Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters where we are diving into the ocean of truth! Lately, we’ve been going through a methodical step by step look at the relationship between science and religion. Last night, I raised the question of why is it that science can change in its views but religion doesn’t seem to? Today, we will look at that question.
Now when a person is wrong about something, be it either a scientist or a religious person or some combination thereof as the two are not mutually exclusive, I think we should be proud of that. It takes humility to do such. However, it has often been said that science can admit its mistakes and can change with the time. Religion, which of course is Christianity, has not changed in 2,000 years.
In a sense, this is correct. We still hold to the same beliefs that have been held by all orthodox Christians for centuries. Surely if religion was something that was developing, we would see some sort of change in this. Why is it that Christianity is still stuck in the past?
A similar “problem” can be found in philosophy. We would grant that some new ideas have come about in philosophy, but in many ways, it is still Plato vs. Aristotle and it is taught by new people. The laws of logic have not changed in thousands of years. There are still people that believe in Platonic forms. We still cite these two names as authorities, and rightfully so.
Philosophy is the study of ideas and truth. These can exist independently of matter, much like in the case of mathematics. Theology is the study of the most noble of all ideas, God, and Christianity has for centuries held to his immutability. (I am aware there are some today that question this along with ideas such as God’s omniscience. I am defending the classical view however) He never changes.
Science, on the other hand, is the study of matter and matter is always changing. Whatever you are looking at is changing in some way. As I write this, my body is undergoing change and it will be different when I finished than from when I started. There are also hard questions about what is being studied. For instance, what is a cat? All cats look different, and yet somehow, we recognize a cat when we see one. What makes a cat a cat? There’s even a difficulty understanding what matter itself is.
Science also since it relies on the material world depends on the technology of the material world. It would be useless to ask Newton what the half-life of Uranium was. He’d have no idea. It would be ridiculous to ask Galen what he’d do about bacteria. He wouldn’t know what you were talking about. It’s not because these people were foolish. They were great geniuses in their time! It’s because the information to ask the question wasn’t there any more than it would make sense to ask Lincoln who would be president in 2012.
Since new discoveries are being made as we are seeing new things, we can expect there to be change. In theology on the other hand, you have build-up on the old. Everyone examines the old ideas the most. Many a scientist can understand Newton’s or Einstein’s ideas without having to read them. If you want to know medicine, there is no necessity to read Galen. If you want to know Christianity, it is quite helpful to read the Bible. If you want to know philosophy, it benefits you to read Plato and Aristotle. For science, it’s most beneficial to read the latest articles that are published in science journals.
None of this is to fault any field of learning. Theology is the best field we have for learning about God. Philosophy is the best field we have for learning about ideas. Science is the best field that we have for learning about the material world. The problem comes when we say that one should work by the same principles.
Thus, we should not expect much change in religion but simply refinement. Someone may come up with a new idea sometime, but seeing as we’ve studied the same unchanging subject for 2,000 years, it is highly unlikely that this will happen. We will refine our understanding instead of what has always been held, and that’s fine.
For science, we should expect new and improved since it deals with and depends on the material world entirely. If we have an error in our understanding in any field, we should admit it, but we should also admit there’s a reason science is changing constantly and religion is not.
But the two have often had crossroads in history haven’t they?
We can discuss that tomorrow.
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