Two Historical Examples of Religious Conflict with Science.

   The battle with creationist fundamentalism is too close in our own time,
for many to see clearly who is right or wrong.  One possible solution
for this, is to review history to see how the policies of conservative
religious groups have served their societies throughout the centuries:
That is, we have almost TWO THOUSAND years of history, over which to
honestly examine how people have used and interpreted the Bible to explain
the world around them. Indeed, it has only been roughly in the last hundred
or more years that science has SERIOUSLY competed with religion in
examining the natural world.

  Although, any study will show that science has outmoded theories too--
still there is one crucial difference:  Science ADMITS that it can make
mistakes, and over the long term, is committed towards revising (or even
overhauling) these as more facts becomes known. On the other hand, religions
and ideologies--since they purport to already PERFECTLY know great moral
truths--are less open to re-evaluation, and therefore far more resistant
to change.

  If these later religions/ideologies are perfectly true--ie are based on
a foundation that is clearly SUPERIOR to science, then a critical review of
history should show that their doctrines were CORRECT and NONCHANGING
over the centuries.

  However, history has shown just the OPPOSITE--that many (not all)
religious doctrines were INCORRECT and only gradually CHANGED, after much
resistance to them. I have selected a few topics below to demonstrate this:

 1) The belief in a Flat Earth by conservative religious groups,

 2) The reluctance of churches to place the newly invented lightening rods
on their steeples and roofs, and

 3) The belief in witches and evil spirits.

   In these examples, it was ONLY after the emergence of science, that the 
RELIGIOUS ASSUMPTIONS/REVELATIONS behind these superstitions were seriously 
challenged. Instead of weakening religion in general, most religions LATER 
incorporated proven scientific views into their own doctrines, making them, in 
my opinion, STRONGER (and NOT weaker) in entering our modern age.

I. FLAT EARTH SOCIETIES

  Centuries before Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution, there was a 
raging debate between early scientists and conservative religious groups over 
whether the earth was round, instead of FLAT.  Citing verses in the Bible such 
as the ones given above, flat-earthers warned that the new astronomy was a 
Satanic invention to discredit the Truth of God.

   According to members of the flat earth society (whose members were still 
active early in the 1900's), the earth is as flat as a pancake. The north 
Pole is at its magnetic center.  Antarctica is an ice ring that forms high walls 
around the perimeter of the earth, beyond which no man has ever gone. The 
sun, moon, and planets circle above the earth at relatively low altitudes in the 
sky. Wilbur Glenn Voliva, who founded the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church in 
the 1920's and 1930's in Zion, Illinois, explained his view of the sun as 
follows:

  "The idea of a sun millions of miles in diameter and 91,000,000
   miles away is silly.  The sun is only 32 miles across and not more
   than 3,000 miles from the earth.  It stands to reason it must be so.
   God made the sun to light the earth, and therefore must have placed
   it close to the task it was designed to do.  What would you think of
   a man who built a house in Zion and put the lamp to light it in
   Kenosha, Wisconsin?"(as quoted by Richard Milner,  THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF 
   EVOLUTION: HUMANITY'S SEARCH FOR ITS ORIGINS, Facts on File, Inc, 
   New York NY 10016,, p 168)

   Membership in flat earth societies has significantly dwindled during the 
last century, as pictures from satellites consistently showed the earth as a 
sphere. However, when the US astronauts landed on the moon in 1969, Samuel 
Shenton (who was then secretary of the international organization) told the LOS 
ANGELES TIMES that the moon is only 32 miles across, and less than 2,700 miles 
from the earth.  The official position taken by flat earth societies, was that 
these pictures were hoaxes, and that NASA and its contractors were involved in a 
conspiracy.


II. THE POWER OF CHURCH BELLS (Note: the following relies heavily on
  "The Revolt Against the Lightning Rod" FREE INQUIRY, Al Seckel and John
  Edwards, Summer 1986 pp 54-5)

   The early church fathers believed (as did many ancient people)
in the power and presence of devils, demons, and witches.  St. Thomas
Aquinas, for example wrote in his famous SUMMA THEOLOGICA: "Rain and
winds, and whatsoever occurs by local impulse alone, can be caused by
demons.  It is a dogma of faith that the demons can produce winds,
storms, and rain of fire from heaven." (Andrew D. White, A HISTORY OF
THE WARFARE OF SCIENCE WITH THEOLOGY IN CHRISTENDOM (New York: George
Braziller, 1955, p 337) Even by the sixteenth century, a superstitious
Martin Luther wrote that the winds themselves contained good or evil spirits;
and that if one threw a stone in a local pond, that it could create a storm
due to the devils trapped inside of it.

