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The kind of science that rejects God amounts to a dogmatic creed that contradicts true scientific principlesA number of people harbour the mistaken notion that our scientific world view has, once for all, made religion out of date. One reason for this belief is the claim, put forward by some scientists, that all reality is ultimately material. If that were the case, there would be no place for God, a spiritual soul, immortality, afterlife or whatever. The materialist trend of thought started centuries ago. One of its components, known as positivism, was formulated persuasively by the French philosopher Auguste Comte (1795-1857). Comte maintained that human beings pass through three stages of understanding: the theological one (in which God features), the philosophical one (when we still talk of Absolutes like Truth) and the positive one (when we only consider the facts as we see them).
Another element is known as materialism, that is: the tenet that everything in the universe, including intelligence, `spirit' or whatever, can be reduced to physical and chemical processes. One of its pioneers was Ludwig Büchner who declared that nothing exists outside matter.
See: L.BÜCHNER, Force and Matter, London 1855. Other classical works were: E.HAECKEL, The Riddle of the Universe, London 1899; H.FEIGL, The "Mental" and the "Physical", New York 1967; J.J.C.SMART, Philosophy and Scientific Realism, New York 1963. Now it is quite natural for scientists to proceed within their scientific studies as if only matter existed; it is quite another to maintain that matter is the only reality. The next steps then follow logically. A spiritual dimension to one's life is denied. Human intelligence and freedom are reduced to blind forces. The whole universe is explained in terms of chance and materialistic evolution. With this, we are told, the problem of the universe has been solved.
Avoiding the trap of dogmatismScience advances theories which are `models of the world' seen from a particular point of view. Science cannot supply an over-arching system of meaning. The materialist theory too is no more than a theory. From being a mere hypothesis, materialism has recently become for some scientists a dogma, a truth accepted as true beyond proof. But as the zoologist Alister Hardy reminds us, such a dogma contradicts the essence of science.
Science formulates theories which by their very nature are temporary and relative. The historian of science, James Burke, points out the boundaries that limit any scientific view.
Scientists are quite correct when they affirm that their scientific research as such does not prove or disprove religious beliefs. Religion lies outside the purview of science. But scientists who claim that science proves God does not exist or that religious realities are false, contradict the openness to truth and the limited scope which are principles of scientific study itself. |
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CREDITS The text in this lesson is from How to Make Sense of God by John Wijngaards, Sheed & Ward, Kansas City 1995. Tom Adcock designed the cartoons. The Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada awarded the book a prize on 25 May 1996. The video clips are from Journey to the Centre of Love (scriptwriter & executive producer John Wijngaards) which was awarded the GRAND PRIX by the Tenth International Catholic Film Festival held in Warsaw (18-23 May 1995). It also received the prestigious Chris Award at the International Film Festival, Columbus Ohio, in 1997. |