Book Reviews: Conflict Between Science and Religion

So-called 'Intelligent' Design is very popular among conservative evangelical Christians in America. It is viewed as a 'scientific' alternative to evolutionary theory that avoids the many pitfalls and failures of traditional creationism. For some reason, though, Intelligent Design doesn’t really get any respect or serious attention from...

What provides the best framework for understanding life and the universe? Is it a religion which relies upon the premise that a supernatural realm or being exists, or rather a thoroughly secular worldview which employs naturalism in science, ethics and politics? That is the question which Kai Nielsen addresses in his book, 'Naturalism and...

Galileo's conflict with the Catholic Church is well known - the stuff of legend, in fact, and that may be part of the problem. It seems as though Galileo has become a martyr in the name of science, struck down by religious bigotry and ignorance even though he was only trying to advance our knowledge about our world and universe. Yet how much of...

For Tertullian, writing in the early 3rd century, the question was "What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?" The implied answer was that Athens and Jerusalem had nothing relevant in common, and therefore that the dominant philosophies of Greek culture had no interest or application for Christian faith. The same question, and mirror answer,...

Religion and science seem to be forever in conflict, but is such a perception really accurate? Must science and religion conflict, or is there any way for them to be made more compatible? According to George A. Erickson, Christianity has played a crucial role in the suppression of scientific research and development, ultimately to the detriment of all.

More and more it is possible to find literature proclaiming the reunification of science and religion. According to these reports, research in all scientific fields continually produce mounting evidence that religion - by which it is usually meant traditional Judaism and Christianity - had it right all along and science is only just catching up. But are these reports true or at all justified?

Debates about the compatibility of science and religion are regular features in academic discussions. On the one side we have those who argue that there isn't any conflict, perhaps because the two subjects deal with different issues or perhaps because "true religion" is always in accordance with "reality" as described by science and nature.

Modern science - and especially modern physics and quantum mechanics - can be very difficult to understand, in part because they describe ideas which can appear very strange to us. Does this justify relying upon supernatural and mystical explanations for the universe, however?

Spiritual, religious, and theistic beliefs have been widely used to explain things about our universe - the origin of life, morality, and even the origin of the universe itself. Are such attempted explanations successful, or is a thoroughgoing naturalism preferable? Is there anything about the universe which suggests that a god of any sort exists?

Are science and religion compatible, or are they so different that they must ultimately come into conflict, with people having to choose one or the other? Some believe that they are not only compatible, but that they ultimately support each other - with the new revelations of science demonstrating the deeper truths of religion while the insights...

A common perception of science tends to focus upon a few great figures who stand out from the crowd, leading their colleagues to new frontiers of discovery through the brilliance of their insights and tenacity of their research. Although this is surely sometimes the case, it is perhaps less often the true than most people assume.