  Christian churches frequently tried to ward off the evil effects of storms
and lightening by conducting prayer services and church rites, and by
consecrating church bells.  It was commonly believed that the long ringing
of the church bells could counteract the noisy disturbances in the air
(cyclones, hail, thunder, etc) which were caused by evil spirits.

  Unfortunately, the ringing of the bells, did not help ward of the lightening
bolts.  As the church tower was typically the tallest building around, it
was frequently the target of large lightening storms--while nearby brothels
and gambling establishments were typically left untouched.  This also meant
that the bell-ringers who were sent to ring the bells during a storm
were not infrequently electrocuted!  One eyewitness to such a tragedy
recorded the following:

  "Little by little we took in what happened.  A bolt of lightening had
  struck the tower, partly melting the bell and electrocuting the priest;
  afterwards ... [it had shattered] a great part of the ceiling, had passed
  behind the mistress, whom it deprived of sensibility, and, after destroying
  a picture of the Savior hanging upon the wall, had disappeared through the
  floor..." (Bernard I. Cohen, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S EXPERIMENTS (Cambridge:
  Harvard University Press, 1941), p 395.)

   In 1786, the Parliament in Paris even issued an edict in recognition of
"the many deaths it caused to those pulling the ropes." (Ibid p 421). In
Germany there was a particularly disastrous period, where in the span of
thirty-three years, nearly 400 church towers were damaged and 120 bell-ringers
killed.

  In 1752, Benjamin Franklin invented the lightening rod.  Writing on his
discovery, he stated: "One would think it was now time to try some other
trick [ie to protect churches and homes];--and ours is recommended."
(Ibid p 395).  Surprisingly, the religious community was extremely hostile
to the new scientific invention:  Since thunder and lightening was considered
to be the  manifestation of God's powers, it was considered irreligious to
INTERFERE with His Will! Nevermind that the lightening bolts more frequently
hit the churches than any other buildings, (including the sinful brothels
close by in town because church steeples simply made them the tallest
building around.) Nor did this  address the fact that the target of God's
"divine wrath" was often merely a tall tree (which MOST people would agree
to be an innocent bystander).

  Instead, the reaction by much of the religious community was fiercely
hostile:  John Adams, second president of the U.S., noted in his diary the
following conversation he had with a Boston physician on the subject--who
angrily began to complain " upon the presumption of philosophy in erecting
iron rods to draw the lightening from the clouds.  He railed and foamed
against the points and the presumption that erected them.  He talked of
presuming upon God, as Peter had attempted to walk upon the water, and of
attempting to control the artillery of heaven." (Andrew D. White, op.cit p 366)

 In Europe, preachers also railed in the pulpits AGAINST the introduction of
the lightening rod; which resulted in mobs tearing down installed lightening
rods from many homes and buildings--including the one from the Institute
of Bologna, the leading scientific institution of Italy.  In the U.S.,
the Reverend Thomas Prince blamed the invention of the lightening rod for
the Massachusetts earthquake of 1755, since more of these "iron points"
were erected in Boston than in any other area in New England. According to
the Reverend on this topic: "Oh! there is no getting out of the mighty hand
of God.  For I cannot believe, that in the whole town of Boston, where so
many iron points are erected, there is so much as one person, who is so weak,
so ignorant, so foolish, or, to say all in one word, so atheistic, as
ever to have entertained a single thought, that it is possible, by the
help of a few yards of wire, to 'get out of the mighty hand of God'"
(Bernard I. Cohen, "Prejudice Against the Introduction of Lightening Rods,"
op. cit., p 433). Likewise in Charleston, the public was so alarmed at
incurring God's wrath from the erection of the lightening rods, that the
SOUTH CAROLINA AND AMERICAN GENERAL GAZETTE suggested "raising lightening
rods to the glory of God." (Ibid p 425)

  After the spire of St. Bride's Church in London, England had been destroyed
by lightening several times, the priests there still refused to install
a lightening rod.  This prompted the following comment by Professor John
Winthrop of Harvard University in his letter to Benjamin Franklin:

