THE LOOP OF RELIGION AND SCIENCE

Books about THE LOOP OF RELIGION AND SCIENCE generally fall into one of two categories: those that want to persuade you of the plausibility of religion and those that want to do the opposite. This Very Short Introduction falls into neither category. It aims instead to offer an informative and even-handed account of what is really at stake. The polemical passion the subject often generates is an indication of the intensity with which people identify themselves with their beliefs about nature and God, whether they are religious or not. The origins and functions of those beliefs form the subject of this book. In recent years the topic of 'THE LOOP OF RELIGION AND SCIENCE' has become almost synonymous, especially in the United States, with debates about evolution. For this reason, two of the six chapters of this book are devoted to evolutionary subjects. The modern American debate about evolution and 'Intelligent Design' illustrates particularly clearly how stories about conflict or harmony between THE LOOP OF RELIGION AND SCIENCE can be used in political campaigns - in this case relating to the control of education and the interpretation of the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Historical notions about famous individuals, especially Galileo Galilei and Charles Darwin; philosophical assumptions about miracles, laws of nature, and scientific knowledge; and discussions of the religious and moral implications of modern science, from quantum mechanics to neuroscience, are regular features of science – religion debates today. All of these are scrutinized here.