Topic > Theories that Explain the Unknown: Relationship between Science and Religion

During the Renaissance, Europeans became more inclusive and science developed rapidly. It was also during the 14th-17th centuries that the public woke up and overthrew the pope, and religion could develop freely with more open and modern thoughts. Through its development, the role of science has gradually changed. At the beginning of its development, science seemed to be part of religion. Many great scientists were also Christians and sought to prove the existence of God through science. But as science formulated its theory, it no longer fit with religion and created conflicts. But today people are finally starting to find a middle ground in the relationship between science and religion. Science was once defined through religion. They later separated into two incompatible sectors, and today people finally see the overlap between them. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay At the beginning of the Renaissance, religion influenced the advances of science. Religious officials supported scientific research, especially during the Renaissance, where ancient Greek studies were revived. Euclid's Elements, a very important book that laid the foundations of geometry, were translated under the command of the Pope. Scientific theories were not a threat to religion, in fact, most people saw them as laws made by God. During this period, religious officials worked to spread these ideas widely. The king of the time, Charles II, also supported science. The Royal Society of London was founded on 28 November 1660, after King Charles II granted the institution a royal charter. The society was a community of many of the world's most eminent scientists. Most of the founders of the society held religious views and some of them were even prominent clergymen. They devoted themselves to the study of science to contribute to religion. One of the most influential physicists in society, Isaac Newton, was an Aryan and believed in Christianity. In his book De Gravitatione et Aequipondio Fluidorum he explains his vision of the universe: «Since God is infinite, he must exist everywhere. Space is an effect of God's existence, emanating eternally from divine omnipresence. It was not created by him in an act of will but existed as a necessary extension of his ubiquitous being. God comes from nothing, creating time and space and at the same time being space and time themselves. Newton rigorously explained how gravity caused rotation, but in the more complex solar system this was too difficult for him. Being a religious man, he relied on God, believing that God made the universe stable by correcting the orbits from time to time. Newton's thoughts reflected the dominant belief of his time: God was the one who established the laws of science. At the beginning, science was just widespread knowledge and did not contradict religions. Religious people saw it as a part of “God's creation.” As science gradually formed its own system, it became more and more incompatible with religion. The tension between science and religion began as early as the Renaissance. As science began to develop more, it began to contradict religion. The essence of both is the same: theories of belief developed to explain the unknown. In the beginning, humans had neither enough intelligence nor enough technology to study the natural world. So they invented a God who did what he wanted, explaining everything as God's will. But as technology developed, people discovered more patterns in nature and formed newtheories. These theories transformed into the subject we know today as science. Furthermore, science was based on observation: God could not be observed, but the petals falling from a flower could. As a result, people became more likely to trust science, drawing popularity away from the Pope. In the latter days of the Renaissance, science developed rapidly and the Pope sensed the threat. To tame the threat, they crucified many outstanding scientists. Development was blocked and scientific studies were forced to move underground. Many scientists could not stand the Pope's oppression, so they formed the Illuminati. The goal of the Illuminati was to oppose religious influence on public life and abuses of state power. 'Illuminati' means 'light' and 'being communicated directly from a higher source'. The name showed the clandestine organization's superior attitude towards religion. Their existence is evidence of the undeniable conflict between the two groups. After the Renaissance there were still many people who believed in religion. But new scientific discoveries continued to put pressure on religions. A well-known example would be Darwin's theory of evolution. In 1861, Darwin embarked on a voyage on the HMS Beagle as a naturalist, with the aim of finding scientific evidence of the existence of God. But six years later, he returned to the theory of evolution, stating that humans evolved from monkeys. This theory totally contradicted the Bible's saying that "God created man on the sixth day." Once published, the theory received great resistance. Religious Europeans viewed this as blasphemy against God, angrily berating Darwin as a traitor. Even with scientific evidence, the theory was not widely accepted until Pope Pius IX made statements supporting it. . This feeling has existed since the conflict emerged. In his Open Letter to Grand Duchess Christina, Galileo defended science from orthodoxy. The letter was written in the 17th century, when debates about geocentric and heliocentric models were taking place. This debate, on a larger scale, represented the ongoing conflicts between religious and Renaissance philosophy. Galileo supported the heliocentric theory, arguing that the earth orbits the sun, which is the center of the universe. But this was considered unorthodox, since the Bible said that both the sun and the moon orbited the earth. In the letter he suggested that religion and science were not against each other. He wrote: "But I do not feel obliged to believe that that same God who endowed us with senses, reason and intellect intended to give up their use and by some other means give us the knowledge which we can obtain through them." He thought that the Bible and our senses were both given by God, so they were the same and both contained the truth. Since they were written by the same author, God, they should be compatible. Therefore, people should study the laws of nature and the Bible with equal importance. But the religious public did not believe his thoughts. His perseverance in the truth put him under arrest for 8 years and he was eventually persecuted by the authorities. There are also believers in both science and God in today's more compatible society. Hayhoe Katharine is a climate scientist who believes in God. In her article: "I am a climate scientist who believes in God." Listen to me,” he discussed his background and how it influenced his beliefs. She grew up in a family at the intersection of science and religion. His father was both a Christian and a science teacher. Think that we study climate change based on our observations of the.