dinosaurs and the Garden of Eden
scary if you take the Old Testament
literally dinosaurs and humans must have
lived at the same time it's amazing
really and we've got we've got human
beings
fully clothed collecting carrots with
the friendly dinosaurs in the background
and it's a nice kind of Disneyland scene
but it really totally contradicts the
the fossil record one of the museum's
resident scientists Jason Lisle agreed
to talk to me
I was curious to know how he reconciles
his faith in the biblical account of
creation with contradictory scientific
evidence this beautiful display has lots
of dinosaur figures in it and a lot of
the implication of the creation story is
that dinosaurs and human beings
coexisted yes on the earth that's right
I don't know of any evidence for that
and know of a great deal of evidence
against it so why do you believe well
ultimately it's because God has told us
in his word that God he made all of the
land animals dinosaurs rule and animals
cuz they walk on our legs they made on
they were made on the sixth day the same
day as Adam so they definitely lived at
the same but you're a scientist yes I am
you're an astrophysicist yes and you say
you that's your position because you you
believe it because you read it
what about experiments what about
evidence well I would say that you know
I believe in experimentation in fact I
would expect that that would be possible
because God upholds the universe in the
consistent logical way and so I would
expect that science would be possible
because of my faith I'm what if
experimentation and observation yielded
evidence that appear to can contradict
the statements in the scriptures well
that can always happen but since so you
know our mind isn't perfect and since
our observations aren't always perfect
if we find some experiment that seems to
on the surface disagree with the Word of
God we go with the Word of God if you're
saying that when science contradicts the
scripture is the scripture that you have
to turn to
what's really correct then why bother
with science well the Bible tells us
that we need to care for the earth God
gave us responsibility for this earth in
order to do that we have to know some
things about it and therefore I think
that the mandate for doing science is
scriptural and so I might I might
challenge my non-christian colleagues
and say what is your basis for doing
science I have a reason to do it I have
a reason to expect that it that it can
yield reliable results because I can
tell you why I do science because I want
to find out how things work
I want to reveal the the beauty of the
natural world fair enough fair enough
but you know as a Christian I would say
the reason I can trust that the methods
of science for the most part are
reliable is because God has made my mind
God has made the universe I would expect
those two things would go well together
acts a is a pretty weird place really
what I found really weird though was
that Jason who's an established
scientist that's undeniable can hold
such extreme views I mean he seemed to
be saying that science is fine as long
as it generates results and findings
that fit the views of the church and
when it doesn't they simply can't be
right can they because they contradict
faith I really wonder whether that
reveals a fundamental contradiction
between Christianity religion and
science it needn't necessarily be that
way but it is a real difficulty I mean
what is the point of doing science if
it's only right when it agrees with the
Bible today only a minority of
Christians take everything in the Old
Testament as the literal truth
but for the New Testament it's a
different story when it comes to the
life of Jesus Christ all bets are off
that was a unique moment in human
history
thanks to the Scientific Revolution
most Christians now accept that much of
the old testament is metaphorical but
science has had little impact on
Christian attitudes to the new test when
it comes to the life of Jesus Christ all
bets are off that was a unique moment in
human history where God is inserted into
his creation and we can't expect that to
ever occur again but you are stating
this as an assertion you as a scientist
you have no evidence I have no evidence
and I suspect you have a good reason to
believe that there will never be
evidence to disprove what you're saying
until we invent nice things it's easy to
make those kinds of assertions until we
may invent time machine so it's an
assertion based on faith but it's also
based on the evidence we have the
recorded evidence of the people at the
time which you have dismissed as the
evidence for all the other things that
the churches have changed its views on
like creation in six days but the church
never taught this as central to its
faith this is not a core belief of the
church this is not something that's in
the Creed that's different from the life
and death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ
but science has led a few Christians to
question even these fundamental tenets
of Christianity
I was brought up in Anglican and there's
a lot I still like about churches the
hymns contemplation the sense of
community I'm here to meet an Anglican
