Evaluating Warfare Myths about Science and Christianity and How These Myths Promote Scientism

Many people assume that there has been ceaseless conflict between science and Christianity. I argue that the real conflict has been between scientism and religion. Scientism is the view that only the sciences generate knowledge or rational belief. Scientism, as typically articulated, entails the opi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Religions
Main Author: Keas, Michael N. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: MDPI [2021]
In: Religions
Further subjects:B Scientism
B Medieval
B Myth
B Science and religion
B spiritual atheism
B theoretical virtues
B Christianity
B Early Modern
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Summary:Many people assume that there has been ceaseless conflict between science and Christianity. I argue that the real conflict has been between scientism and religion. Scientism is the view that only the sciences generate knowledge or rational belief. Scientism, as typically articulated, entails the opinion that reliable belief about divinity (theological realism) is impossible. I debunk four historic science-Christianity conflict myths and show how they have promoted scientism. These four science-religion myths function as part of a larger warfare narrative about science and Christianity. This misleading warfare thesis often comes packaged with an alternative anti-theistic “myth” in the anthropological sense—in this case, a worldview-shaping narrative that awakens the imagination to interpret the world in scientistic and non-theistic ways. I call this the scientistic warfare myth and explore its major flaws.
ISSN:2077-1444
Contains:Enthalten in: Religions
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.3390/rel12020132