  " How astonishing is the force of prejudice even in an age of so much
    knowledge and free inquiry.  It is amazing to men, that after the full
    demonstration that you have given...they should even think of repairing
    that steeple without such conductors." (Bernard I. Cohen, BENJAMIN
    FRANKLIN'S EXPERIMENTS, op. cit. p. 393)

  Little by little, the lightening rod began to become successfully installed.
At St. Mark's church in Venice, Italy, the tower was frequently hit, and
even destroyed by lightening. This despite its statue of an angel on its summit, 
the consecration of its bells to ward off evil spirits, the holy relics in its 
chambers, and the rites and processions in the adjacent square. In
1766, some fourteen years after Franklin's invention, a lightening rod was
placed on the tower, and the church was never hit again.  Gradually other
churches began to follow: The Church of Rosenburg in Austria had been
struck so frequently with deadly bolts, that many of the worshipers actually
feared to attend services during storms.  In 1778, some twenty six years after
the Franklin's invention, the church authorities finally consented to
installing a lightening rod.  The church was never again hit by the storms.

  There were also disasters that could have been averted if the authorities
would have agreed to install the lightening rod.  Probably the worst
disaster occurred in Brecia.  The Republic of Venice had stored several
thousand pounds of gunpowder within the vaults of the Church of San Nazario
in Brescia--and the church authorities had refused to install a lightening
rod. In 1769, some fifteen years after Franklin's invention, the church was
struck by lightening and the gunpowder exploded.  One-sixth of the city was
destroyed--An estimated three thousand people died from the explosion. All
on account of the superstitious refusal to install the lightening rods.
(The disaster however, muted much of the religious criticism, and it was
after this time that the lightening rods became commonly installed.)

III. Belief in Witches and Evil Spirits

     Believers in witches have often pointed to a rich array of Old Testament 
passages to justify their belief in the existence of witches:

   * According to Exodus 22:18: "You shall not allow a sorceress to live".

   * and Leviticus 20:27: "Any man or woman who is a necromancer or 
     magician must be put to death by stoning, their blood shall be
     on their own heads".

   * and Deuteronomy 18:10-11: "There must never be anyone among you...
     who practices divination, who is a soothsayer, augur, or sorcerer,
     who uses charms, consults ghosts or spirits, or calls up the death."

   * In 1 Samuel 28, King Saul consults a witch, who raises the ghost of
     Samuel for him to converse with (the latter correctly predicts his
     death.)
 
  It has been estimated that hundreds of thousands of accused "witches"
were executed during the period of the Reformation and Counter Reformation
in Europe.  In the U.S., the most famous case of witchcraft occurred in Salem,
Massachusetts after some young Puritan girls began throwing frenzied fits, 
and insisted that they saw spectral images of witches.  The first accusations 
began in February of 1692. By the end of summer, nineteen people had been 
accused of witchcraft, and hanged on Witch's Hill in Salem Village. Not all 
of the victims were women. One man, Giles Corey had refused to answer his 
accusers, and was thus tortured by having giant weights placed on his body. 
Corey chose to die rather than admit to being a witch.  As he lay dying, his 
tongue was pressed out of his month.  A sheriff poked it back in with his 
cane.  It took two days for Corey to die.

   The hysteria from the Salem trials threatened to spill over into surrounding
communities.  The Salem hysterics were invited by other communities to help
discover the witches among them.  Suddenly new hysterics were also accusing
prominent members of the community or witchcraft--including the clergy, 
politicians, and judges.  Things clearly were getting out of hand when even 
the wives of the governor and Increase Mather himself were accused.  (Increase 
Mather had written MEMORABLE PROVIDENCES RELATING TO WITCHCRAFTS AND 
POSSESSIONS some three years before the Salem witch trials, which historians 
believe set the foundation for belief in witchcraft.)  

    After conferring with other colleagues on the problem, Increase Mather 
drafted a new pamphlet, entitled CASES OF CONSCIENCE CONCERNING EVIL SPIRITS 
PERSONATING MEN.  Mather pointed out that even virtuous people could be accused 
as witches. (Indeed, the Jesuits had accused Martin Luther of engaging in 
witchcraft).  Although he did not deny the existence of witches, Mather now 
worried about innocent people being accused.  In a famous saying, Mather 
pronounced that:

  "It were better that ten suspected witches should escape than that one 
  innocent person be condemned."  

   Even more important, Mather challenged the use of spectral evidence in 
obtaining a conviction. With their most important power--spectral evidence--
taken from them, witchfinders found they had lost most of their power to 
persuade courts to convict witches.

