SCIENCE AND FAITH
The Rise of Science and the Rise of Scientific Atheism
Presbyterian Church of the Master
SOJOURNERS Class
October 5, 2014
Bill Olson
Copyright by P. W. Olson, October 2014
Science and Faith
Understanding of the current Western world-view
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What our neighbors believe
What our children and grandchildren are exposed to outside of the “Christian Bubble”
October 5
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The rise of science and scientific atheism
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Brief history
Current worldview in America and Western Europe
Book: Mary Poplin – Is Reality Secular? Testing the Assumptions of Four Global Worldviews
October 12
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You are a Miracle
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Statistics as branch of mathematics – a science
The chances for the universe, the planet Earth, the first cell, intelligent life, of us talking to
one another today
October 19
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Consciousness – naturalism and dualism
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You and I are souls
Book: J. P. Moreland – The Soul How we Know it is Real and Why it Matters
Copyright by P. W. Olson, October 2014
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1. Brief History of the rise of Science
and Scientific Atheism(Material Naturalism)
This took place in Western Europe
The industrial revolution took place in parallel
The Reformation took place in parallel
“Modern Western empirical science originated and flourished in the bosom of
Christian Theism and originated nowhere else. … the fact is it was Christian
Europe that fostered, promoted, and nourished modern science. All of the
great names in early Western science, furthermore, Nicholas Copernicus, Galileo
Galilei, Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, Roger Cotes and many
others–all were serious believers of God. Indeed the 20th century physicist C. F.
Weisacker goes so far as to say,” In this sense, I call modern science a legacy of
Christianity.” Alvin Plantinga in Where the Conflict Really Lies
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~ 1550 AD
• Firm belief in a rational God and an orderly world
• Nature is real and reliable, the earth is good
• Craftsmen and all vocations are respected. Martin Luther’s priesthood of
all believers. He threw out two-tiered system of religious professionals
versus lay believers
• Most of the first “scientists” are Christians – either priests or pastors
• Man and all life created by God
• The universe is geocentric
The Judeo-Christian heritage and worldview prevails, and it
provides the conditions for modern science to begin in
earnest.
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Copyright by P. W. Olson, October 2014
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~ 1750 AD
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The planets are shown to move in elliptical orbits around the sun (Galileo,
Kepler, Copernicus)
Kepler wrote: “I give thanks to you, Creator and God, that you have given me
this joy in thy creation, and I rejoice in the works of your hands. So I have now
completed the work to which I was called. In it I have used all the talents you
have lent to my spirit.”
Newton invents the calculus and writes Philosophiae Naturalis Principia
Mathematica – Nature is accurately described using mathematics
– Popular interpretation: the world is a great machine, and, maybe, so is man
Several physical phenomena remain unexplained and remain in God’s realm
(e.g. magnetism, air– AND all living things)
Laplace makes mathematical case for a mechanistic worldview
Modern Science and its impact on the world has begun.
Newtonian physics prevails – the world is seen as a great
machine, free will is questioned
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Copyright by P. W. Olson, October 2014
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~ 1900 AD
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Lyell shows that the earth is ancient, not infinitely old but much older than
suggested in the Bible – first direct conflict of science and the bible. Lyell
wrote: “But in whatever direction we pursue our researches, whether in time or space, we discover
everywhere the clear proofs of a Creative Intelligence, and of His foresight, wisdom, and power.”
– Popular interpretation: the Biblical creation account is a myth – not truth; this
casts a shadow over the entire Bible.
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Darwin suggests that all living things evolved from earlier simpler forms of
life
– Popular interpretation: this is the last straw – there is no need for God –
science can explain everything
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The World is deterministic. Man is a machine without free will
Bertrand Russell later wrote: “Even more purposeless, more void of meaning, is the world,
which science presents for our belief. Among such a world, if anywhere, our ideals henceforward must find a
home. That Man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; his origin, his
growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms…
destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of man’s achievement
must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins. . . . Only within the scaffolding of these
truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built.”
Scientific atheism is in full bloom. Science can
explain everything. God is no longer necessary
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Press Reports on ‘God as Explanation’
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80
60
early
mid
late
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15th
century
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17th
century
19th
century
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1900AD - Scientific Atheism
What science actually says:
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Space and time are both thought to be infinite
Science is believed capable of explaining all physical phenomena
What the “press” says: - (this is scientism, not science)
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There is no God
There are no ultimate “truths”, except the laws of science
Science, not ancient authority, provides knowledge
There is no “judgment” so do whatever pleases you in your life
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1950 AD
• Several experiments “prove” Einstein’s theory of General Relativity
• The mathematical foundation for quantum mechanics is worked out
• Belief that “man is a machine” has been seriously questioned by
several experiments in quantum mechanics – free will is back
• Atomic theory is explained on a mathematical basis and the subatomic particles (electron, proton, and neutron) have all been
discovered and described
• Issues with the role of the experimenter on influencing the outcome
of quantum experiments remain
Physical reality can no longer be understood
based on human everyday experiences
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Copyright by P. W. Olson, October 2014
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~ 2000 AD
• The Big Bang is fully accepted by the scientific community – space,
matter and time had a beginning. Science cannot probe prior to the
Big Bang.
