{"id":6485,"date":"2010-07-03T12:17:52","date_gmt":"2010-07-03T12:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2010\/07\/saturday-afternoon-book-review-20.html"},"modified":"2010-07-03T12:17:52","modified_gmt":"2010-07-03T12:17:52","slug":"saturday-afternoon-book-review-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/07\/saturday-afternoon-book-review-20.html","title":{"rendered":"Saturday Afternoon Book Review: Justin Topp"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Library.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>
<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n


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<\/em><\/div>\n
Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
Edited by Ronald L. Numbers<\/p>\n

Harvard University Press ISBN 978-0674033276<\/p><\/div>\n

Reviewed by Justin Topp, Ph.D.<\/div>\n
Assistant Professor of Biology<\/div>\n
North Park University<\/div>\n
Blog:http:\/\/scienceandtheology.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/a>Twitter: JustinTopp<\/p>\n

Science and religion are incompatible.  <\/span>It’s either one or the other.  <\/span>Everyone knows this.  <\/span>Which one do you choose?  <\/span>If you’re educated<\/i>, it is clear that science has enabled us to do away with the cancer that is religion, which only arose because of the primitive understanding of the world by our ancestors.  <\/span>We are now enlightened<\/i> and can move on without all that religious nonsense.  <\/span>Wait a minute you say, it’s science that is the enemy.  <\/span>Religion provides us with absolute<\/i> truth.  <\/span>Science is just the work of atheists who are trying to do without God so they can live their amoral hedonistic lives.  <\/span>It’s Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris vs. Henry Morris (okay, well, his son) and Ken Ham.  <\/span>It’s Bill Maher vs. Ben Stein and Kirk Cameron.  <\/span>The future of our children is at stake.  <\/span>Which side will you be on?   <\/span><\/p>\n

Readers of this blog will likely be laughing or at least smirking after reading that deliberately over-the-top and clearly sarcastic paragraph about science and religion.  <\/span>But hyperbole does not equate with fiction and there are many who believe that science and religion are truly enemies.  <\/span>It is the fault of both the fundamentalist religious adherents and the atheists, as this warfare model of science and religion would not exist without both sides believing that war was necessary and inevitable. The mainstream media and popular books like New York Times Bestseller “The God Delusion” only serve to add fuel to the fire. <\/span><\/p>\n

Have science and religion always been at war?<\/b>  <\/b><\/span>Or has this war, like many real wars in history, been created for a purpose that has been hidden from the general public?<\/b> <\/b> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths About Science and
\nReligion is a volume of 25 essays edited by Ronald L. Numbers, who is the Hilldale
\nProfessor of the History of Science and Medicine at the University of
\nWisconsin-Madison.  <\/span>Numbers is the
\nauthor or editor of more than 20 books on the history of science, medicine, and
\nreligion in America.  <\/span>In addition
\nto Numbers, this book ???sports an impressive array and diversity of
\nauthors.  <\/span>There are professors with
\nappointments in areas including Science and Religion, History, English, Social
\nSciences, Geography, Chemistry, Philosophy, History of Science, Philosophy,
\nArts, and the Humanities.<\/p>\n

 <\/span>Galileo Goes to Jail was written specifically to dispel
\ncommon myths about science and religion that originated primarily as the result
\nof two works from the late 1800s. 
\n<\/span>These two books “The Battle-Fields of Science”, written by Andrew
\nDickson White in 1869, and “History of the Conflict between Religion and
\nScience”, written by John William Draper in 1874, served to promote the now
\ncommonly held warfare model of science and religion.  <\/span>And in this war… science would hopefully and finally
\novercome the shackles of religion and win.   <\/span>According to Numbers, however, “Historians of science
\nhave known for years that White’s and Draper’s accounts are more propaganda
\nthan history.”  <\/span>It is apparent that
\ntheir works are written to present an attack against revealed religion and its
\napparent “control” over ideas, progress, and culture.  <\/span>The story behind White’s and Draper’s reasons for these
\nattacks is quite interesting in its own regard and is presented by Numbers in
\nthe introduction to the book. 
\n<\/span>Thus, one could say that the science and religion warfare model was the
\nresult at least in part of manufacturing by White and Draper.<\/p>\n

But the general public does not know this.  <\/span>And this warfare model is now ingrained
\nin popular culture.<\/p>\n

