The connection between science and religion has come a long way since these two fields first crossed paths. In the beginning people looked to the church for answers, and not to scientific findings. Society believed that religion was more valid than science. In “Cosmology and the 21st- Century Culture” by Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack”, it talks about how in the biblical times it was believed that the sky was actually water: “According to the first creation story at the beginning of Genesis, by creating this dome on the second day, God divided the waters ‘above’ from the waters ‘below’ and held open the space for dry land and air” (Abrams and Primack). This Biblical tale would be told until Greek philosophers came up with the idea that the, ”Earth was not flat and domed but a round celestial object”. Slowly this philosophy would start to spread and attract students like Galileo. In the beginning of the 17th century Galileo proved that the Ptolemaic Earth-centered picture was wrong. In Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632) he would mock these ideas. This didn’t go over well with the Catholic Church, and Galileo would end up spending the rest of his life under house arrest. Many scientist in Europe were terrified by what the Church did. Scientist would enter a “de facto pact of noninterference with religion: Science would restrict its authority to the material worked, and religion would hold unchallenged authority over spiritual issues” (Abrams and Primack). This would create a major gap between the two “realms” for sometime.
As time went on the gap between these two “realms” would start to close. More and more evidence would start to be published. Herbert Spencer’s “survival of the fittest” helped back Charles Darwin’s discoveries. In my mind Spencer and Darwin helped rekindled the connection between science and religion. Other scientist would study, and test these ideas, creating their own. Even religion would slowly look into the scientific field. In “How to Teach Science to the Pope” by Michael Mason, it talks about the connection between religion and science. Brother Guy Consolmagno is both a Jesuit brother and an astronomer for the Vatican. Consolmagno believes, “If you think the universe is fundamentally good and that it’s expressions of a God, then studying how the universe works is a way of becoming intimate with the Creator. It’s a kind of worship” (Mason, 1). By studying this field, he believes, that you are worshipping God’s creations, bring you closer to God. Consolmagno believes in this connection, and it has “been a big motivation for doing any kind of science” (1). Here religion has found a way to incorporate science. The video that I found is a clip from Stephen Hawking's Universe. It is about the existence of Evolution and other scientific discoveries. It goes back to the earliest of times, and to the present. It helps show the connection and progress of religion and science.
Work Cited
Abrams, Nancy and Joel Primack. "Cosmology and 21st-Century Culture." Science. Setember 7, 2001.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/293/5536/1769
Mason, Michael. "How to Teach Science tot he Pope." Discover Magazine. August 18, 2008.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26274906/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m93D6tslaeg&feature=player_embedded
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