History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science | Page 3

science, arrayed itself in
opposition to the advancement of knowledge. On the contrary, it has
always met it with welcome. It has observed a reverential attitude to
truth, from whatever quarter it might come. Recognizing the apparent
discrepancies between its interpretations of revealed truth and the
discoveries of science, it has always expected that satisfactory
explanations and reconciliations would ensue, and in this it has not
been disappointed. It would have been well for modern civilization if
the Roman Church had done the same.
In speaking of Christianity, reference is generally made to the Roman
Church, partly because its adherents compose the majority of
Christendom, partly because its demands are the most pretentious, and
partly because it has commonly sought to enforce those demands by the
civil power. None of the Protestant Churches has ever occupied a
position so imperious--none has ever had such wide-spread political
influence. For the most part they have been averse to constraint, and
except in very few instances their opposition has not passed beyond the
exciting of theological odium.
As to Science, she has never sought to ally herself to civil power. She
has never attempted to throw odium or inflict social ruin on any human
being. She has never subjected any one to mental torment, physical
torture, least of all to death, for the purpose of upholding or promoting
her ideas. She presents herself unstained by cruelties and crimes. But in
the Vatican-- we have only to recall the Inquisition--the hands that are
now raised in appeals to the Most Merciful are crimsoned. They have
been steeped in blood!
There are two modes of historical composition, the artistic and the
scientific. The former implies that men give origin to events; it
therefore selects some prominent individual, pictures him under a
fanciful form, and makes him the hero of a romance. The latter,
insisting that human affairs present an unbroken chain, in which each
fact is the offspring of some preceding fact, and the parent of some
subsequent fact, declares that men do not control events, but that events
control men. The former gives origin to compositions, which, however
much they may interest or delight us, are but a grade above novels; the
latter is austere, perhaps even repulsive, for it sternly impresses us with

a conviction of the irresistible dominion of law, and the insignificance
of human exertions. In a subject so solemn as that to which this book is
devoted, the romantic and the popular are altogether out of place. He
who presumes to treat of it must fix his eyes steadfastly on that chain of
destiny which universal history displays; he must turn with disdain
from the phantom impostures of pontiffs and statesmen and kings.
If any thing were needed to show us the untrustworthiness of artistic
historical compositions, our personal experience would furnish it. How
often do our most intimate friends fail to perceive the real motives of
our every-day actions; how frequently they misinterpret our intentions!
If this be the case in what is passing before our eyes, may we not be
satisfied that it is impossible to comprehend justly the doings of
persons who lived many years ago, and whom we have never seen.
In selecting and arranging the topics now to be presented, I have been
guided in part by "the Confession" of the late Vatican Council, and in
part by the order of events in history. Not without interest will the
reader remark that the subjects offer themselves to us now as they did
to the old philosophers of Greece. We still deal with the same questions
about which they disputed. What is God? What is the soul? What is the
world? How is it governed? Have we any standard or criterion of truth?
And the thoughtful reader will earnestly ask, "Are our solutions of
these problems any better than theirs?"
The general argument of this book, then, is as follows:
I first direct attention to the origin of modern science as distinguished
from ancient, by depending on observation, experiment, and
mathematical discussion, instead of mere speculation, and shall show
that it was a consequence of the Macedonian campaigns, which brought
Asia and Europe into contact. A brief sketch of those campaigns, and of
the Museum of Alexandria, illustrates its character.
Then with brevity I recall the well-known origin of Christianity, and
show its advance to the attainment of imperial power, the
transformation it underwent by its incorporation with paganism, the
existing religion of the Roman Empire. A clear conception of its
incompatibility with science caused it to suppress forcibly the Schools
of Alexandria. It was constrained to this by the political necessities of
its position.
The parties to the conflict thus placed, I next relate the story of their

first open struggle; it is the first or Southern