Free thought; Modernism (Christian theology) -- Catholic Church; Religion and science; Teaching, Freedom of
We shall not go wrong in presuming that the reader, who has patiently
followed our deductions, has had for some time in his mind the question:
How about the representatives of scientific research themselves? Do not a
large majority of them, perhaps virtually all, stand alien and repellant
to Christian faith and its fundamental truths? We do not refer to our
modern philosophers, for of them it might be said that their researches
yield questionable speculations of individualistic stamp, rather than
exact results. But there are the representatives of the more exact
sciences, especially of the most exact of all, natural science. They may
be considered the legitimate representatives of modern science, since
their results are the most accurate, their methods the most strictly
scientific; and are they not, every one of them, opposed to Christian
faith, especially to its fundamental dogma? Is not _Haeckel_ right when he
states in the final summary of his “Welträtsel,” in which he so strongly
insists on the incompatibility of religion and natural science: “I am
supported by the accord of nearly all modern naturalists who have the
courage to express their convictions”? Is it not true that _A. von
Humboldt_ is considered the prince of German naturalists? and yet in his
voluminous “_Kosmos_” he not once mentions the name of God? Have not, with
few exceptions, German naturalists, under _Humboldt’s_ influence, turned
against Christianity? (_W. Menzel_, Die letzten hundertzwanzig Jahre der
Weltgeschichte, VI, 1860, p. 70; cfr. _Pohle_, P. Angelo Secchi, 1904, p.
6). Here indeed the antagonism between true scientific spirit and the
faith seems to take shape in tangible reality, and to invalidate every
argument to the contrary.
Thus runs the speech that is ever recurring in the literature of the day,
in newspapers and magazines no less than in books. And this speech makes
an impression on its hearers. Indeed, why should it not? After describing
how these heroes of science in recent times marched on triumphantly from
victory to victory, how they renewed the face of the earth, and became the
pioneers of human progress, how can they fail to make a deep impression if
in the same breath they state that these discoverers of truth have, almost
to a man, broken with the ancient teachings of the Christian religion?
Without doubt the suggestive effect of such speculation must be very
considerable with those who lack sufficient historical knowledge. The case
is different with those better acquainted with the history of the natural
sciences. They know that it is not true to state that the leading natural
scientists, for the most part, or even unanimously, have rejected and
denied Christian religion, that it is a _lie_ and a falsification of
history.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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