Innocent Religion

Science and technology have been regarded by many people as the Moses who leads human out of the world of ignorance to the land of knowledge and wealth. Religion, in the other respect, has unfortunately been misinterpreted as the evil Pharaoh who wants to keep human under his slavery. Some people thought the "Scientific Revolution" in the 17th century as the "Exodus" of science from the tyranny of religion. For instance, they believe that if Newton did not waste his time on the search for God, he probably would have made much more contribution to science. Dong Jin, one of the writer for Digest of Science and Technology thought Newton was "controlled by a wrong philosophy and fall into the abyss of idealism and theism"[[1] Dong Jin, Digest of Science and Technology, September 2000 ][1] and considered Newton's attempts to find evidence for 'existence of God' is "so absurd and tragic."[][1] Surprisingly, quite a number of people share Dong Jins unfair view of religion. In their views, Rene Descartes and Francis Bacon are also victims of religious belief. However, few of these accusations are true. In the time of "Scientific Revolution", religious belief rarely acted as it's preventer. Sometimes, religion even played a positive role in the construction of new science and philosophy. Newton is a remarkable figure in the period of scientific revolution. His discovery of general binomial expansion in 1664 and publication of the concept of Calculus in "Principia" in 1687 introduced handy mathematical tools to modern science. His light decomposition experiment with prism and ground work in Classical mechanics had greatly changed people's view of nature. His work generated a large crowd of followers known as Newtonians. His thoughts and philosophical doctrine had spreaded to the entire British islands. Also, the applications of his Mechanics and Optics theories had started a era of industrialization. This demonstrates the huge effect of Newton's work. At the same time, Newton also had a lot of investigations regarding the interpretation of Bible. His theology book "Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John", published after his death in 1733, demonstrated his view that the Prophecy will not be fully understood by human beings until the end of the world. People who thought the "Scientific Revolution" freed science from the shackle of religion assume that people with religious belief cannot make great contribution to science. However, Newton's great impact in science strongly rebuts the these accusation. Moreover, Newton's religious belief actually guide him towards the secrets of nature. This presents his commitment to science due to his belief in the existence of divine power. This commitment became his motivation to unveil the secret of nature and thus see the God with his eyes. In his whole life, Newton was dedicated to find an "unified system of God and nature"[[2] Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs, Margaret C. Jacob, Newton and the Culture of Newtonianism, P12][2] and all his works in science and math are "potential contributors to his overarching goal."[][2] His attempts to find the ultimate truth and identify religion and science fueled him with enthusiasm to explore nature. God, indeed, also became a quite important element in Newton's theory. In constructing his theory of gravitational force, Newton benefited from his religious thinking. Although he found the way to describe the motion of planets, he cannot find the source of motion. Thus he intruduced "the God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done." into his theory.[[3] John H. Tiner , Isaac Newton: Inventor, Scientist and Teacher][3] With a "God" guides the world to function in order, gravity became "an active principle directly or indirectly dependent upon the activity of the Deity, the Creator God Who had made

