Faith Versus Fact : Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible (9780698195516) (51 page)

assisted dying, 243–45

science's advances and effectiveness, 5, 206–7, 261–62

stem cell research, xix–xx, 217, 240–41

vaccinations, xix, 5, 217, 235–36, 241–42

See also
alternative medicine; disease and healing; medical neglect

Mencken, H. L., 38

metaphorical interpretations of scripture, 44, 54–59, 74–75, 129–30

methodological naturalism, 92

See also
naturalism; science; scientific method(s)

methods, incompatibility between religious and scientific, 64, 65–89

authority as arbiter of truth, 69–72

cherry-picking, 74–77, 129–30

fabricated answers to difficult/insoluble questions, 78–81

progress vs. stasis, 87–89, 157

religion's dependence on faith, 67–69

See also
counterevidence; evidence; falsifiability

Mill, John Stuart, 110

millennialism, 123

Miller, Kenneth, 100, 102, 137–38, 143, 160, 202, 217

miracles, 109, 116–17, 120–24

missionizing, xvii, 229, 239

Mohler, Albert, 128

monkeys, 171

“Monkey Trial,” 2, 5, 134

monogenism, 55–58, 105

See also
Adam and Eve's historicity

moral intuitions, 167–68, 169–70, 174–75

morality

animal behavior and, 171–72, 175–76

as argument for God's existence, 21, 156, 168–77, 226

conflicting moral codes in different religions, 84

cultural differences, 170, 176, 189

as key feature of religion, 42, 219–20

near-universality of, 169–70, 189

and NOMA argument, xviii, 107, 110–11

nonbelief and, 91, 189–90, 250, 252, 255, 261

scientific study of/explanations for, 15, 134, 166–68, 171–76, 189–90, 199–200

scientism and, 197, 198

secular ethics discourse, 110, 111, 189

socially driven changes, 88, 170–71, 177, 189

as subjective, 189–90

See also
evil and suffering; religious harm; scientific ethics

Moreland, J. P., 89

Mormonism, 62, 71, 82, 83, 125, 131–32

Moroni, 82, 125

Muhammad, 44, 53, 66, 83, 259

multiverse theory, 163

Mumbai Jesus statue, 122

music.
See
arts and humanities

mutations, 106, 133, 137, 138, 146–47

suffering caused by, 81, 148

See also
natural selection

Nanda, Meera, 105

Napoleon Bonaparte, 92, 255

National Academies, 112

National Academy of Sciences, 12, 249–50

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 238

National Center for Science Education, 8, 9, 93–94

National Science Foundation, 18

National Science Teachers Association, 112

Native American origins, 82, 125, 131–32

natural disasters, 248

naturalism

methodological, 91–95

philosophical, 37, 94–95

seen as based on faith, 204–11

See also
science; scientific method(s)

naturalistic fallacy, 111

natural laws.
See
physical laws

natural selection, 78, 92, 106, 133–34, 138–39, 144–45

altruism and, 174–75

human intelligence and, 134, 183–86

suffering inherent in, 81, 147, 148

See also
evolutionary biology; evolution
entries

natural theology, 21, 105, 152–85

before Darwin, 77–78, 153–54, 213

consciousness argument, 158

evaluating natural theological explanations, 156–57

fine-tuning argument, xix, 156, 159, 160–66, 227

“god of the gaps” arguments, xiii, 153, 154–56, 161, 178, 226–27

human inevitability argument, 140–47, 156, 157, 226

“Moral Law” argument, 156, 168–77, 226

origin-of-life argument, 156, 157

overviews, xix, 151, 153–56

physical and mathematical laws arguments, 156, 158–60, 227

seen as progenitor of science, 211–12

superfluous intelligence argument, 134, 183–86

true beliefs/rationality argument, 156, 177–83, 226

“you can't prove God doesn't exist” argument, 152, 201–4

Natural Theology
(Paley), 154

Nature,
205

NCCAM (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine), 238

neuroscience, 15, 158, 199

neutrinos, 35

New Atheism, xii–xiii, 14, 20–21

See also
atheism

new natural theology.
See
natural theology

Newton, Isaac, 92, 99, 153, 159, 213, 216

Nicene Creed, 49–51, 70–71

Noah's flood, 1, 57–58, 87, 104, 124

Nobel Prize, 30

NOMA (non-overlapping magisteria) argument, xviii, 4, 64–65, 106–12, 196, 226

nonbelievers

as accommodationists, 98

nontheistic modern Europe, 250, 254–55, 261

scientists as, xviii, 12–14, 95, 216

statistics, 9, 12–13, 16, 47

See also
agnosticism; atheism; nonreligious societies; nontheistic religion; religiosity

