'A Day Without Yesterday': Georges Lemaitre & the Big Bang thanx to Mark Midbon (see "Romanum Ecclesiam")

J. Robert Oppenheimer has said that Christianity was needed to give birth to modern science. Alfred North Whitehead stressed the same thing. Christianity was necessary for the beginning of modern science for the the beginning of modern science for the simple reason that Christianity created a climate of thought which put men in a position to investigate the form of the universe. (Francis A. Schaeffer) See Christianity gave rise to modern science?

In 1962, Oppenheimer wrote an article on "Science and Culture" for the journal "Encounter" and Alfred North Whitehead gave a presentation at the Harvard University Lowell Lectures entitled "Science and the Modern World." Whitehead said that Christianity is the mother of science because "of the medieval insistence on the rationality of God." This conception was indirectly from Aristotle, via the rationalism of Islamo-Judaic Spain, but that is not the essential point. What is important is the axiom that God makes sense, and can be interpreted using human reason, intelligence, and logic. Please see building blocks of science : antecedents

Whitehead noted that because of this belief, the founders of science had an "inexpugnable belief that every detailed occurrence can be correlated with its antecedents in a perfectly definite manner. exemplifying general principles. Without this belief the incredible labors of scientists would be without hope." As Whitehead noted, the Christian thought form of the early scientists gave them "the faith in the possibility of science." See more: Bumbulis

Robert K. Merton

The Merton Thesis is an argument about the nature of early experimental science proposed by Robert K. Merton. Similar to Max Weber's famous claim on the link between Protestant ethic and the capitalist economy, Merton argued for a similar positive correlation between the rise of Protestant Pietism and early experimental science. (cf Robert K. Merton - Pietism)

Forbidden Math :: keeping it out of Wunderwaffe hands

Eric V. Snow writes

The Merton thesis sees certain seventeenth-century Puritan moral values as encouraging scientific work. Merton lists various values that promoted science among Puritan Englishmen. First, a Christian was to glorify God and serve Him through doing activities of utility to the community as a whole, not the contemplative, monastic ideal of withdrawal from the community that characterized much of Medieval Christendom. By emphasizing a vocation, again something collectively useful to the community, Puritanism encouraged diligence, industry, and hard work. Consequently, the individual chooses the vocation that best suits his abilities. Reason and education were both praised in this context. Education, however, was to be practical and not highly literary in content. The scientific method needs both an empiricist ("practical") and rationalist ("theoretical") approach to gaining knowledge to work properly, which is an issue Jaki repeatedly returns to. Puritanism provided both while promoting empiricism by encouraging the search for the knowledge needed to serve one's calling (i.e., "career") and to be useful to the community as a whole.

See: Science and the modern world : Galileo - definitely "Outside the Box"

English Puritan Scientists

It's easy to document the religious values and beliefs of many English scientists of this period. John Ray (1627-1705), the great biologist, told a friend that time spent investigating nature was well used: "What time you have to spare you will do well to spend, as you are doing, in the inquisition and contemplation of the works of God and nature." Forty-two of the 68 founding members of the Royal Society (England's premier scientific organization) for which their religious background is known were Puritans. Since the English population was mostly mainstream Anglican in belief, the high proportion of Puritans in it implies their values encouraged scientific endeavors. Sir Robert Moray, Sir William Petty, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, John Wallis, and Jonathan Goddard were all prominent leaders of the Royal Society -- and all Puritans. (LINK: of possible interest)

See Unleash the divine receptivity Within - your own soul is ready (Thomas Merton)

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Quakers: "Aberrant puritans"

A cult-like off-branch of Puritans, the Religious Society of Friends (commonly known as Quakers or "RSF") even further encouraged some values which may have been conducive to encouraging scientific talents. A theory suggested by David Hackett Fischer in his book Albion's Seed indicated early Quakers in the US preferred "practical study" to the more traditional studies of Greek or Latin popular with the elite. Another theory suggests their avoidance of dogma or clergy gave them a greater flexibility in response to science and inductive perception. The prohibition on, or discouragement of images indirectly pointed them toward math, abstraction, empiricism. More: See Quakers and Jews: Science, Math and the Modern Inquiry

Despite those arguments a major factor is agreed to be that the Quakers were initially legally discouraged or forbidden (offically, by the Crown) from entering the major law or humanities schools in Britain due to the Test Act. They also at times faced similar discriminations in the United States, as many of the colonial universities had a Puritan or Anglican orientation. This led them to attend "Godless" institutions or forced them to rely on hands-on scientific experimentation rather than academia. See Godless : non-theist spirituality

Because of these issues it has been stated Quakers are better represented in science than most religions. There are sources, Pendlehill (Thomas 2000) and Encyclopædia Britannica, that indicate that for over two centuries they were overrepresented in the Royal Society. Mention is made of this possibility in studies referenced in religiosity and intelligence and in a book by Arthur Raistrick. Whether this is still accurate, there have been a considerable number of noteworthy members of this denomination (RSF) in science. See Those Trouble-making Quakers

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See Quakers, Jews and Science : Geoffrey Cantor charts the participation of Quakers and Jews in many different aspects of science: scientific research etc

See From Spinoza to Einstein : Galileo unlocked empiricism, then Einstein showed us we have to learn how to use a neglected muscle: our IMAGINATION.

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etsi deus non daretur

Great Evangelical who battled "Secular Humanism"

Francis A. Schaeffer confronts "The Placebo God."

Julian Huxley, an atheist, says that somehow or other, against all that one might expect, a human being functions better if he acts as though God is there. Schaeffer goes on to reflect: This sounds like a feasible solution for a moment, the kind of answer a computer might give if you fed the sociological data into it. God is dead, but act as if he were alive. However, a moment's reflection will show what a terrible solution this is. Ibsen, the Norwegian, put it like this: if you take away a man's lie, you take away his hope. (The God Who is There)

Gwyneth Paltrow

walks the walk

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Promote then, as an object of primary importance,
Institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge

[George Washington]