They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth (Genesis 11:3-5).
The modern-day equivalent of the Tower of Babel can be found in the path where “science” seeks to lead us in our present culture. The quotation marks are necessary punctuation. Science has become the equivalent of the Golden Calf in the ancient world. If science spoke as a unified entity instead of a population with diverse opinions and conclusions, it might indeed be a sure path to the heavens.
Follow the Science
As it stands, phrases like “follow the science” or “the science tells us” are relatively useless when it comes to objective truth. In fact, any statement other than “I am the way, the truth and the life” falls woefully short. Even then, followers of Christ disagree as to how the Word of God is to be interpreted. It would be nice, in every debate, to have God at least somewhere on the panel.
Happenings and events once considered as “Acts of God” are now mostly considered as acts that are directly related to human activity. Nothing seems to be off-limits. The “god” of science is now in full control and can only be appeased if the proper sacrifices are made. Humans must “toe the line” and follow the directives of an insatiable tyrant that speaks in riddles only those who are enlightened understand. Theoretically, if the laggards would stop their dissent and get on board, a straight line to utopia could be drawn.
The Folly
As appealing as the notion of everyone proceeding with a singular devotion to scientific truth is, it amounts to little more than the folly that the Tower of Babel proved to be. The thinking seems to be that if only those with opposing views would “see the light” and “get with the program”, true progress could be achieved. If by some miracle, the left and right joined forces in the church and in the world, it might elicit divine intervention. As it is, it looks like we are a long way off from a common language or understanding. Back to Genesis for a moment:
Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused[b] the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth (Genesis 11:7-9).
Scattered and Confused
With the two-headed beast of situational ethics and secular humanism on the loose, there is little need for God to intervene in order to scatter and confuse. The gift of free will allows enough “rope” for us to hang ourselves. The arrogance that accompanies the “terrible twos” and adolescence has now found a place of honor in modern society. Dialogue and debate have been replaced with demagoguery and caustic rhetoric in public discourse, and show no signs of diminishing. We are subjected to “expert” opinions and prognostications. Facts and figures are mixed and manipulated to arrive at a predetermined conclusion.
A quote from Mark Twain applies here: “Some individuals use statistics as a drunk man uses lamp-posts — for support rather than for illumination.” Yet, many “false prophets” proclaim that they possess the wisdom and knowledge that comes from “following the science”.
Be a Witness to Faith
As Christians, we are called to be living witnesses to faith in Christ, glorifying Him by the lives we lead. No arguing or debate is necessary; just fidelity to the relationship we have with God through the sacrifice of his son. Grace, Redemption, Salvation, and Eternal life await the faithful disciple that follows the only sure path to Heaven.
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know[d] my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:5-7)
Let us pray for the grace to be ambassadors of Christ by faithfully following the way of the cross in the person of the risen Christ.
10 thoughts on “Science: A Tower of Babel That Reaches to the Heavens”
I agree with much of what Deacon Greg has to say about how science–refuse to capitalize–is used as a false idol nowadays by people who don’t know what science is all about. Unfortunately science education is given as problem solving, rather than the history of science. So people don’t understand how science works, the network of theory and reproducible empirical verification required for scientific truth. And that this scientific truth changes as new theories, new data arise. I’ve written on this in several posts in this blog. For a more complete account please read Essays 2 and 8 in “Truth Cannot Contradict Truth.” (See https://scienceandthechurch.catholicscientist.com) And to be sure, what science truly tells us about the world does not conflict with our Catholic faith–as Pope St. John Paul II put it, “Truth Cannot Contradict Truth.”
Kyle, have you ever been to a planetarium? The display of the motion of the planets from our geocentric observation perspective, as presented in a planetarium, is fully in accord with a heliocentric depiction of planetary motion. Geocentric and heliocentric depictions of planetary motion must both be true for either of them to be true. The choice of a reference frame in geometry is based on utility. This is evident in our identification of sunrise and sunset, which would be a denial of the heliocentric view, if the heliocentric is true and the geocentric is false. There is no re-writing of history to note that Galileo erred in his viewing the Copernican/heliocentric depiction of planetary motion as absolute.
Perhaps, in an alternate universe, Church teaching is subordinate to “science”. There might even be a blog called “Scientific Stand”. I write in this universe for a forum called “Catholic Stand” that seeks to understand how to better live the “truth the Church teaches”. God created science, not the other way around. There is no dichotomy. God reigns supreme, and science proceeds under His providence. My point is a simple one: The Catholic Church teaches infallibly (not impeccably) in matters of faith and morals, and has done so from the time of the Apostles. This teaching authority comes from God, Father Son and Holy Spirit. Scientific discovery, even at its finest, has no such authority. It is not the Church versus science, it is science proceeding under God’s providential care as expressed through Catholic teaching.
You keep pretending that there is a natural disconnect between religion and science. One is not subordinate to the other. They must work together and fit together. If there is a disagreement, one side has to change. And last time I checked, the church no longer teaches that the earth must be the center of the universe – so there is precedent for the church changing.
You’re doing a good job of bringing down the church’s teachings on infallibility. The idea that the church is infallible now and always has been is laughable at this point even to most Catholics. By sticking to every single church teaching as infallible and beyond discussion (or the application of reason), you will either bring down the idea of infallibility or potentially the whole church. I really hope you only destroy that teaching, but you’re helping to put the entire church in the danger zone.
