Faith Versus Fact : Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible (9780698195516)

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Faith Versus Fact : Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible (9780698195516) Page 40

by Coyne, Jerry A.


  as testable claim, 107

  See also biblical literalism; evolution; intelligent design; theistic evolution

  Crick, Francis, 216

  criticality

  faith and, 82–86, 121

  in science, 26–27, 29, 34–35, 94

  See also doubt

  crows, 184

  cuckoo birds, 176

  culture. See learning; social entries

  Dalai Lama, 105–6

  D’Aleo, Joseph, 249

  Darrow, Clarence, 2

  Darwin, Charles, 81, 92, 118, 132, 154, 166–67

  On the Origin of Species, 2, 14, 33, 70, 154

  Darwin, Emma, 81

  Darwinism (Wallace), 183

  Davies, Paul, 205, 212

  Dawkins, Richard, xii, 21, 103, 208, 209–10

  Dawson, Charles, 223

  Day, Tracy, 20

  death, assisted, 243–45

  Death of Ivan Ilyich, The (Tolstoy), 191–92

  deism, 42, 99, 135

  Dembski, William, 54

  Demon-Haunted World, The (Sagan), 203

  Dennett, Daniel, xxii, 21, 98, 201

  Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, The (Darwin), 166–67

  determinism, 15–16

  Deus absconditus, 79–80

  disease and healing

  faith as solace for the terminally ill, 252–53

  faith healing and medical neglect, xviii, xix, 83, 108, 229–39, 262–63

  imputation of epidemics to God, 242–43

  miracle healings, 116–17

  religious suppression of science and, 217

  science’s advances and effectiveness, 206–7

  testing the efficacy of prayer, 115–16

  See also medicine

  disproof. See counterevidence; falsifiability

  DNA and DNA structure, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 36, 37

  Watson’s and Crick’s motivations for their work, 216

  See also genetics

  dogma, 1–2, 3–4, 25, 43, 66, 70–71

  See also religious claims

  doubt

  faith and, 38, 66, 68

  science and, 26–27, 34–35, 38, 65, 94

  See also certainty; uncertainty

  Doubting Thomas, 68

  Draper, John William, 3–4

  Earth

  age and origins of, 37, 146, 154, 245

  global-warming denialism, xix–xx, 245–50, 251

  inhospitability to humans, 164–65

  Ebola virus, 243

  Ecklund, Elaine, 100, 103

  ecological niches, 141–42

  economics, 40, 186, 187, 188, 199

  Edamaruku, Sanal, 122

  education

  abstinence-based, and sexually transmitted diseases, 242

  debates over the teaching of science, 2, 3–4, 5, 7, 11–12, 98, 103–4, 110, 134

  religiosity and, 12–13

  religious education, Templeton Foundation’s funding of, 20

  Ehrman, Bart, 62

  Einstein, Albert, 101, 102, 209, 218, 256–57

  See also relativity theory

  emotion(s)

