Religion and Science
5. Religion and Science
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parts of which man, with his limited skills, has been
able to discover. Let us suppose that religious
minded people, who believe that it is God who
causes the ebb and flow of the tides, are confronted
with the scientific explanation that the tides are
actually caused by the gravitational pull of the
moon and vary according to the geographical
configuration of the seas and land surfaces. There
would be no need for them to deny this explanation
in order to uphold their belief in God’s
instrumentality. They could accept it without
causing the slightest harm to their religious beliefs.
It is true that tides do occur in consonance with
geographical configuration and as a result of
gravitational pull. But, after all, what are these
things? They too are God’s creations. It is through
these phenomena that God acts. As John Wilson
observed: ‘This does not destroy my belief. It is still
God (working through these things) who is
responsible for the tides.’
1
Similarly, in the field of biology, the theory of
evolution implies that biological processes no
longer demand the existence of metaphysical
realities. In other words, in order to understand the