priest David Patterson who belongs to a
group of Christians called the sea of
faith many of them doubt the divinity of
Jesus Christ and even whether God really
exists so let's just be clear
I mean God didn't make literally make
the universe no and God didn't engineer
the the virgin birth of Jesus and Jesus
perhaps didn't really exist as a person
at all I think he probably did actually
yes yes absolutely I think he did then
kind of just explore that a little more
I mean what what then is God to you um
what I fell in love with what I wanted
to give my life to and its ingredients
were well a lot about the natural world
and a lot about making relationships
with people well I mean I empathize with
all of those things but I've found the
necessity to see God reflected in those
things the existence of life is
extraordinary but for why any more
and is there any more really no there
isn't any more there is actually no
difference between the theists and the
Atheist it's only the terminology that's
different some people have this this
deep understanding of the spiritual
nature of it of reality of everything
and they want to personify it and call
it God or a God or a particular name of
God or something some don't want to do
that David thinks that the Bible was
never meant to be taken literally
all the religious stories are
mythological stories we're asking did it
happen or where did it happen or what
they did it happen is all completely
irrelevant it's actually all about this
being a story that helps you to
understand what life is all about so
according to David all those fundamental
tenets of Christianity virgin birth the
resurrection life after death didn't
happen at all it seems to me that
David's version of Christianity is
virtually atheism science provides the
facts about the world religion gives us
the music and the pictures and tells us
stories about human nature
for me it's science not religion that
provides our best hope of understanding
the workings of our universe professor
Albert de Rock has dedicated his life to
exploring the scientific equivalent of
Genesis the Big Bang
Albert practices in this nondescript
early 21st century Cathedral to science
beneath its foundations lies a crypt
containing the most elaborate scientific
instrument ever constructed the project
cost over eight billion dollars and uses
enough electricity to power a small city
we're actually now handed meters
underground
and in the main hall of the experiment
and this is it this is CMS
how extraordinary inside this particle
accelerator particles raced through a
circular tunnel 27 kilometers long close
to the speed of light and smash together
simulating conditions and millionth of a
second after the Big Bang
one goal is to find evidence for the
Higgs boson which some call the god
particle because it's thought to have
triggered the birth of the units in a
world where there would have been the
Higgs field we wouldn't think this we
wouldn't be there that is why it's like
a god pocket it's like God's giving you
know not everything is equal anymore but
you have diversity and you can create
their first base Albert has faith in
this machine's ability to find the Higgs
boson but if it doesn't another theory
will emerge unlike religion science can
change its views if the evidence demands
it that's the power of science
and do we see anything in the process
that suggests the intervention by an
intelligent being by a garden certainly
from the scientific point of view we
don't know personally I don't believe
that there has to be such an agent at
work but as a scientist as I said I work
only on data and so far that hypothesis
for me is not excluded so I keep it open
but it's not a working hypothesis coming
over the last 400 years Christianity has
been transformed by the power of science
during the Renaissance the first
scientist showed that the evidence of
nature often contradicts the word of the
Bible in the 18th century it was
scientists who are at the forefront of
the Enlightenment making reason not
religious authority for driving force in
human affairs
and Darwin's theory of evolution has
divided Christians on how to reconcile
science with their faith I believe that
science will increasingly make religion
redundant and will eventually provide us
with an understanding not only of
creation but also of ourselves
I think that the historical record shows
that the power of science to explain
what was previously mysterious is
enormous personally I think that science
will one day give us not just a very
satisfactory description of our physical
world of how we came to be here but even
of how it is that our brains give us
this need for religious belief if that
happens when that happens what will be
left for Christianity
you
関連動画をさらに表示
The Scientific Revolution: The Events That Shaped the Modern World
Bagaimana Ide Tuhan Muncul? | Asal-Usul dan Evolusi Tuhan | #Agama 5
Stephen Hawking view on God | Science vs God
Sapiens Book Review (Urdu/Hindi) - Yuval Noah Harari - History of Mankind
Akhir Nya Mereka Terdiam & Merinding Lihat -The Meaning Of Life -
STS Module 3 - Intellectual/ Scientific Revolution Lecture Video
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)