God and the Folly of Faith: The Incompatibility of Science and Religion

BOOK: God and the Folly of Faith: The Incompatibility of Science and Religion
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“Stenger—a major powerhouse of honest thinking—has produced another massive exercise in logic. He shows why science is trustworthy as humanity's life-support. And, in contrast, he shows why supernatural beliefs are silly and childish, unworthy of thinking adults.”

—James A. Haught, editor of the
Charleston (WV) Gazette
and author of
2000 Years of Disbelief

“A magisterial survey demonstrating that religion is simply not compatible with science. In fact, as Stenger proves here time and again, religion keeps getting in the way of science, often motivates people to distort scientific facts to serve their religious hopes and wishes, and remains attached to ideas and ways of thinking that science has long since proved invalid. If you know someone who gainsays any of these conclusions, give them this book.”

—Dr. Richard Carrier, author of
Sense and Goodness without God

“Elisabeth Kübler-Ross famously outlined the stages through which we pass as we come to grips with death: denial, anger, bargaining, and acceptance. Well, religion seems to be dying a lingering death, and in
God and the Folly of Faith
Victor Stenger shows how it is passing through the same stages: fundamentalists are in denial, apologists are in the anger phase, and liberal theologians are bargaining. Stenger's fair and deadly arguments will help religion to accept its inevitable demise.”

—Robert M. Price, professor of biblical criticism,
Center for Inquiry Institute, and author of
Beyond Born Again

“Puts to rest the myth that science and religion can coexist peacefully. Thoughtfully researched and delightfully readable!”

—Craig A. James, author of
The Religion Virus

 

Published 2012 by Prometheus Books

God and the Folly of Faith: The Incompatibility of Science and Religion
. Copyright © 2012 by Victor J. Stenger. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a website without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Cover image © 2012 Media Bakery, Inc.
Cover design by Nicole Sommer-Lecht

Inquiries should be addressed to
Prometheus Books
59 John Glenn Drive
Amherst, New York 14228–2119
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FAX: 716–691–0137
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stenger, Victor J., 1935–

God and the folly of faith : the incompatibility of science and religion / by Victor J. Stenger.

p.  cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978–1–61614–599–6 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN 978–1–61614–600–9 (ebook)

1. Religion and science. 2. Christianity—Controversial literature. I. Title.

BL240.3.S737 2012

201′.65—dc23

2011050570

 

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

 

Science flies us to the moon.

Religion flies us into buildings.

—Victor J. Stenger

That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

—Christopher Hitchens

 

Acknowledgments

Foreword by Dan Barker

Preface

1. Introduction

2. The Earliest Skirmishes

Origins of Religion

Caveman Logic

The First Scientists

The Atomists

Pythagoras

Creation and Design

Epicurus and Lucretius

Aristotle

Early Christian Philosophy

3. The Rebirth and Triumph of Science

Arabic Science

Europe Awakens

Science in Islam Today

The First European Universities

Science as the Handmaiden of Religion

The Medieval Worldview

Aquinas Rebuffed

The New Science

Galileo

Newton's Laws

Halley's Comet

The Newtonian World Machine

The Enlightenment

Three Philosophical Views

Did Christianity Beget Science?

4. Darwin, Design, and Deity

Natural Theology

Natural Selection

Dissent and Dispute

Darwin and Design

Evolutionary Politics

Evolution Theology

Social Evolution

Religion as a Virus

5. Toward the New Physics

Putting Heat to Work

Thermotheology

The Wave Nature of Light

Fields

The Arrow of Time

Special Relativity

Cause and Effect

General Relativity

6. Particles and Waves

The Dematerialization of Matter

The History of Quantum Mechanics

Quantum Fields

Toward the Standard Model

Quantum Spirituality

Divine Actions without Miracles

The End of Duality

Quantum Reality

Is Quantum Mechanics Complete?

7. Cosmos and Creator

Creation Myths

Big Bang Theology

Big Bang Science

Natural Origins

Quantum Tunneling

Tunneling from (or through) Nothing

The Grand Accident

The Universe as a Quantum Computer

The Cosmic Insignificance of Humanity

8. Purpose

Contingency or Convergence?

Teilhard's Omega Point

Tipler's Omega Point

Reductionism versus Holism

Weak Emergence

Self-Organization

Strong Emergence

The Definition of Life

The Origin of Life

9. Transcendence

The Afterlife

Beyond Matter

Religion and Health

Spiritual Energy

Religious Experiences

Near-Death Experiences: Historical Data

Veridical NDEs

Maria and the Shoe

The Blind Shall See

Near-Death Experiences: Recent Data

Problems with NDEs

Reincarnation

Investigating the Paranormal

The Physics of Christianity

The Rematerialization of Matter

A Personal Remembrance

Science and Eastern Mysticism

10. Beyond Evolution

Justice and Morality

Did Morality Evolve?

What Do the Data Say?

Atheist Terror

Slavery

Does Morality Prove God Exists?

The Postevolutionary Phase

11. Matter and Mind

Body and Soul

The Material Brain

Consciousness

Free Will

The Quantum Brain

12. Metaphor, Atheist Spirituality, and Immanence

A Metaphorical God

Spiritual Atheism

The Modernist View of Religion

Science Works Better

13. From Conflict to Incompatibility

The State of Religion Today

Is Religion Good for You?

Summary of Conflicts

Confrontation or Accommodation?

14. Why Does It Matter?

The American Anomaly

The Ups and Downs of Science in the Public Mind

The Cultural Divide

Tobacco and Pollution

Global Warming

The Impending Crash

A Final Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

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