Download Definitions and Quotes in Science and Religion

Definitions and Quotes in Science and Religion Presentation:
Scientific materialism-belief that matter is the fundamental reality in the universe and that
all phenomena can in principle be explained by the laws of matter
Methodological materialism and/or reductionism-a research strategy in which the
behavior of complex wholes is approached by analyzing their component parts
Philosophic or atheistic materialism- the belief that since science is methodological
materialistic matter must be all that there is; since the spiritual or transcendent is outside
the scope of scientific methodology it must, therefore, not exist.
Darwin: “Owing to the struggle for life, any variation, however slight and from whatever
cause proceeding, if it be to any degree profitable. . .will tend to the preservation of that
individual, and will generally be inherited by its offspring . . .the preservation of
favorable variations and the rejection of injurious variations, I call Natural Selection”
Dawkins: “Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin
discovered, and which we now know is the explanation for the existence and apparent
purposeful form of all life, has no purpose in mind. It has no mind and no mind’s eye.
It does not plan for the future. It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be
said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker.”
Gould: “Matter is the ground of all existence, mind, spirit and God as well, are just
words that express the wondrous results of neuronal complexity.”
Monod: “Pure chance, absolutely free, but blind, is at the very root of the stupendous
edifice of evolution. The ancient covenant is in pieces; man at last knows that he is
alone in the unfeeling immensity of the universe, out of which he emerged by chance.”
E. O. Wilson: “We have come to the crucial stage in the history of biology when religion
itself is subject to the explanations of the natural sciences. . .sociobiology can account
for the very origin of mythology by the principle of natural selection acting on the
genetically evolving material structure of the human brain.”
S. Hawkings: “So long as the universe had a beginning we could suppose that it had a
creator. But if the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or
edge, it would have neither a beginning nor end; it would simply be. What place, then,
for a creator?”
Darwin’s disclaimer: “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which
could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my
theory would absolutely break down.”
M. Behe: “Irreducibly complex systems appear very unlikely to be produced by
numerous, successive, slight modifications of prior systems, because any precursor that
was missing a crucial part could not function. Natural selection can only choose
among systems that are already working, so the existence in nature of irreducibly
complex biological systems poses a powerful challenge to Darwinian theory.”
W. Dembski: “In my book The Design Inference, I argue that specified complexity
reliably detects design. . .in No Free Lunch, I show that undirected natural processes
like the Darwinian mechanism are incapable of generating the specified complexity that
exists in biological organisms.”
J. Wells: “In the absence of evidence that natural selection and random variations can
account for the apparently designed features of living things, the entire question of
design must be reopened. Alongside Darwin’s argument against design, students should
also be taught that design remains a possibility.”
Galileo: “Scripture teaches one not how the heavens go, but how to go to heaven.”
Bultmann: “the real point of religious texts is not to give an objective world picture;
what is expressed in them, rather, is how we human beings understand ourselves in our
world. Thus, religious texts do not want to be interpreted in cosmological terms but in
anthropological terms, or, better, in existential terms.”
John Haught: “By adopting an independence view we hope to liberate science from its
imprisonment in all kinds of ideology. Accordingly, we must admit that our experience
of God cannot shed any exceptional light on evolution, nor can evolutionary thinking tell
us anything of significance about God. Theology should stick to its task of opening us up
to a distinctively religious kind of experience, and scientists should stick to science,
avoiding the kind of ideological baggage that it is often accompanied with.”
Pope John Paul II: “As dialogue and common searching continue, there will be growth
towards mutual understanding and a gradual uncovering of common concerns which will
provide the basis for future research and discussion. . .dialogue should continue and grow
in depth and scope. . .”
John Polkinghorne: “the same source of inspiration that drives science for knowledge
and truth is that which drives theology for knowledge and truth. . .”
Karl Rahner: “. . .it would not be too much to say that faith in a God of self-giving love
actually anticipates an evolving universe. It would be very difficult to reconcile the
religious teaching about God’s self-giving infinite love with any other kind of cosmos. .
.the universe of finite creations cannot possibly receive God’s boundless love in a single
moment, evolution is a necessity for both the creature’s freedom and reception of God’s
gift of love.”