Butterflies and Wheels » Ophelia Benson

In the European Enlightenment, the belief was that science and reason
would soon sweep myth and magic into oblivion. For some, myth included
religion while others operated in terms of some variant of Deism or even
Theism, believing that there was an unknown power beyond what was known and
knowable to humans. In fact, many scientists, then and now, could fully
exercise their religious convictions and interpret them in such a way as
not to allow them to interfere with scientific understanding. For those for
whom there was no conflict between science and religion, it was because
particular statements or religious beliefs about the way the things work
always gave way to emerging facts and theories of scientific inquiry.
Science … Read the rest

Posted in Articles

Like an Anglican Clergyman From Central Casting

Jun 17th, 2005 7:40 pm | By Ophelia Benson

Well, that’s one way of looking at it.

The story of science and religion since the Middle Ages has been one of estrangement rather than conflict. When the Aristotelian synthesis shattered, science and theology drifted apart, becoming at last disconnected universes of discourse.

Quite a good way, if you want to avoid talking about some obvious inconvenient facts. Quite handy to pretend that science and religion are just two ‘universes of discourse’ as opposed to two fundamentally different enterprises. Shifty, though. For one thing, how did we get from science and religion in the first sentence to science and theology in the second? Shifty, shifty. But the crucial move of course is to call science a universe of discourse.… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 5 comments

Theological Thickness

Jun 17th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson

Christian theology has its own sources, insights, methods, and internal logic.… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News

Evangelical Bullying at Air Force Academy

Jun 17th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson

‘Focus on the Family’ across the street, New Life church up the hill.… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News

Public Relations Disaster for Pakistan

Jun 17th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson

Perhaps the work of ‘more loyal than the king brigade’ around Musharraf.… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News

Mill and Russell Speak Up

Jun 16th, 2005 8:45 pm | By Ophelia Benson

And while we’re on the subject of ‘Intelligent Design’ and the people at the ‘Discovery Institute’ and so on – I just feel like aiming another kick at the design argument. I know I’ve done it before, I’m repeating myself, but – but I’m not sure they get shouted at enough about this.

Okay their big thing is ‘_____ is too complex to have come about without a designer. _____ is irreducibly complex, so a designer must have designed it, because otherwise it wouldn’t be there, being so complex and all.’ Complex things can’t just happen. A hurricane can’t whip through a junkyard and leave a 777 behind. An inebriated chimpanzee can’t shred a pile of old newspapers and end … Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 7 comments

Bad Astronomy Speaks Out

Jun 16th, 2005 7:02 pm | By Ophelia Benson

Okay – so apparently you’re not sick of the sound of my voice even if I am. (Well you wouldn’t be, would you – because if you were, you wouldn’t be here. Unless you’re all a pack of masochists who go out of your way to read stuff that you’re sick of. But that’s not likely either, because in fact if you’re masochistic and want to read stuff you’re sick of, you can find plenty of stuff you’re sicker of than you are of me. I’m quietly confident of that. Really. I happen to know [this is a little-known fact, but I’ll make you a present of it] that there is quite a lot of boring stuff on the Internet, … Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 5 comments