The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-09-23
RELIGION AND SCIENCE.


writing in a leading scientific publiea-
ton. discredits the popular idea that
there has been, from early times, q
state of warfare between religion and
science, or even between science and
theology. cit may be fairly said,'' he
claims, that up to the time of Galileo
there never was, in any true sense, a
conflict between religion and SCIENCE
While admitting that the controversies
of the nineteenth century ARE. per-
haps. of different nature" DR.. Hol-
den writes Gin The Popular Science
Monthly, August) as follows:
During the earlier centuries there
We're endless warfares between one re-
ligion and another, between religion
and heresy, between science and pseu-
do-science, but not between religion
and science as such. Looking back
ward we now discover that the science
of the nineteenth century would have
been in conflict with the theology of
the thirteenth. But in the thirteenth
century itself, and in every other CEN
tween religion and heresy-not science;
between science and pseudo-science-
not religion. The distinction is funda-
mental. 1t arises from the very con-
stitution of man and the world he lives
in.
The veritable conflict of the past
has been between enlightenment and
ignorance; between true religion (the
of heresy) and false: between true
science (again, a residue) and pretend
ed. The issue has been along the road
that we call progress residue of
insight and requirement left to us
after the experience of the ages.
Looking backward, then, over the
centuries, We see perpetual conflict
with ignorance, perpetual struggle in
both the physical and the spiritual
worlds; and specifically a struggle in
one world between true and false
science. in another between religion
and the heresy of the time. If we sur
vey the whole of history at glance,
we see that the science of one epoch
has often been at variance with the
religion of another: but We also see
that in each and every age the CON
fiict has been between things of one
and the same kind: between religion
and it's opposite, between science and
its opposite; and not in general be-
tween things so different in their nat
ure as science and religion"
AS illustrating DR.. Holden's argu-
ment more specifically, we quote. the
following paragraphs:
sfThe early fathers of the Christian
Church took soma one view, some an
other, of the shape of the earth. st.
Augustine tolerated the scientific view,
and said at the same time: What
concern is it to me Gas a theological.
he meant) whether the heavens as a
sphere enclose the earth at the middle
of the world. or overhang it on either
side?' It was a matter of almost no
concern to the Bishop of Hippo 1t that
time, in that place, under those condi-
tions. The mission of the church in
the fifth century was to civilize the
teeming millions of pagans and bar
barians. 1t was mighty task. 1t
was performed. 1t required the entire
energy of all churchmen. 1t was CT
infinitely small Importance, then,
whether the barbarians were crowded
together on fiat or on a spherica,
earth. The entire indifference of
churchmen, then and later, to purely
scientific matters is a fact to he kept
in mind. :.
That an erroneous scientific result
had bearing on theological matters
was Incidental. not essential The wild
disorder of Giordano Bruno's systems
of cosmic infinities, notably his guess
that the stars were worlds, filled the
mind of Kepler with horror. He ex-
pressly says that he shuddered with
horror at the thought. Tt was precise
~ these new infinities of worlds that
the Roman inquisitors found to be
heretical. They had, without knowing
it. the support of the greatest Protes-
tant astronomer. Kepler's horror fol-
Brunos ideas was no theological oppo-
sition. 1t was based on the best phiio-
sophy of the time. Like the Roman
inquisitors, Kepler believed the uni
verse to be finite. Can we wonder thai
the fugitive Dominican monk was triet
and sentenced for heresy? Can we won.
der that ideas from which the free
minded speculative Kepler recoiIed Were
odious to a congregation of monks
TT Is a pertinent fact that in tht
seventh century Isidore of Seville and
in the eighth the Venerable Bede pro
nouneed in favor of the earth's spheri-
| city. After these two great doctors had
| spoken, il was allowable for any
| churchman TO follow them. That many
did not is an incident in the warfare
with ignorance, not an attack of reii-
gion upon science; and this conclusion
is a point TO be emphasized.
"Copernicus taught the heliocentric
| theory-that the planets revolved about
the sun, as we know that they do. II
1916 his books We're placed upon the in
de&, there to remain until corrected.
The action of the Congregation of the
index was an incident in the DISTRESSING