![]() The fact of the matter is that most people who naively believe this story of a war between science and religion are unfamiliar with even elementary science, and know little of the theology or philosophy of various religions. This resonates with the Buddhist observation that nothing in the world endures for even two instants. Stated in non-theological terminology, al Ghazali’s point is that all we observe are certain regularities which may keep changing with time. This is often taken to mean not that the church has influenced science, but that Christianity is more scientific than Islam! It is contrary to certain key Islamic beliefs such as those of al Ghazali that Allah has habits which may change. But this belief, that God rules the world, using eternal laws of nature, was a Christian theological belief, first articulated by Aquinas. In fact, it is anti-scientific, for the belief in “laws” militates against the human creativity needed to design novel experiments to test scientific theories. This belief is NOT scientific on Popper’s criterion of refutability or falsifiability. ![]() For example, we still speak of Newton’s “laws” of motion on the belief that the world is governed by eternal laws of nature. Consequently, present-day (Western) science is influenced by church theology. ![]() This neglects the fact that present-day (Western) science developed under the hegemonic rule of the church. On the common story, science is at war with all religions. ![]()
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