Why Darwin Matters_ The Case Against Intelligent Design - Michael Shermer [56]
A year later, Darwin clarified his thinking. The British socialist Edward Aveling had compiled a volume entitled The Student’s Darwin, on the implications of evolutionary theory for religious thought, and Aveling wanted Darwin’s endorsement. The book had a militant antireligious flavor and unabashedly radical atheist tone that Darwin disdained, and he declined the request, elaborating his reason with his usual flair for quotable maxims: “It appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against christianity & theism produce hardly any effect on the public; & freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men’s minds which follow[s] from the advance of science. It has, therefore, been always my object to avoid writing on religion, & I have confined myself to science.” He then appended an additional hint about a personal motive, noting “I may, however, have been unduly biased by the pain which it would give some members of my family, if I aided in any way direct attacks on religion.”5 Darwin’s wife Emma was a deeply religious woman, and out of respect for her he kept the public side of his religious skepticism in check, an admirable feat of self-discipline by a man of high moral character.
Conflict or Compromise?
Was Darwin’s approach to science and religion healthy? Was it logical? Is it possible to reconcile religious belief with scientific thinking? The answer one gives to these questions determines the attitude one takes to the relationship of science and religion: conflict, harmony, or indifference. And if we could find some level at which agreement could be reached between all sides of the debate, much of the angst and rancor in today’s culture over this divide would subside. I have made such an attempt in the form of a three-tiered model of the possible relationships between science and religion.
1. The Conflicting-Worlds Model. This “warfare” approach holds that science and religion are mutually exclusive ways of knowing, one being right and the other wrong. In this view, the findings of modern science are always a potential threat to one’s faith and thus they must be carefully vetted against religious truths before acceptance; likewise, the tenets of religion are always a potential threat to science and thus they must be viewed with skepticism and cynicism. The conflicting-worlds model is embraced by extremists on both sides of the divide. Young Earth creationists, who insist that all scientific findings must correlate perfectly with their own (often literal) reading of Genesis, retain a suspicious hostility toward science, while militant atheists cannot imagine how religion could contribute anything positive to human knowledge or social interaction.6
2. The Same-World Model. More conciliatory in its nature than the conflicting-worlds model, this position holds that science and religion are two ways of examining the same reality, and that as science progresses to a deeper understanding of the natural world, it will reveal that many ancient religious tenets are true. The same-world model is embraced by many mainstream theologians, religious leaders, and believing scientists who prefer a more flexible cognitive approach to science and religion, allowing them to read biblical passages metaphorically. For example, the “days” in the Genesis creation story may represent geological epochs of great length. The theology of Pope John Paul II as well as that of the Dalai Lama fall squarely into this tier, as they argue that science and religion can work together toward the same goal of understanding the universe and our place in it.7
3. The Separate-Worlds