Scientific Facts vs. Religious Beliefs

A video in two parts by the Richard Dawkins Foundation, entitled The Four Horsemen; this is a discussion of the intolerance, the antagonism and total lack of capacity for rational debate shown by members of religions towards atheism, evolution, science and scientists. The Four Horsemen of the title, who appear in the video, have all written and published books relating to the topics of the discussion. They are Richard Dawkins (seated center-right), author of "The God Delusion"; Daniel C. Dennet (center-left), who wrote "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon"; Sam Harris (on the right) of "The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason"; and Christopher Hichens, author of "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything".

Part 1


Part 2


A stranglehold on Western thought and philosophy throughout the major part of the last two milennia originated when, in the year 313, Christianity was decreed by the emperor Constantine I in his "Edict of Milan" to be the official religion of the Roman empire and thus it became embedded in political power structures. When the Roman empire broke up, the subsequent national or state governments continued to follow to some extent the late Roman model, retaining Christianity's role of dictating what should and should not be believed. Philip Schaf, a 19th. century theologian, in Chapter 1 of his "History of the Christian Church" puts it thus:

" Constantine, the first Christian Caesar, the founder of Constantinople and the Byzantine empire, and one of the most gifted, energetic, and successful of the Roman emperors, was the first representative of the imposing idea of a Christian theocracy, or of that system of policy which assumes all subjects to be Christians, connects civil and religious rights, and regards church and state as the two arms of one and the same divine government on earth. This idea was more fully developed by his successors, it animated the whole middle age, and is yet working under various forms in these latest times; though it has never been fully realized, whether in the Byzantine, the German, or the Russian empire, the Roman church-state, the Calvinistic republic of Geneva, or the early Puritanic colonies of New England. At the same time, however, Constantine stands also as the type of an undiscriminating and harmful conjunction of Christianity with politics, of the holy symbol of peace with the horrors of war, of the spiritual interests of the kingdom of heaven with the earthly interests of the state."

From such a position of dominance Christianity has been able to dictate its "truth", to manipulate peoples into whatever forms of belief the religion required and to enforce compliance with all rigor. During the following seventeen hundred years or so, despite the occasional hiatuses of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and Newton, among others, and although split into variations of belief (each of which claiming to be the owners of the real "truth"), the pervasive observance of Christian beliefs, mores and ethos embedded in the different political power structures, has served as a useful tool for the political establishments of each succeeding age for manipulating and molding the beliefs and behavior of the general population.

The place of Christianity within political power was brought to the North American colonies by different Christian extremist groups seeking a place to establish their particular version of the "truth" without conflict with other similar claimants of the "real truth". When the United Sates was founded, the problem of which version of the Christian "truth" should prevail was solved by proclaiming a nominal separation between "church" and the state, thus neither version was officially recognized.

However, the omnipresent religious influence is evident even at the present time. A deity is officially acknowledged by law in the United States - some examples of this are: the oath of allegiance proclaiming "one Nation, under God"; "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency (occurred in the '50s); and in the U.S. judicial system all evidence is given under the oath "..So Help Me God". And, as an extreme example of such religious influence, even in supposedly "godless" Nazi Germany the oath of obedience to Adolf Hitler began with "I swear by God this sacred oath.....etc."

In trying to bring about recognition and acceptance by society in general of the validity of the evidence of scientific discoveries as opposed to irrational creationist belief, science is up against the all-pervading influence of Christianity that is present at all levels of human society in the Western world from the cradle to the grave.

Accumulated over so many centuries, that influence is woven into Western languages, customs, laws, dress, social organization, systems and content of education, etc. etc. Therefore when science questions the validity of Christianity it is no surprise that it causes unthinking, irrational reactions, even from people who have only a nominal, non-practicing religious belief. Others that have their own brand of deity, such as the Jewish and Islamic religions, are perhaps even more vehement in their irrationality and enmity towards scientific evidence and atheistic argument.

In my view, the discussion featured in the video - although useful as an exposure of the problems and attitudes that the participants as scientists and atheists have come up against in their efforts to counter religious beliefs with scientific facts - underlines the reality that efforts to convince believers in religions of the validity of the evidence from scientific discovery are quixotic, an unfruitful "tilting at windmills" to no avail. As the poet said "....East is East and West is West and ne'er the twain shall meet". Reason and irrational "belief" are irreconcilable.

It is probable that in the Western world only after several generations into the future will its several forms of religion have become as unimportant, disreputable and irrelevant, for example, as astrology is today. However, such a sea-change could only come about through a qualitative transformation of the teaching of science within all education systems. I think that if such changes in education occur and meanwhile the atheists "let sleeping dogs lie", the widening scope and accumulative weight of scientific discovery and evidence will overwhelm and convince, in the long run, the nominal believers in religion who at present are the majority of the population.

Another ray of hope is the possibility that the growing realization, at present trickling down to most levels of society, of the perils of global warming will open up for science a breach in the walls of creationism and blind religious faith that could lead to a greater realization of the validity of scientific facts regarding planet Earth and all life contained in it.