Science and Religion – Unit Summary
Read the quote below. Then draw on what we have covered throughout this
unit on Science and Religion to provide considered responses to the
questions on the back of the sheet.
Alister McGrath, molecular biologist and theologian, writes:
“So why are so many scientists religious? The obvious and most
intellectually satisfying explanation of this is not difficult to identify. It is well
known that the natural world is conceptually malleable. As we noted earlier, it
can be interpreted, without any loss of intellectual integrity, in a number of
different ways. Some ‘read’ or ‘interpret’ nature in an atheist way. Others ‘read’
it in a deistic way, seeing it as pointing to a creator divinity, who is no longer
involved in its affairs. God winds up the clock, then leaves it to work on its own.
Others take a more specifically Christian view, believing in a God who both
creates and sustains. Others take a more spiritualized view, speaking more
vaguely of some ‘life force’.
The point is simple: nature is open to many legitimate interpretations. It can be
interpreted in atheist, deist, theist and many other ways – but it does not
demand to be interpreted in any of these. One can be a ‘real’ scientist without
being committed to any specific religious, spiritual, or anti-religious view of the
world. This, I may add, is the view of most scientists I speak to, including those
who self-define as atheists. Unlike dogmatic atheists, they can understand
perfectly well why some of their colleagues adopt a Christian view of the world.
They may not agree with that approach, but they’re prepared to accept it.”
From: The Dawkins Delusion: Atheistic fundamentalism
and the denial of the divine,
Alister McGrath, 2007, SPCK, London.
Questions
(Answer these questions on a separate word document, or in your PRS book)
1. What does McGrath mean when he says that the natural world as a concept
or idea is ‘malleable’?
2. As both a scientist and a theologian, why do you think McGrath is so
concerned with ‘intellectual integrity’?
3. How important is ‘intellectual integrity’ to you? Why have you answered as
you have?
4. McGrath mentions ‘atheism’, ‘deism’ and ‘theism’ as legitimate
interpretations of nature. Briefly define these three words.
5. Circle which word best describes your current view of nature/God, and
explain why.
atheism
deism
theism
agnosticism
6. “One can be a ‘real’ scientist without being committed to any specific
religious, spiritual, or anti-religious view of the world.”
a) Explain this statement from McGrath.
b) Do you agree? Why or why not?
7. A scientist in the Did Darwin Kill God? DVD said:
“To say that Science can disprove God is making a category error”
Are science and religion different categories of thought? Why or why
not?
8. Complete these statements to reflect your learning in this unit:
In regard to the relationship between science and religion, I used
to think…
In regard to the relationship between science and religion, now I
think…
(nb. use a series of dot points to indicate more than one change of
idea).