the world-machine and Who kept it in motion."[[4] Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs, Margaret C. Jacob, Newton and the Culture of Newtonianism, P14][4] Existence of God, as it were, completed Newtons theory. With a complete theory, Newtonianism became a very powerful doctrine and propelled the "Scientific Revolution" forward. Without the help of religion, Newton would not have the passion and material to make this revolution in people's understanding of the world. Descartes was another glorious figure in the time of the "Scientific Revolution" with a belief in God. He had his well-known word: "If there are finally any persons who are not sufficiently persuaded of the existence of God and of their soul by the reason which I have brought forward, I wish that they should know that all other things of which they perhaps think themselves more assured are less certain."[[5] Ralph M Eaton, Descartes Selection, P34][5] which shows the significance of God in his world view. Descartes is a nominated figure in physics and mathematics. In 1637, he published his book "Geometry" and introduced his famous Cartesian Coordinates thus laid the foundation of analytical geometry. In 1644, he released his famous "Principles of Philosophy" and brought Cartesianism to the world. In the realm of physics, he introduced his famous "matter in motion" theory and offered a completely different understanding of the world from Newton. People who accuse that religion is guilty will not assumed Descartes, a scientist and philosopher with religious belief, could have fruitful work in the realm of science. In the development of his theory, Descartes also benefited from his religious belief. In his days, Aristotle's deductive method was widely used. Descartes thought this method is rash and untrustworthy. Thus, he tried to develop a complete world view with only the things that he was 100% sure about. He found that the only thing he knew is "Cogito ergo sum" (I think therefore I am when translated into English) With this basic foundation, he needed to introduce a "perfect entity" to fill in the blank in his philosophical theory. Thus religion came in and helped him complete his theory and God became a critical element of his philosophical view. From these keystones, he constructed dualism which deeply affected the development of modern philosophy. Dualism, which regards the separation of human spirit and body, paved the way for women to enter the realm of natural philosophy.[[6] Lecture Notes][6] He also put the concept of God as the creator of universe in his physics theory. His philosophical doctrine led to the birth of Cartesianism and thus created many followers such as Benedict de Spinoza who laid the foundation for 18th century Enlightenment. Cartesianism exerted a large positive effect in the science development in France. Given that Cartesianism had the same impact on French Scientists as Newtonianism on English, the "Scientific Revolution" would be much slower without the contribution to Descarte's theory from religious concept. Another leader in the "Scientific Revolution" who held a religious belief is Francis Bacon. He is a great rationalist and scientist. His brought out the concept of experiment and observation in his book "Novum Organum", which became the foundation of modern science. He doubted the accuracy of wide-spread Aristolian deductive method and developed the more rational inductive method to replace it. His ideas were considered valuable by many people and created a huge crowd of followers like Rene Descartes. The great size of followers presents the great influence of Bacon's theory. He was also a enthusiastic preacher for the usefulness of scientific knowledge. In his publication "The Advancement of Learning" published in 1605, he criticized obscurantism and propose the power of science. Also, his book New Atlantis published in 1626, regarded his dedication for a utopian era of science. According to opinion of people like Dong Jin, such a rationalist and science enthusiast like Bacon should be a people who always

assume religion as nonsense. However, Bacon believed the existence of God. His word in his book Essays: "a little philosophy inclineth mans mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth mens minds about to religion."[[7] Francis Bacon, Essays, Of Atheism][7] illustrates his belief in God. This shows that the belief in science and the belief in religion are not mutually exclusive. As for bacon, religion did not prevent him from building up his great philosophy system. Bacon contributed another evidence for the innocence of religion in the "Scientific Revolution". Actually, the discrepancy between natural philosophers and experimental scientists in the 17th century may even have a greater negative effect on the development of science. Natural philosophers considered finding explanation for the natural phenomena more important than observations while experimental scientists focus on a descriptive path to the secrets of Nature. A typical example of natural philosophers who have criticism about the observational science is Thomas Hobbes. Unlike Descartes and Bacon, Thomas Hobbes appreciated the deductive method of Aristotle. He criticize observational scientists' work by addressing that natural philosophers should focus more on explanations rather than observations. This kind of conflicts in 17th century happened very often. Natural phylosophers criticisms suppressed the work of experimental scientists. As far as I am concerned, the discrepancy between natural philosophers and experimental scientists was a heavier shackle then religion on science. Although religion had some controversy with science, like their disagreement on the issue of embryonic stem cell researches, it did not create a lot of obstacles in the time of the "Scientific Revolution". During the process of unveiling the secret of nature, science and religion will surely have some argument due to their different opinion in the interpretation of phenomena. Since the wide-spread religious belief didn't kill those great figures in the "Scientific Revolution". we should claim religion's innocence in that period and criticize it's role in a more rational and complete.

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