  the arts and, 190–91, 193–94

  faith and, xv, 24, 44, 61–62

  nonbelief and, xxi, 102–3

  as subjective, 193–94, 195

  empathy, 169, 170, 171, 175, 191–92

  See also altruism

  End of Faith, The (Harris), 21

  End Times, 22, 164, 248, 249

  Englert, François, 36

  Enns, Peter, 130–31

  entropy, 164

  epidemics, 242–43

  Epiphany Prize, 20

  ethics. See morality; scientific ethics

  Eucharist, 61, 84

  eugenics, 107, 110, 152, 219, 221

  euthanasia, 243–45

  Euthyphro Argument, 189

  “Evangelical Declaration on Global Warming,” 248–49

  evidence

  absence of evidence as provisional disproof, 23, 66, 80, 95, 118, 202–4

  considering alternative explanations, 122–24

  evidence-based beliefs, xii, 181–82, 208

  evidence standards, 77, 83–86, 116–17, 121–23, 124

  faith as belief without evidence, xxi, 152, 259

  independent confirmation, 29, 121, 124, 186

  religious claims as empirical claims, 21–25, 49, 51, 66, 90–91

  science and, 9, 13, 30, 65

  yearning for evidence of religious claims, 152–53

  See also confirmation bias; counterevidence; falsifiability; replicability

  evil and suffering

  caused by misuses of science, 110–11, 152, 217–21

  theological explanations for, 16, 81, 147–49, 244

  See also religious harm

  evolution

  accommodationist statements about, 8–9, 98

  characteristics of, 33, 157

  as contingent process, 144–45

  convergences, 142–44, 171–72

  creationist critiques of, 32–33

  as cruel process, 134

  Dalai Lama’s critique of, 106

  debates over teaching of, 2, 5, 7, 98, 103–4, 134

  development of, 32

  implications of acceptance, 133–34

  as indeterminate process, 145–47

  mechanisms of, 133, 138, 139–40, 146–47

  Muslim belief and, 105, 134

  nonacceptance rates and reasons, xiii, xviii, 51, 59–61, 132, 245

  of prosocial animal behaviors, 171–72

  as scientific fact, 15, 31, 126

  seen as conspiracy, 35, 72

  theistic and natural-theological interpretations of, 60, 61, 66–67, 77–78, 154

  See also adaptation(s); creationism; human evolution; natural selection; theistic evolution

  evolutionary biology

  incompatibilities with religion, xiii, 7, 133–34, 135

  research funding, 18, 19–20

  See also science

  evolutionary psychology, 15, 167, 199

  exaptations, 182

  Exodus, 1, 72, 88

  exorcism, 237–38

  Expanding Circle, The (Singer), 174

  extinctions, 134, 139, 144–45, 147, 148, 246

  fact, 29, 44

  See also scientific knowledge; truth

  fairness, 169, 171, 172

  faith

  acquisition and foundations of, 65–66, 83–84

  authority and, 66, 68, 69–72, 209

  conflation of religious and secular notions of, 69, 207–8

  considering a world without faith, xxi–xxii, 250–56, 260–61

  as corrupting, 219–20, 225–26, 229, 231–32

  definitions and key features of, xv, 67, 152, 207–8, 225, 259

  doubt and, 38, 66, 68

  emotion and, xv, 24, 44, 61–62

  as essential to religion, 67–69

  as a failing, xxi, 260

  seen as basis of science, xix, 69, 152, 204–11

  seen as progenitor of science, xix, 151, 211–17

  seen as social good, xx, 98, 237, 253–54, 256

  as solace, xx, 252–54, 255

  See also religion entries

  Faith Assembly, 236

  faith-based healing, xviii, xix, 83, 108, 229–39, 262–63

  Fall. See Adam and Eve’s historicity; original sin

  false beliefs, 179–80, 182–83, 185

  See also doubt; faith; self-deception

  falsifiability and disproof, 30–31, 33–3
4, 65, 72, 188

  absence of evidence as provisional disproof, 23, 66, 80, 95, 118, 202–4

  mathematics and, 188

  proving a negative, 201–4

  unfalsifiability, 34

  See also counterevidence; replicability

  Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, 19, 129

  federal headship model (Adam and Eve story), 129–30

  federal science funding, 7, 18, 240

  Feynman, Richard, 28–29, 38, 189, 221

  Fibiger, Johannes, 30

  fideism, 68

  film, 190, 191

  Finding Darwin’s God (Miller), 102

  fine-tuning argument, xix, 21, 156, 159, 160–66, 227

  Fishman, Yonatan, 114

  Focus on the Family, 241–42

  Followers of Christ, 262, 263

  Folly of Fools, The: The Logic of Deceit and Self-Deception in Human Life (Trivers), 179–80