non-overlapping magisteria (NOMA) argument, xviii, 4, 64–65, 106–12, 196, 226

nonreligious societies

considering a world without faith, xxi–xxii, 250–56, 260–61

modern northern Europe, 252, 254–55, 261

Stalinist Soviet Union, 220–21

nontheistic religion and spirituality, xvi, 42, 65, 111

deism, 42, 99, 135

pantheism, 65, 100, 101–2

Nowak, Martin, 19

N rays, 30

nuclear weapons, 111, 152, 217, 218

Nurbaki, Halûk, 105

Obama, Barack, 240

observation, 32–33, 65, 153

See also
scientific method(s)

On the Origin of Species
(Darwin), 2, 14, 33, 70, 154

original sin, 21–22, 54, 56, 124, 125–26, 128–29, 130

See also
Adam and Eve's historicity; salvation

other ways of knowing.
See
ways of knowing

“Outsider Test for Faith” (OTF), 85–86

Paine, Thomas, 259

Paley, William, 154

pantheism, 65, 100, 101–2

paradise, 57, 84

See also
afterlife

paranormal phenomena.
See
supernatural and paranormal phenomena

parasites, 139

Park, Robert L., 261–62

parrots, 184

parsimony, 36–37, 122

Paul, the Apostle, Saint, 68, 121, 126, 130–31, 260

Pennock, Robert, 113

Pentecostalism, 22

Perry, Rick, 241

Philipse, Herman, 123, 153, 165

philosophical naturalism, 37, 94–95

philosophical religions.
See
nontheistic religion and spirituality

philosophy, secular, xii, 110, 111, 154, 168–69

as way of knowing, 65, 188–89, 198

See also
specific philosophers

physical laws

and anthropic principle, 159, 160–66

faith seen as required for acceptance of, 204–5, 210

seen as arising from Christianity, 212–13

seen as God's creation, 135, 156, 158–60, 226

physics, 16, 145–46, 150, 156

multiverse theory, 163

quantum mechanics, 137–38, 145–47, 159

Piltdown Man, 223

Pinker, Steven, 53, 169, 170, 172, 179, 199

Pius XII, Pope, 55–56, 71, 128–29, 133

Plantinga, Alvin

on Bible's literal truth, 62–63

on complex intelligence, 184

on naturalistic evolution, 135

on nature of God, 48–49, 63

sensus divinitatis
notion, 177–79, 180–81

on suffering, 148–49

Plato, 189

plumbing, 40–41

polio, 235

politics

global-warming denialism and, 246–47

religiosity and, 7, 249

Polkinghorne, John, 46, 79, 88–89

polygenism

religious rejection of, 55–58, 105

scientific proof of, 126–27

See also
human evolution

Pope, Stephen J., 103

Popper, Karl, 221

Porco, Carolyn, 208

postmodernism, 204, 222

prayer, 114, 115–16, 237–39

See also
faith-based healing

progress

directionality in evolution, 135–36, 138–40

scientific, vs. religious stasis, 86–89, 157

proselytizing, xvii, 229, 239, 253

psychology, 168–69, 187, 188

See also
evolutionary psychology

quantitativeness and quantitative methods, 33, 36, 196

See also
mathematics

quantum mechanics, 137–38, 145–47, 159

Quran, 83, 105, 134, 259

Quranic literalism, 53, 58, 75, 76, 106

rationality.
See
reason and rationality

Rationality in Science, Religion, and Everyday Life
(Stenmark), 45

rats, 171

reason and rationality

faith and, 9–10, 68, 69, 74

morality and, 170–71

science and, xii, 23, 24–25, 210–11

true beliefs/rationality argument for God's existence, 156, 177–83, 226

See also
intelligence; scientific method(s)

