In a recent post, we discovered that Christianity played a significant role in the rise of modern science and is hospitable to science and scientists.
Yet not everyone sees it that way. Some scientists argue that the claims of science and theology are incompatible — that science trumps theology, and that theology is no longer credible in the modern world.[1] Are they right?
Stephen Barr is a theoretical particle physicist at the Bartol Institute of the University of Delaware. Several years ago, he wrote an important article in which he showed how there is no real conflict between science and theology.[2] Instead of a conflict between science and theology, there is a conflict between materialism and theology. (Materialists believe that nothing exists except matter, and they almost always believe there is no God.[3])
Instead of a conflict between science and theology, there is a conflict between materialism and theology.
Barr argues that Christianity is rational, that it actually gave birth to modern science, and that the Bible’s storyline and teachings fit hand-in-glove with the best of science. In the main body of his paper, Barr shows how scientific materialists claim that science makes a Christian conception of the world unbelievable; then he proceeds to overturn each of the materialists’ claims.
In the next few paragraphs, I will summarize four of the materialists’ claims and Barr’s response to them.
1. Did Copernicus’ discoveries overturn Christian cosmology?
Materialists argue that Copernicus’ discovery that the Earth revolves around the sun refuted a Christian belief that the sun revolves around the Earth.
Barr responds that Copernicus did not overthrow any distinctively Christian belief. The Earth-centered view of the cosmos came from pagan thinkers (Ptolemy and Aristotle) rather than from Christian Scripture — so Copernicus refuted Ptolemey and Aristotle, not Christianity.
Barr goes on to make a very interesting point: Contemporary cosmology has recently moved in the direction of affirming Christian beliefs about the cosmos. While the scientific consensus 30 years ago was that the cosmos was eternal, the consensus now is that it must have had a beginning (which is what theologians have argued for thousands of years).
Contemporary cosmology has recently moved in the direction of affirming Christian beliefs about the cosmos.
2. Has “mechanism” triumphed over “teleology”?
Teleology is the view that the world has a design and a purpose, while mechanism is the view that it does not. Materialists argue that physicists have discovered certain “laws” of physics that hold the world together in such a way that there is no need to believe in a Designer who puts it together.
Barr argues that this mechanistic view is wrong. Barr is himself a physicist, and he argues that most physicists recognize that deep laws underlie the universe’s operation — laws so profound and elegant that they actually cause physicists to postulate some sort of cosmic design.
While materialists continue to assert that the universe could not have had a divine Designer, many physicists now suspect that it could or does.
3. Have biologists dethroned humanity from the high position given to it by Christian theology?
Materialists say that biology has led us to believe that humans are merely animals who make up just a tiny part of a huge and hostile universe. If this is true, it must disprove Christianity, which teaches that God created human beings in his image and likeness and set them apart from the animals.
Barr’s response is to argue the opposite point: As it turns out, the universe is amazingly (even gratuitously) hospitable to humans. Many features of our universe are fine-tuned in such a manner that minute alteration would leave the earth uninhabitable for humans. Such “anthropic coincidences” seem to be built into nature — and if they have been built in, there must have been a divine builder.
4. Are humans nothing more than biochemical machines, a “fact” which renders the God-postulate unnecessary?
Materialists argue that there is no proof whatsoever that humans have ‘souls’ or spiritual capacities of any type and that therefore we have no reason to believe in God either.
However, Barr explains that some physicists are now arguing that the quantum theory in physics is incompatible with a materialist view of the mind. He concludes that research in physics shows the laws of the universe to be grand and sublime in a way that implies design — and, because of that, this research also implies that the universe has a Designer.
Research in physics shows the laws of the universe to be grand and sublime in a way that implies design.
This post is a modified excerpt from Dr. Ashford’s new book, Every Square Inch. Details>>
[1] Richard Dawkins is a prominent scientist who argues that science and theology are incompatible. See Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006).
[2] Stephen Barr, “Retelling the Story of Science,” First Things 131 (March 2003): 16-25.
[3] Barr would have been better served to say that naturalism (rather than materialism) is in conflict with theology. Although naturalism and materialism are nearly the same, materialists can be theists in some sense (e.g., Thomas Hobbes) or can be open to supernatural emphases, even if they define “supernatural” differently. Naturalism, however, asserts that all things are physical and that God does not exist. In short, naturalism entails materialism but goes beyond it to atheism.
Comments and Pingbacks
2016-01-28 12:02:08
Why Science and Theology Should Be Partners, Not Enemies | Intersect
[…] people believe that science and theology are enemies. Yet in a recent post, we provided evidence to the contrary. In fact, we discovered that modern science flourished in […]
2016-02-03 23:10:55
Josh Hemphill
Did you mean to refer to earth-centric ideas of pagans instead of sun-centered? Thanks for the article.
2016-02-04 01:59:00
Intersect Staff
Good catch! Fixed.
2019-01-23 18:44:06
James
All of history until Copernicus, including the Bible and all the churches, supported a geocentric view. The "heliocentric" view was invented by pagans - namely, the atheist Copernicus. Many were burned at the stake by the church for supporting the lie of the heliocentric universe, because it denied the Bible and threatened the church. Even hundreds of years later, there is zero scientific evidence to support the heliocentric view, which denies the Bible's geocentric (earth-centered) view. The Bible supports that the Earth is at the center of the universe. Real science also supports this truth. The heliocentric view, that is, the sun-centric model, was invented by pagans is is a pagan view. Please note: in Genesis, the Earth was created before all of the universe. There are many other evidences, but this is one of the most glaring. Genesis 1:2: "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." Following this, with the Earth being all that existed at first, next, God created the Sun. Genesis 1:3 says, "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." God created the Sun after God created the Earth. The Earth was first, and then God created the Sun. Ecclesiastes 1:5 says, "The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises." The Bible says that it is the Sun which moves, not the Earth. Psalm 104:5 says, "He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved." God says that the Sun moves, but God also says that the Earth can never be moved. It is obvious that God created the Earth at the center of the universe, and this is fully supported by real science, all the evidence of which is too voluminous to put in this comment; but you can check out the movie called "The Principle" which describes the scientific evidence in greater detail.
2018-03-15 23:18:52
Is It Possible to Reconcile Faith and Science? 4 Helpful Articles to Start the Conversation | Intersect
[…] Are Science and Theology Incompatible? Responses to 4 Common Claims […]
2018-03-15 23:20:23
Four Must-Read Articles about Faith and Science | Intersect
[…] Are Science and Theology Incompatible? Responses to 4 Common Claims […]
2021-03-03 09:39:03
6 Takeaways from âThe Goodness of Creation and Human Responsibilityâ | Intersect
[…] often we assume that faith and science are opposed to each other. Most of us especially donât know how reconcile our faith and the […]