  Forrest, Barbara, 94–95

  Foundational Questions in Evolutionary Biology initiative, 19–20

  France, Anatole, 117

  Francis, Pope, 68–69, 122

  Frank, Neil, 249

  Freeman, Charles, 214

  free will, 15, 16, 130

  Frum cult, 22

  fundamentalism, xvii, 14, 16, 55, 88, 108, 110

  Galileo, 2, 4, 5, 215

  Galton, Francis, 115

  Garden of Eden. See Adam and Eve’s historicity

  genetic engineering, 224

  genetics

  genetic counterevidence for religious claims, 126–27, 131–32

  genetic drift, 139–40

  Lysenko and, 220–21

  See also DNA; mutations

  Giberson, Karl, 46, 74, 119–20, 204–5

  Gilkey, Langdon, 75

  Gingerich, Owen, 102

  global-warming denialism, xix–xx, 245–50, 251

  GMOs, 224

  God

  anthropomorphic perceptions of, 43, 47–49, 56, 63, 133

  as beyond description, 43–44, 49

  as interactive in the world, 22, 23

  personal connection to, 42

  as supernatural agent, 41, 42–43

  See also deism; God’s existence; theistic evolution

  God Delusion, The (Dawkins), 21

  God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Hitchens), 21

  “god of the gaps” arguments, xiii, 153, 154–56, 161, 178, 226–27

  See also natural theology

  God’s existence, 44–49

  as answer to unsolved questions (“god of the gaps” arguments), xiii, 153, 154–56, 161, 178, 226–27

  and NOMA argument, 111

  possibility of scientific evidence for, 23–24, 118–19, 203–4

  See also natural theology

  God: The Failed Hypothesis; How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist (Stenger), 21

  golden rice, 224

  Goldstein, Herbert, 101

  Gould, Stephen Jay, 6, 182

  on compatibility of science and religion, 99

  on human inevitability, 144–45

  NOMA thesis, xviii, 4, 64–65, 106–12, 226

  scientific fact defined, 31

  Gray, Asa, 81, 118

  Grayling, Anthony, 110, 149

  Greece, ancient, science in, 212, 213, 214

  Greene, Brian, 20

  Gyatso, Tenzin, Dalai Lama, 105–6

  Haack, Susan, 196–97

  Haidt, Jonathan, 62, 167–68

  Hamelin, L. R., 23–24

  Harris, Martin, 121

  Harris, Sam, xii, xxi, 21, 190, 260

  Hart, David Bentley, 49

  Harvard University’s Foundational Questions in Evolutionary Biology initiative, 19–20

  Haught, John, 73–74, 79, 111, 135, 147–48, 206

  health and disease. See disease and healing; medicine

  hell, 54, 58, 71, 87, 88

  See also afterlife

  Henry, Fred, 242

  heresy, 58, 70, 72, 85, 214, 215

  Higgs, Peter, 36

  Higgs boson, 36, 39, 205, 209

  Hinduism, 22, 84, 105, 108

  Hindutva, 105

  Hippocrates of Cos, 155

  history, 32, 39, 40, 186, 187, 198–99

  history of religion scholarship, 257–58

  History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science (Draper), 3, 4

  History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, A (White), 3–4

  Hitchens, Christopher, 21, 23, 91, 166, 253

  Holocaust denial, 187

  homeopathy, 89, 96, 113, 236

  Homo divinus explanation (Adam and Eve story), 129–30

  HPV vaccine, 241–42

  Hubbard, L. Ron, 82

  Hubble, Edwin, 28

  Huff, Toby, 214

  human dispersal, 127

  Native American origins, 131–32

  human evolution, 126–27, 131–34, 140–47

  inevitability of, 140–47, 156, 157, 226

  morality and, 15, 134, 166–68, 170–76

  time required for, and anthropic principle, 165–66

  See also Adam and Eve’s historicity; creationism; evolution entries; human inevitability; theistic evolution