reciprocity, 169, 173–74

Redlawsk, D. P. (quoted), 205–6

Rees, Martin, 18

reincarnation, 41, 66, 106

relativity theory, 33, 72, 209, 216

religion, nontheistic.
See
nontheistic religion and spirituality

religion, theistic, xvi

as “another way of knowing,” 24–25, 66, 151, 185, 186, 195–96

key features of, 41–43

in the NOMA view, xviii, 64–65, 106–11, 195–96, 226

number and diversity, 84–85

possible origins of, xxii, 182

as progenitor of science, 151, 211–17

See also
faith; religion/science incompatibility; religiosity; religious claims

religionism, 201

religion/science incompatibility

accommodationism as evidence of, 6–8

atheism among scientists as evidence of, xviii, 12–14

compatibility assurances and discussion as evidence of, xviii, 5–10

conflict thesis, 2–3, 4–5

current public perception of, 11

incompatibility defined, 63–65

incompatibility of method, 64, 65–89, 129–30, 157

incompatibility of outcomes, 64, 65, 90–91, 103–4

incompatibility of philosophy, 64, 65, 91–96

overviews, xi–xiii, xv–xviii, 258–60

potential for/value of dialogue, 256–58

before twentieth century, 1–5

See also
accommodationism

religiosity

declines in, 11–12, 16–17

and political attitudes, 7, 249

statistics, 9, 12–13, 16, 47, 100, 101

and well-being, 254–55

See also
faith; scientist-believers

religious claims, 21–25, 43–49, 226

belief statistics, 47, 51–53

diversity and contradictions among, 24, 51, 82–86

as empirical claims, 21–25, 49, 51, 65, 90–91

faith and, 61–63, 67–69

of faiths other than one's own, skepticism about, 82–86, 121

as metaphors or allegories, 44, 54–59, 74–75, 129–30

miracles, 109, 116–17, 120–24

and NOMA argument, 108–10

nonnegotiable claims, 61, 72, 124–25

overviews, 21–25, 43–46

as scientifically testable, xii–xiii, 114

socially driven changes to, 70–71, 77

testing Adam and Eve's historicity, 125–31

testing efficacy of prayer, 114, 115–16

testing Mormon claims about Native American origins, 131–32

as untestable or unfalsifiable, 24–25, 34, 49, 66, 72–74, 90–91

See also
counterevidence; evidence; God's existence; scriptural literalism; supernatural and paranormal phenomena;
specific claims and stories

religious harm, xiii, xvi, xix–xx, xxi, 225–50

accommodationism as harmful to science, 226–28

faith as corrupting, 219–20, 225–26, 229, 231–32

global-warming denialism, xix–xx, 245–50

harmful impacts on societal well-being, 254–56

imputation of epidemics to God, 242–43

opposition to assisted dying, 243–45

rejection of vaccination, 235–36, 241–42

religious strife, 85, 220, 252, 259

scriptural literalism and, 53, 58

sharia law, 251–52

suppression of medical research, 240–41

See also
medical neglect

religious texts.
See
Bible; Book of Mormon; Quran; scriptural literalism

replicability, 35–36, 120, 223

research funding, 7, 18, 19–20, 228, 240

Resurrection, 44–45, 54, 77, 109

scientific analysis of, 72–73, 120–24

retrodictions, 33

revelation

as “another way of knowing,” 150, 186, 195

the arts and, 193

faith and, 25, 61, 65, 67, 153, 210

Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life
(Gould), 106, 107

Rome, ancient, science in, 212, 213, 214

Roosevelt, Franklin, 218

Rosenberg, Alex, 198

Russell, Bertrand, xii, 260

Sagan, Carl, 93, 118, 119, 203

salvation, 15–16, 84, 125–26

See also
original sin

Santorum, Rick, 247

Sarewitz, Daniel, 205, 209

Sartre, Jean-Paul, xii

Satan, 149

Sceptical Essays
(Russell), 260

science, 27–41

and authority, 65, 70, 72, 205, 208–9

confirmation bias in, 29

denigration of, 151–52