Science and Religion: Are They Compatible?

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 368 pages
• Published by: Prometheus Books April 2003
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1591020646
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1591020646
• Book Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Weighs: 1.1 pounds

From Publishers Weekly
Over the past two decades, science and religion have been seeking common ground through ongoing dialogue. The contributors to this volume provide a dimension to the conversation that has seldom been heard. Most of these essays originated as papers delivered at a 2001 conference in Atlanta sponsored by the Center for Inquiry, which is committed to the use of science and reason to conduct free inquiry into all areas of human interest. The very simple thesis of the collection is that science and religion can never be compatible. Rich and suggestive essays by such well-known thinkers as Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins and Arthur C. Clarke range over topics from intelligent design to sociobiology and creationism. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg opens the book by declaring that a dialogue between science and religion cannot be constructive, for science has made it possible for people to be not religious. Botanist Massimo Pigliucci argues that the newly popular theory of intelligent design is a kind of "neocreationism" trying to get into public school curricula by the back door. Finally, philosopher and editor Kurtz (Skeptical Odysseys, etc.) contends that science and religion are minimally compatible, for where science has provided an understanding of the vast and mysterious cosmos, religion is "dramatic existentialist poetry," a product of humankind's creative imagination designed to overcome fear and uncertainty with hope and love. Although some will dismiss most of the essays as arrogant and contentious, they nevertheless present important and provocative voices too often drowned out by the move to assert complete compatibility between science and religion.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Review
"provocative" -- Science & Theology News, November 2004

"reader-friendlyprovide[s] diversified views on topics of much interest today." -- Albuquerque Journal, June 29, 2003

"this collection is timely, and welcome." -- Skeptical Inquirer, March/April 2004

"An enjoyable buffet for interested readers. . . Recommended." -- Choice, November 2003

"Every possible argument about this question seems to be herestimulating and possibly subversive to some." -- New Scientist

"This is strong stuffAn important counterweight to the accommodationism that has dominated recent discourse." -- Times Literary Supplement, August 1, 2003

"will appeal to anyone with even a passing interest in the roles of science and religion in the modern world." -- Freethinker (UK)

"…provides a wide ranging overview of a complex and challenging topic of interest to many." -- Australian Humanist, Summer 2003

Reader Reviews
Science and religion are NOT "Nonoverlapping Magisteria." Religion does make claims that science can neither rebut nor even investigate. But it also makes claims that can be and have been disproven. Either the transportation of a Catholic saint/goddess directly to the sky without passing GO and without collecting $200 was a verifiable fact of history, or it did not happen. The dogma that a god played a role in the origin of the universe is religion, and as such is not subject to scientific investigation. The claim that the universe is less than ten thousand years old has nothing to do with religion. It is bad science. But dogmatic religion is one thing. The belief that the universe was intelligently designed, but not necessarily by the god of religion, is something else. Arguments for Intelligent Design are presented by believers, and rebutted by scientists. Why is belief in religion so much higher among the less educated, and so much lower among natural scientists? More than one author offers a credible answer. Other books have considered the question of whether science and religion are compatible, but never so effectively. While "Science and Religion" will not cure incurables, it will give the pragmatically religious something to think about. Buy it or borrow it, but read it.