The UK’s Independent has a big article with a big question: “can the divide between God and rationality be reconciled?” It includes new utterances from some of the hard hitters in the modern-day debate.
The idea that science and religion are incompatible is a fairly recent import into contemporary culture. It has been given huge credence by the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. The pronounced motivation of Islamic fundamentalists in 2001 hammered home that some people are prepared to inflict outrageous acts of inhumanity in the name of religion.
Yet the roots of the shift in attitude go back much further. “It came about because of a perfect storm – a wide range of factors came together,” says the atheist philosopher Julian Baggini. Among them were a shift from liberal to evangelical Christianity in Britain, the rise of creationism in America, advances in scientific techniques in biology and changes in public perception on issues as disparate as homosexuality and assisted dying.
More at the Independent.