Letter to an Atheist by Michael Patrick Leahy

False Statement # 16

The success of science often comes at the expense of religious dogma; the maintenance of religious dogma always comes at the expense of science (Page 63)

The success of science often comes at the expense of religious dogma; the maintenance of religious dogma always comes at the expense of science (Page 63) Clearly there are instances in which science and religion have conflicted. But the statement “the maintenance of religious dogma ALWAYS comes at the expense of science is demonstrably false.

Rodney Stark, in For the Glory of God, his recent book on monotheism, documents the way the Protest Reformation encouraged and helped develop science. Stark points out that the great scientist, Sir Isaac Newton, was profoundly religious, and that, in his letters to Bentley in 1692 and 1693 “Newton ridiculed the idea that the world could be explained in impersonal, mechanical terms. Above all, having discovered the elegant lawfulness of things, Newton believed he had once and for all demonstrated the certainty behind all existence there is an intelligent, aware, omnipotent God. Any other assumption, he stated, is inconsistent with my system.” His scientific fame notwithstanding, Newton’s study of the Bible and of the early Church Fathers were among his greatest passions. He devoted more time to the study of the Scriptures, the Fathers, and to Alchemy than to science, and said, “I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily.”

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