The Scientific Revolution (Blog #6)

After reading the rest of chapter 15 I would have to say that I was highly surprised with how much conflict the scientific revolution created. Some seemed to embrace the new scientific ideas, while others saw it as a direct challenge to religious beliefs and traditions. Since this time religion and science have been viewed as opposites, or contradictory, if you believe in one you can’t believe in the other; but this is not the case. As we see in the reading many, if not all, of the early scientific thinkers had religious beliefs that became more confirmed over the course of their discoveries. For example the book talks about Galileo and how he attempted to illustrate how religion and science worked together, ‘Nor is God any less excellently revealed in Nature’s actions than in the sacred statements of the Bible’ (517). Or how Newton believed that knowledge of the planets, nature and the human body further illustrated the works of a more powerful being, ‘This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent Being’ (517). Despite the efforts of many of these early scientists some saw science as a direct threat to religious practice, while others saw it as disproving religion altogether. It bothers me how worked up people get over their beliefs, no matter what they are, that they are willing to publicly shame, humiliate or kill in order to protect and promote their own ideas and values. For example, burning Giordano Bruno at the stake for ‘proclaiming an infinite universe and many worlds’ and how the Church forced Galileo to publicly reject his own ideas of how the Earth rotates. It is my belief that science and religion go hand in hand, and should be working together to build a better understanding of our physical and spiritual world. There are many aspects of our world that can’t be explained through science or religion alone, so by working together it is my belief that we can gain a deeper understanding of ourselves, the natural world as well as the spiritual realm; the key is adaptability, acceptance and understanding.