  human exceptionalism, 54, 59, 132–35, 183–86, 243

  Humani Generis, 55–56, 71, 128–29, 133

  human inevitability, 140–47, 156, 157, 226

  anthropic principle (fine-tuning argument), xix, 21, 156, 159, 160–66, 227

  humanities. See arts and humanities

  human papillomavirus vaccine, 241–42

  Hume, David, 121–22, 124, 154

  Humphrey, Nicholas, 152

  Hutchinson, Ian, 111, 120–21, 196, 200, 212, 213

  hydrodynamic sorting hypothesis, 104

  ID. See intelligent design

  Ignatius Loyola, Saint, 68

  Ikiru (film), 190, 191

  Immaculate Conception, 87

  immorality. See evil and suffering; morality

  immunizations, xix, 5, 217, 235–36, 241–42

  income inequality, 255–56

  Index Librorum Prohibitorum, 87, 215–16

  indigenous science, 40

  Ingersoll, Robert Green, 97, 152, 155, 225

  integrative medicine, 238–39

  intelligence, 139, 143, 144

  in other animals, 184–85

  superfluous, as argument for God’s existence, 134, 183–86

  See also consciousness; reason

  intelligent design (ID), 14–15, 109, 136, 154–55, 248–49

  Irenaeus, 126

  Isaacson, Walter, 101

  Islam, xvi, 22, 83

  apostasy and, 85, 251–52

  and human origins/evolution, 56, 105, 134

  Muslim accommodationism, 75, 105

  opposition to assisted dying, 245

  opposition to vaccination, 235–36

  Quranic literalism, 53, 58, 75, 76, 106

  sectarian strife, 85, 220, 252

  sharia law, 251–52

  Islamic science, 212, 214, 215

  Jacoby, Susan, 201–2

  Jainism, xvi, 42

  James, William, 42, 44, 118, 195

  Jardin d’Épicure, Le (France), 117

  Jehovah’s Witnesses, 47–48, 84, 232

  Jesus Christ, 62, 84, 124, 259

  and Adam and Eve’s historicity, 125–26, 128

  Eucharist, 61, 84

  literal belief in, 52, 59, 60

  Shroud of Turin, 122

  See also Resurrection


  Jesus Seminar, 123–24

  Jews, persecution of, 220

  Job story, 54, 77

  John Paul II, Pope, 103, 136–37, 244

  Jonah story, 54, 124

  Judaism, xvi, 22, 56

  justificationism, 206

  Kahan, Dan, 246–47

  Kant, Immanuel, 110, 154

  karma, 22, 41, 106

  Kass, Leon, 197

  Katme, A. Majid, 235–36

  Kaufmann, Walter, 30, 67, 207–8

  Kieran, Matthew, 192

  Kierkegaard, Søren, 68

  King, Ashley, 230–31

  King, Catherine, 230–31, 236

  King, John, 230–31, 236

  Kitcher, Philip, xxii, 86

  knowledge

  defined, 186

  mathematical or philosophical, 188–89, 198

  See also scientific knowledge; truth; ways of knowing

  Kurosawa, Akira, Ikiru, 190, 191

  Laestadianism, 84

  Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste, 185

  Language of God, The: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (Collins), 185

  Laplace, Pierre-Simon, 92, 149

  law

  assisted dying, 243, 245

  religious privileging and exemptions, xviii, 231, 234–36, 242, 263

  sharia law, 251–52

  stem cell research bans, 240

  laws of nature. See physical laws

  learning

  beliefs and, 181–82

  morality and, 170–71, 172, 176, 181

  Letter to a Christian Nation (Harris), 21

  Lewontin, Richard, 26, 92–93

  liberal theology, xvii, 16, 44, 49, 75, 113, 129

  See also specific theologians

  liberation theology, 87

  Liberia, Ebola in, 243

  life, origins of, 37, 146, 156, 157

  Life After Faith: The Case for Secular Humanism (Kitcher), xxii

  Life’s Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe (Conway Morris), 142–43

  linguistics, 39, 187, 199

  Linker, Damon, 168, 175

  literalism. See scriptural literalism

  literature, 190–93

  Livingstone, David, 56

  Long, Elizabeth, 103

  Lotfus, John, 85–86

  Lovett, Ryan, 236

  Lovett, Tamara, 236

  Luhrmann, Tanya, 62

  Luther, Martin, 69, 70, 72, 215

  Lutheranism, 70

  Laestadianism, 84

  lyrebirds, 184

  Lysenko affair, 220–21

  McKown, Delos, 80

  marsupials, 142, 143, 149

  Marx, Karl, 256

  materialism, 91

  mathematics, xii, 156, 158, 159, 184, 188, 198

  Mécanique Céleste (Laplace), 92

  medical neglect, xix, 229–39

  harm to adults, 233, 236

  harm to children, xix, 230–34, 236, 237, 262–63

 

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