Numbers contrasts the propaganda of the “master mythmakers”
\nWhite and Draper with the authors of Galileo Goes to Jail who “have no obvious
\nscientific or theological axes to grind”. 
\n<\/span>According to Numbers, 12 of the 25 contributors self-identify as
\nagnostic or atheist and thus are not writing this book as an attack against
\natheism.  <\/span>Instead, they are writing
\nit because of the poor research and clear agenda that they see in White and Draper.  <\/span>Their goal is a more accurate view of
\nthe history of science and religion. 
\n<\/span>To do that, they must bust the myths that have largely developed as the
\nresult of White’s and Draper’s influential work. <\/span><\/p>\n

The myths debunked range from “big” ones that many are
\nlikely already familiar with: that Galileo was imprisoned and tortured for
\nadvocating Copernicanism (Ch. 8), that the scientific revolution liberated
\nscience from religion (Ch. 10), that Isaac Newton’s mechanistic cosmology
\neliminated the need for God (Ch. 13), that evolution destroyed Darwin’s faith
\nin Christianity – until he reconverted on his deathbed (Ch. 16), that Huxley
\ndefeated Wilberforce in their debate over evolution and religion (Ch. 16), that
\nEinstein believed in a personal God (Ch. 21) to myths that seem rather
\ninsignificant to me in the larger science and religion discussion: that the
\nmedieval church prohibited human dissection (Ch. 5) and that the Church
\ndenounced anesthesia in childbirth on Biblical grounds (Ch. 14).  <\/span>Lest it seem that religion “won” the
\nbattle (in this book), there is also a chapter on the myth that Christianity
\ngave birth to modern science (Ch. 9). 
\n<\/span>Lastly, and most relevant today are the final three myths of the book:
\nthat “Intelligent Design” represents a scientific challenge to evolution (Ch.
\n23), that Creationism is a uniquely American phenomenon (Ch. 24), and that
\nmodern science has secularized Western culture (Ch. 25).<\/p>\n

This book clearly succeeds in the aim to show the reader
\nthat the warfare model of science and religion does not provide an accurate
\nview of the history of science and religion.  <\/span>While the chapters are not all created equally and readers
\nmay feel that some myths have not been sufficiently debunked (Ch. 25 to this
\nreader), taken as a whole the history of science and religion is not one that
\nis littered with battle scenes and mass casualties.  <\/span>The war between science and religion was manufactured (and
\nfairly recently).  <\/span>That is not to
\nsay that there have not been dustups historically, but the idea that science
\nand religion have always<\/i> been at
\nconflict is simply not true.<\/p>\n

I really enjoyed reading this book.  <\/span>So much writing in the science and
\nreligion field is polemical; this book exhibits strong scholarship and the
\npresentation feels objective and detached.  <\/span>These authors believe history shows that science and
\nreligion have not been at the constant and perpetual war that is presented to
\nthe public.  <\/span>Even so, the
\ncontributors were fair to point out counter-evidence to their myth claims when applicable.  <\/span>This book was well researched.  <\/span>While this book is certainly academic,
\nit should be accessible to a broader audience with the expectation that a book
\nwith contributions from 25 individuals will vary in ease of read. This book is highly<\/i> recommended to all with an
\ninterest in science and religion or the history of science. <\/span><\/p>\n

Can the findings of this book speak to the interaction of
\nscience and religion in present day? 
\n<\/span>If so, how? <\/span><\/p>\n

First, proponents of the warfare model cannot simply say,
\n“it’s always been that way.”  <\/span>It
\ntakes a very narrow and incorrect view of history to make that statement.   <\/span>This is a recent phenomenon.  <\/span>What then are the reasons that have led
\nmany to put science against religion? 
\n<\/span>It should be noted that just because there is not a history to the
\nwarfare model of science and religion it doesn’t mean that the model should
\nautomatically be discredited.  <\/span>This
\nbook is not arguing for that.  <\/span>It
\nis instead saying that the historical relationship between science and religion
\nis much more nuanced and complex.<\/p>\n

Second, I would argue that it would be beneficial then to
\nlook at how the interaction of science and religion has actually<\/i> been modeled throughout history.  <\/span>If the simple model of warfare is incorrect, then what are
\nsome other possibilities?<\/p>\n

Third, perhaps it is time to look at constructing some new models.  <\/span>Evolution, the great unifying theory of
\nbiology, has made a profound impact not only on the myriad subdisciplines of
\nbiology, but also other areas such as psychology, cognition, and sociobiology
\n(just to name a few).  <\/span>Perhaps it
\nis time for religion to take it seriously as well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion Edited by Ronald L. 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