The Mirage of Conflict between Science and Religion

The claim is often heard that science and religion are in irreconcilable conflict. However, when the essence of science and the essence of religion are examined more closely, this viewpoint may appear as simply a mirage. The first and vital step in this investigation is to understand that only physics (including astronomy, chemistry and molecular biology) qualifies as exact science. In this book the author, Stanley L. Jaki,explains how this is so, and then explores what physicists themselves have claimed physics to be. Next he considers what these physicists have said as philosophers regarding physics, and after that shows what their investigations of the history of physics have revealed. The result is that the function of numbers is seen as the determinant factor in the nature of physics. If such is the case, and as long as religion is viewed as a set of propositions which are not subject to measurement, which numbers make possible, then a conflict between religion and exact science can only be a mirage. A chapter on the ideologies grafted onto physics provides further information on this crucial point. The next to last chapter deals with the inclement climate of opinion that prevents a fair consideration of these points. The last chapter gives a concrete analysis of some cases that often come up in debates regarding science and religion.