• Studying the makeup of quarks, etc. Elementary particles viewed as
structures in space-time.
• Attempting to produce super-heavy, short lived particles believed to
be present just after the creation of the universe
• Working on Grand Unifying Theories to unite gravity with atomic and
nuclear forces
Science is on its own - has mostly forgotten its
Judeo-Christian heritage. However, Science and
Faith have never been as close as they are today
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Big Bang – Implications
• The universe came into being “from nothing” – ex nihilo
• What exists must be caused
– Philosophy suggests that the Big Bang was “caused”
– String theory and Loop theory also demand that there be an
“observer” external to the “system”
• Science cannot look “before” the Big Bang nor can it look
outside of the physical universe
• Both space and time are finite
• The universe is ~13.7 billion years old
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Copyright by P. W. Olson, October 2014
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A Few Social Darwinists
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Charles Sanders Peirce
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John Dewey (the Dewey Decimal System)
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Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
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The Choir Boys and others
– God, together with everything else is evolving. This God does not know what is
happening in the future and learns along with everyone else through experiences.
This is evolutionary theology
– Teachers are not instructors, but facilitators that guide students to find whatever
works for them. All values are equal and students simply determine what they
value most. This is philosophical naturalism
– Law is not based on any universal moral order but on a particular culture and its
history. Judges should be free from the past and able to change the law to reflect
whatever social policy they decide is best. This is philosophical pragmatism
– Hitler and Stalin both came from church backgrounds but decided that there was
no ultimate justice and that they could do whatever fit their desires. This is also
philosophical pragmatism
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Copyright by P. W. Olson, October 2014
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A Few Christian Scientists
Each of these people is internationally known in their academic fields. They have
contributed not only to the knowledge base in their fields, but have also been instrumental
in determining the direction of their fields and in helping to decide on ethical issues
concerning the technology spawned by the research areas they work in. They are also well
known as Christians.
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Alvin Plantinga, “God and Other Minds”.
Journal review laments that about 30% of philosophy
professors are theists – mostly Christian. The author decries the de-secularization of philosophy. The article
concludes: “God is not ‘dead’ in academia. He returned to life in the later 1960’s and is now alive and well in his
last academic stronghold, philosophy departments.” This all because of Professor Plantinga.
Francis Collins, “The Language of God”. Born into an agnostic family, he became a Christian while in
graduate school. He is one of the world’s leading scientists, he headed the Human Genome Project. Currently he is
a leading proponent for the passage of the Genetic Nondiscrimination Bill which is now 12 years old but finally
headed for easy passage.
Dan Foster, no books. Member of the National Academy of Sciences, Chair of University of Texas
Southwestern Medical School, member of the President’s Council on Bioethics, etc. Also, a Bible teacher at First
Presbyterian Church of Dallas for nearly 40 years – since he was in med school. He recognizes no conflict between
modern scientific knowledge and the understanding of God’s mighty acts. (You can listen to CDs of Dr. Foster’s
classes with us the first Thursday evening of every month at 6:30 PM.)
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Scientists’ “Faith” Today
• The universe is real
• The physical laws we use are valid throughout the universe
and unchanging with time
• Forces between bodies can act at a distance
• Mathematics can be used to accurately describe physical
processes throughout the universe. Einstein said: “This is the
greatest mystery.”
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2. Worldviews Today
Scientific Atheism – Material Naturalism
Secular Humanism
Pantheism
Christianity
See “Is Reality Secular?”
By Mary Poplin
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So . . . Many of our neighbors
unknowingly believe that:
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There is no God
Anything goes – education is finding out what is right for you
Anything goes – just don’t get caught
There are no absolutes – we are on our own and must find rules that work for us
There is no judgment – so, again, anything goes
. . . and they don’t know the meaning of many
Christian words: sin, resurrection, heaven, etc.
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• Scientific Atheism is NOT what science says. Until the 20th
century, it is mostly made up by the press – the popularizers
of the scientists.
• Many of the popularizers were looking for a reason to “kill
God” so that they did not have the church hounding them in
their lives.
• By the 20th century we have some scientists that are actively
against faith.
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