The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1875-04-22
For the Home Journal
The Conflict Between Science and
Religion.
y " BIER OS Y.

The greatest question Of the age is
whether or not there isa God.
a majority Of the human race admit
that there is a superior power, but deny
that there is a Supreme Being,
Upon the other hand, the Bible and
the Koran present, for the worship Of
mankind, n personal God,-G God like
unto the image Of a man.
In this controversy the Scientists
are against the Bible AMI the Koran,
and between Science and Religion there
is an jrrcpressiblc and deadly conflict,
The result Of dis conflict is Of mo
mcntous consequence to the nations Of
the earth.
Let the fact be established AMI ad'
mittcd that there is no Supreme Being,
no personal God, and then what be
comes Of the Bible and other 50 called
sacred hooks? They sink at once into
in%significance Because, it there is no
Supreme Being, it would be idle TO talk
Of having a revelation from him.
There are only two methods OF rea
sOniUg for those 10 pursue who think
that they can prove the existence OF u
God-the inductiyc and deluctive. BY
the former method they would proceed
from facts to principles, by the latter
from principles to facts. The Dcist,
who has no faith in the Bible, but who
believes there is u God, would under
take to provc his existence by the in
ductive method On some pleasant
evening he wonld direct your attention
to the multitude Of starry worlds by
which we are surrounded, and say, as
Napoleon did on one occasion, If there
is no God, from whence came all this
What reply would the Scientist make
to this question: The Scientist would
say, YOU have used the term God as
synonymous with Cause, and if your
idea was expressed formally it would
he as follows:
Every effect has a cause;
The starry worlds are effects;
Therefore the starry worlds hayca cause.
The Scientist would further say 20
the Drist that the indestructibility of
matter is Il principle about which there
is no controversy between us; we be
ljevc that it always did and always will
exist; that It's form may he changed,
but It's elements a never be destroyed.
We bcl!cvc also that every effect has "a
cause, ard that the starry worlds are
effects. But what We mean by the term
effects, as used in this connection, is,
not that the matter Of which the starry
worlds is composed was created out Of
nothing. but that it has been con.
to assume its present form and
occupy its present position through the
operation Of some force or forces act.
ing upon it or inherent in it, So far
we agree. But when YOU personiiy this
and cal! it the Supreme Being, or
say that it cmanatcs from him, then |
and submit the question to the
arbitrament Of Reason. In this con
test the burden of proof rests upon
you. Iou must prove that there Is a
God who controls the movements of
The hundreds o. millions of solar sys-
tens in this vast universe. Can you do
itl IT SO, how? 1t will not do to use
the term God as Synonymous with
cause. Intelligence is not an essential
attribute Of cause. There are causes
OF different kinds And the question
is, not whether every effect has Il cause,
but whether the cause which deter
mines the movements Of the solar sys.
tens possesses intelligence. How will
you PROVE the affirmative? As an in.
ductivc reasoncr, the only argument
You could possibly make would be as
follows:
The solar systems exhibit wonderful
harmony aud regularity;
This harmony and regularity could not
,xist without the supervision of an Intel
igent Cause;
Therefore an Intelligent Cause governs
he solar systems.
But this argument is u faIlacy, An
extra logical f~aliacy, because it assumes
to he true and states MS n premise IL
proposition which is in dispute. There
fore it proves nothing; excepting that
you have failed to accomplish your
object. This being so, it is not incum.
on Science to prove the Gon.cxist
of a Sup:eme Being. She is IN.
der no obligation to prove a negative
A fundamental principle with her is
That all the matter in the universe is
governed by the great law of gravita-
by which is meant the inherent
tendency of matter toward all other
This celebrated law was dis.
covered by Sir Isaac Newton in 1865,
and the calculations which he made
proved that a force acting in accord.
with this law confines the moon in
Ter orbit around the earth, and the
arth and planets in their orbits around
sun.
But let us see if the Theologian can
1ake Il better argument than the Deist
pom the question at issue.
j. II. b.