The Rejection of the Conflict Thesis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Rejection of the Conflict Thesis - Essay Example The two men provided evidence of their theory through various examples of when scientists clashed with Catholic authorities or Christendom. Interestingly enough, it has been discovered that most of the evidence presented in these two books was either inaccurate or downright falsified in an effort to prove the theory. For this reason, and the fact that other historical evidence points against this theory, most (if not all) of the scientific community today has just about rejected this Thesis. Holding that cases where religion and science are directly in opposition are rare, and the exception rather than the rule, most of the scientific community considers the Conflict Thesis to be inaccurate. While accepting that there may be a few cases where religion and science may be opposed, this paper contends that there is no intrinsic conflict between the two, thus the rejection of the Conflict Thesis by the scientific community is all but natural.... Written by Andrew Dickson White, who also happens to be one of the co-founders of Cornell University, the book asserted that no matter how honorable and good the â€Å"intention† of religion (or religiously affiliated people), their interference with science always gave a wicked result. White, while supporting the thesis put forward by Draper, put forward a seemingly scholarly piece of work, which seemed properly documented with scholarly looking footnotes. This Theory can be termed to be the reason behind the negative image of religion laymen as well as scientists hold, even to this day. The Theory, though based on false assumptions and outright fabrications, seems to oversimplify the relationship religion has with science. Religion and science have had a complicated relationship that can in no way be termed one-dimensional. In fact, in most cases religion has fostered science and scientific knowledge. Though at times religion or religious authorities have been reluctant to e mbrace science in its entirety, however, it is not true to think that this was the norm. Moreover, agreeing that there have been times when religion and science have come head to head, the conflict between the two has been short lived. Such a conflict is more of an exception than a norm, and the contention of a constant conflict between the two is false and oft exaggerated (take for example the falsified story of Christians proclaiming the earth to be flat, which unfortunately is still thought to be true by many). To say that religion is the cause for the slow growth of science (of for its suppression) is to ignore other factors that have played a part in this regard.