Are you aware that some of most renown scientific theories were thought of by theist?

Question

Sir Isaac Newton:
The theory of Gravity

Galileo:
Father of physics and the father of science

Georges Lemaître:
First proposed the Big Bang Theory

Gregor Mendel:
Father of modern genetics

All of these people were religious. I am quite sure that they were not brain washed, idiots, or gullible. They surely knew when to seperate science from religion and when it is reasonable to combine them. Yet some assume that a theist cannot grasp science, or that it will confuse them. Well how do you explain these men who were theists?

I do know that and I addressed that in one of my questions.

Hitler did not discover rocket power. He was merely fascinated by the scientist who first created rocket power, and he wanted to use it.

http://www.astronautix.com/astros/hitler.htm

Plus I think the term is rocket technology and not rocket power.

They didn't express doubt about their beliefs, because they didn't have any doubt. They did put forward questions that the church should consider. They did this openly and yes they did face persecution. Try again.

Thumbs up Gawry. I couldn't list everyone. Yes the modern church opposes stem cell and embyrotic cell research. I like to point out that embryotic stem cell research currently does not look all that promising. As a theist I don't oppose it, I just think that it there is more questions to be raised. Some people just see it as one way issue, they refuse to consider the societal cause and effect this could have on society.

So he was a scientist, religious, and gay what a fascinating man.

Epidavro, that proves nothing.

Are you aware that Darwin considered Africans a lower species? Just a few years ago an atheist scientist, claimed that blacks have an inferior mind. .

Answer 1

If only all religious people could learn when to set aside their religious beliefs in favor of science and fact, the world would be a better place. Most atheists don't assume that all theists cannot grasp science, but we do try to enlighten those who refuse to grasp it.

Answer 2

You really, really should do your homework before claiming notable men for your cause.

Isaac Newton - like most people who did not want to be ostracised - was indeed a member of the church. He was also gay (and had a gay assistant for much of his life), worked much of his time to cast more accurate horoscopes and spent much of his later life trying to find magical ways to turn base metals into gold.

Galileo was so opposed to the orthodox teaching of the church that he was placed under long term house arrest by the pope.

Lemaitre was indeed an Abbe, but carried out work that discounted much of the early Bible and proved mathematically beyond any doubt that the Creation myth is false. He had no problem with this fact.

Mendel joined monastic orders as a result of long term unemployment and an inability to stay in work. While he made important contributions to early genetics, his work was overshadowed by his refusal to accept evidence of theories he saw as being in conflict with his belief system, and hence his contribution to science was drastically curtailed by superstition and dogma.

I am not sure any of these paint the sort of picture you seem to crave.

Answer 3

Kepler, Copernicus, Brahe, Pascal, Harvey, Volta, Ampere, Joule, Henry, Oersted, Faraday, Maxwell, Millikan, Mendeleev, Hooke, Liebnitz, Boyle, Pasteur, Simpson, Lister, Darwin, Bayes, Babbage, Boole, Heisenberg, Einstein, thousands of less famous successful practical scientists, lecturers and teachers of science.
.

Answer 4

Almost everyone of the scientists from the past were a theist. It was dangerous to be anything else at that time.

You could either be ostracized by your peers, jailed for heresy, or worst killed, (depending on the century you are living in).

So this argument is rather invalid. So whether or not they were truly theists we'll never know, because they certainly wouldn't have expressed doubt openly if they wanted to remain as they are.

Answer 5

well Newton realized that his mechanical view of the universe did not require a god and said as much in his writings. he still retained the belief that god "made the workings and wound the clock of the universe" but did not directly influence or interact with the universe after having done so. he did not believe in a personal god, that includes JeBus.

Galileo was persecuted by the church for his "heretical science" and died under house arrest.

of course if you know any history you will also know that anyone (300 or more years ago) that was smart enough to practice medicine or science in the western world would also have been smart enough not to publicly oppose the mainstream religious views of the day...since to do so would have meant imprisonment or worse.

Answer 6

Newton was also a big proponent of alchemy and spent much of his life attempting to turn lead into gold.

Galileo recanted his scientific discoveries because of threats made by the Church.

Answer 7

Theism is not proof of ignorance in science.

For example, Darwin was a theist.

Belief in intelligent design, however, is proof of ignorance in science.

Answer 8

Yes, I did know that.

I do not assume that theism voids scientific knowledge.

Willful ignorance such as that shown by Creationists, however, does void the capacity for scientific knowledge.

Answer 9

you left out pythagoras (father of scientific method), archimedes (who invented mathematical analysis), and hipparchus of nicaea (who calculated the distance from the earth to the moon).

you even forgot to mention that the early church burned their books.

not to mention that many churches still oppose stem cell research and evolutionary studies.

i wonder how you forgot that stuff?

Answer 10

"Religious" is quite a stretch, seeing as they were all condemned universally by believers at the time.

Just because people didn't understand the origins of the universe, doesn't mean that they had a greater or less propensity to uncover truth.

Hitler discovered rocket power, does that mean we should all be Nazi's?