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There is some truth in this article, but it is mostly lunacy. Science is the application of our God given gift of reason. And unlike what the author seems to believe, science does not claim to know everything (maybe the church could learn something here and avoid future situations where people are imprisoned for claiming the earth rotates around the sun). The author pretends that our current understanding of natural phenomenon is somehow a bad thing. Natural phenomenon are still acts of God’s creation which makes them acts of God, but our understanding of God’s creation and how we impact it with our free will is a good thing. It means we can be better stewards of what God gave us – our environment and our human lives. The idea presented in this article – that understanding and knowledge are bad things – is dangerous and destructive to God’s creation. It’s a pity this was written.
Science does not speak with one voice. In fact, science doesn’t speak at all. People disagree in their subjective interpretations of scientific discoveries, therefore science cannot be “followed” as such. A choice must be made between opposing scientific theories. Catholicism, on the other hand, does speak clearly in the person of Jesus Christ in the language of objective truth. Of course, even the objective truth of Catholicism is subject to subjective interpretation. This article was written for Catholic Stand with the intention of unpacking what “following the science” really means from a Catholic perspective. May the force be with you.
It is usually stated that the earth rotates on its axis as it orbits the sun. Notice that this depiction is from an observation post fixed in relationship with the sun. Thus it is an observation never achieved by man or his instrumentation. It is inferred from actual observations most of which are geocentric. In Galileo’s day the observations were all geocentric.
Galileo insisted that such a depiction was absolute. He failed to recognize it as based on a choice of a reference frame, however, utilitarian that choice may be for some purposes.
Another choice, completely compatible with it, is the geocentric observation point implicit in the identification of the times of the daily sunrise and sunset. This choice implies the sun orbits the earth daily.
We can excuse Galileo in his error of absolutism due to the state of development of human knowledge in his day, but today we should recognize his absolutism as the error it is.
The choice of a reference frame to depict motion is one of utility in each particular instance, not of right or wrong.
Kyle-I believe it was a blessing this was written and a blessing that you have commented.
There are very, very few pure truth-seeking scientists today. “For Cohen, many scientists who had become “servants of power,” have enlisted now as “soldiers of power”. Soldiers must obey, says Cohen, and, in the past, the task of the scientist was to question, not to “obey” when someone said something was true (Id., pp. 226-227). Today science is permeated, funded, and corrupted by the “scientific obedience to power.” (Id., p. 227). Scientists have become the laboratory mercenaries of powerism.”
Richard Horton, an Editor-In-Chief of the journal Lancet has written: “The case against Science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue.”
You might find these articles, links below, published here previously, interesting. Guy, Texas
catholicstand.com/credo-scientific-dogma-part/
https://catholicstand.com/credo-scientific-dogma-part-ii-powerism/
My goodness this just continues. Sometimes I feel like I am living in an alternate reality on this site.
Bob, you’re really going to try to make the case that the church was right in the Galileo affair? That it was simply a matter of different perspectives? The arguments of Galileo’s day regarding heliocentrism and geocentrism were not a matter of perspective, and I hope (and think) you understand that. This rewriting of history is a major reason that the church is dying. Information is readily available, and you are hurting the church by continuing to reject/rewrite reality. It’s partly stuff like this that prevents the church from having any form of credibility.
Greg, of course science doesn’t speak with one voice. The scientific community is constantly taking in new information and trying to use it to further our understanding of God’s creation. Scientists don’t know everything, but they are constantly trying to learn more. Criticizing science for not knowing everything is absurd. The whole purpose of science is to learn more about what we don’t understand. And likewise, just because science can’t prove something (yet), doesn’t mean the opinion of the scientific community isn’t valuable. There are many degrees of confidence, and you can have a high degree of confidence without being certain. Jesus taught in objective truth. Unfortunately, unlike Jesus, the church has not always done this. Over 2,000 years they’ve (overconfidently) taught a number of things that have turned out to be untrue (see geocentrism above). They continue to do it today with aspects of sexuality. The evidence is overwhelming that sex is more complicated than we thought it was, but the church rejects this. They pretend that an individual cannot have two XX chromosomes and a penis or vice-versa. There are many aspects to gender that don’t always align, and the longer the church refuses to accept the reality of God’s creation – and continues to ignore/refute it – the worse it will be for the future of the church. Uncomfortable reality cannot be ignored or changed. If the church cannot deal with God’s creation, where is the value in the church? That is the question many are asking as they walk out the doors.
Guy, you’re presenting a false dichotomy between science and religion. There should be no dichotomy because they must work together. Science is our attempt at understanding God’s creation. And God’s creation cannot be wrong. You ended one of your articles with this: “Most certainly, any time a power person says “Science demands _________”, it is our duty, to disbelieve and to disobey.” That is simply blind obstinance and nothing else. It is not a Christian viewpoint, and it flies in the face of reason. And if that doesn’t work for you, it also flies in the face of the teachings of the pope. Please open your eyes to reason and the world around you. God calls us all to responsible stewardship.
I truly want the church to be a successful beacon, but the types of destructive viewpoints I read here hurt the church. And that hurts me. I do pray for you, and I hope that you can have a conversion to be more accepting of the world God created for us. God bless.