   A further blow to believers in witchcraft occurred after some of the most 
important original Salem accusers confessed that they were deluded at the 
time of the trial and no longer believed the executed individuals were really 
witches.  One of the initial child accusers, Ann Putnam, wrote her confession 
in 1706, at the age of 26:

   "I desire to be humbled before God for that sad and humbling providence
   that befell my father's family in the year about 1692; that I then being
   in my childhood, should by such a providence of God, be made an
   instrument for the accusing of several persons of a grievous crime,
   whereby their lives were taken away from them, whom now I have just
   grounds and good reasons to believe they were innocent persons...but
   what I did was ignorantly, being deluded of Satan..."
  
  The twelve Salem jurors also signed an admission of error in 1697,
asking forgiveness from the families who lives they touched:

  "as on further consideration and better information, we justly fear we 
  have been instrumental with others, although ignorantly and unwittingly, 
  to bring upon our selves, and this People of the Lord, the guilt of 
  innocent blood..."

  Reading old accounts of witchcraft tales that testified of old women
riding on broomsticks, etc sounds blatantly absurd to us today.  Yet
the fact remains that even the best minds of the times, although often
repelled by the cruel tortures that were imparted on the "accused" witches--
still RARELY questioned the institution of witchcraft and Satan worshipping
itself.  Instead, as H.R. Trevor-Roper pointed out, this was basically
because there was no other alternative--ie no other "substitute for such a
doctrine."  In an age where all events were presupposed to have supernatural
causes, there was simply no other paradigm, or model--no other basis for 
understanding or explaining unusual happenings.

  Therefore intelligent men  would brilliantly reason down a certain path. 
But because their arguments were generally based on an invalid premise--ie 
that there were evil supernatural beings operating everywhere--much of their 
writings seem silly--even crazy to us today.  To repeat, this was not because 
these men were writing in an irrational way. It was that the belief structure 
from which they operated, is no longer generally accepted today.

  It is a fact that the witch-craze declined, only after the new scientific
age brought on by such men as Francis Bacon and Descartes-- explained the
universe in natural (as opposed to supernatural) terms. (Trevor-Roper,
"The European Witch-Craze of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries', in
RELIGION, THE REFORMATION AND SOCIAL CHANGE, London: Macmillian, 1967, p 182,
Keith Thomas, RELIGION AND THE DECLINE OF MAGIC, London, 1971, pp 577,579,
R.S. Westfall, SCIENCE AND RELIGION IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND, New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1958, as quoted by G.A. Wells RELIGIOUS POSTURES, p
131).  That is, it was only after a scientific foundation was established,
that rational men could question the basic premises on which a belief in
witches was based.  And after this point of view had disseminated downwards
to the general public, suddenly the accusations against witch visitations
dropped off dramatically.  Proponents of the "old" view were hard pressed
to explain why Satan was suddenly becoming less active in society.

Mark Twain wrote irreverently of the period during which disbelief in
witches set in as follows:

  "Then it was discovered that there was no such thing as witches and never
  had been.  One does not know whether to laugh or cry.  Who discovered that
  there was no such thing as a witch? The priest, the parson?  No, these
  never discover anything.  At Salem, the parson clung pathetically to his
  witch text after the laity abandoned it in remorse and tears for the
  cruelties it had persuaded them to do.  The parson wanted more blood,
  more shame, more brutalities; it was the unconsecrated laity that
  stayed his hand." (Mark Twain, EUROPE AND ELSEWHERE, Mississippi Edition
  (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1923) p 389)

   One could, of course, argue with Twain--that it was only when conservative,
authoritarian religious bodies controlled the population--and religion did
NOT consider the findings of science when considering its doctrines, that
such gross superstitions could take hold.

  Alfred North Whitehead perhaps summarized this best, when he wrote:

  "Consider this contrast: when Darwin or Einstein proclaim theories
   which modify our ideas, it is a triumph for science. We do not go
   about saying that there is another defeat for science, because its
   old ideas have been abandoned.  We know that another step of scientific
   insight has been gained.  Religion will not regain its old power
   until it can face change in the same spirit as does science.  Its
   principles may be eternal, but the expression of those principles
   requires continual development." (Alfred North Whitehead, SCIENCE
   AND THE MODERN WORLD, New York: The Macmillan Co., 1925, p 271)