Today, many Fundamentalist Christians are increasingly labeled “anti-science” because they believe in a young Earth, deny evolution, or are Creationists.
It is true that such beliefs do contradict current scientific thought. Accepted science is based on scientific methods and principles, and does not take any one book or any one religion as truth—nor should it.
However, I often wonder why Fundamentalist Christians are singled out as being unscientific. They are portrayed as ignorant, uneducated, simplistic, and believers in fairy tales. Yet, anyone who believes in a god or a faith certainly believes things that science cannot prove.
One of the foundations of the Christian faith is that Jesus died on a Friday and rose from the dead two days later (or the third day) on Sunday morning. The Easter holiday commemorates his resurrection. If you do not accept this belief then you are almost certainly not a Christian.
Science clearly dictates that no one can die one day, and then rise from the dead two days later. Science would also dispute Jesus’s ability to cure leprosy or blindness with merely a touch, the miracles of bringing Lazarus or Jarius’ daughter back to life, changing water into wine, or his ascension to Heaven to end his time here on Earth.
These and the rest of Jesus’s miracles are all anti-science, since there is no scientific explanation for any of them. Every person claiming to be a Christian can be considered anti-science, merely by accepting the most basic Christian principles.
The same criteria applies to other religions. Many Jews believe in all sorts of Old Testament miracles, from the parting of the Red Sea to the Ten Plagues on Egypt. In addition, they believe that one of their ancestors climbed a mountain, and returned with stone tablets engraved by God. How can science substantiate any of that?
Other religions believe that some animals are sacred, or are filled with a divine spirit. Some are polytheistic and believe in multiple gods. Some worship individuals who spoke directly to God. A few even consider the Earth to be alive, and celebrate “Mother Earth” or Gaia. Most religions require its members to make some type of ritualistic sacrifice or special acknowledgment, none of which makes sense in the scientific or material world.
Furthermore, since there is no scientific evidence to support any supernatural deity’s existence, then any and all belief in a god or gods comes down to faith—and is by definition, anti-science.
The belief in heaven and hell, answered prayers, angels, an afterlife, supernatural entities, and miracles are all anti-science. Likewise, numerology, astrology, channeling, psychic healing, hauntings, UFOs, fortune-telling, mystical properties of crystals, horoscopes, spiritual counselors, reincarnation, and karma cannot be validated by science.
If the detractors were consistent, they would scoff at all Christians, all religions, and all of these beliefs. Yet, our society only chooses one particular group to ridicule—Fundamentalist Christians.
So the bigger question is not why some people of faith are anti-science, but rather, why are only some people of faith singled out and ridiculed for being anti-science?
- Fundamentalist Christians and the “Anti-Science” Label - November 12, 2015
