God and the Folly of Faith

by STENGER, VICTOR J.BARKER, DAN

• ISBN13: 9781616145996
• ISBN10: 1616145994
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2012-04-24
• Publisher: Prometheus Books

Summary

A sweeping historical survey that begins with ancient Greek science and proceeds through the Renaissance and Enlightenment to contemporary advances in physics and cosmology, makes a convincing case that Christianity held back the progress of science.

Author Biography

Victor J. Stenger is adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado and emeritus professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Hawaii. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller God: The Failed Hypothesis, The New Atheism, and many other books.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. 13
Foreword	p. 15
Preface	p. 25
Introduction	p. 31
The Earliest Skirmishes	p. 47
Origins of Religion	p. 47
Caveman Logic	p. 49
The First Scientists	p. 51
The Atomists	p. 54
Pythagoras	p. 56
Creation and Design	p. 57
Epicurus and Lucretius	p. 59
Aristotle	p. 62
Early Christian Philosophy	p. 65
The Rebirth and Triumph of Science	p. 67
Arabic Science	p. 67
Europe Awakens	p. 70
Science in Islam Today	p. 71
The First European Universities	p. 72
Science as the Handmaiden of Religion	p. 74
The Medieval Worldview	p. 76
Aquinas Rebuffed	p. 77
The New Science	p. 79
Galileo	p. 82
Newton's Laws	p. 86
Halley's Corner	p. 90
The Newtonian World Machine	p. 90
The Enlightenment	p. 93
Three Philosophical Views	p. 95
Did Christianity Beget Science?	p. 99
Darwin, Design, and Deity	p. 101
Natural Theology	p. 101
Natural Selection	p. 102
Dissent and Dispute	p. 104
Darwin and Design	p. 108
Evolutionary Politics	p. 111
Evolution Theology	p. 120
Social Evolution	p. 122
Religion as a Virus	p. 124
Toward the New Physics	p. 127
Putting Heat to Work	p. 127
Thermotheology	p. 129
The Wave Nature of Light	p. 130
Fields	p. 131
The Arrow of Time	p. 134
Special Relativity	p. 136
Cause and Effect	p. 138
General Relativity	p. 140
Practicles and Waves	p. 141
The Dematerialization of Matter	p. 141
The History of Quantum Mechanics	p. 142
Quantum Fields	p. 146
Toward the Standard Model	p. 148
Quantum Spirituality	p. 151
Divine Actions without Miracles	p. 153
The End of Duality	p. 154
Quantum Reality	p. 156
Is Quantum Mechanics Complete?	p. 160
Cosmos and Creator	p. 165
Creation Myths	p. 166
Big Bang Theology	p. 167
Big Bang Science	p. 176
Natural Origins	p. 186
Quantum Tunneling	p. 187
Tunneling from (or through) Nothing	p. 188
The Grand Accident	p. 189
The Universe as a Quantum Computer	p. 194
The Cosmic Insignificance of Humanity	p. 197
Purpose	p. 199
Contingency or Convergence?	p. 199
Teilhard's Omega Point	p. 202
Tipler's Omega Point	p. 204
Reductionism versus Holism	p. 205
Weak Emergence	p. 207
Self-Organization	p. 212
Strong Emergence	p. 215
The Definition of Life	p. 218
The Origin of Life	p. 220
Transcendence	p. 223
The Afterlife	p. 223
Beyond Matter	p. 225
Religion and Health	p. 226
Spiritual Energy	p. 229
Religious Experiences	p. 230
Near-Death Experiences: Historical Data	p. 230
Veridical NDEs	p. 232
Maria and the Shoe	p. 233
The Blind Shall See	p. 234
Near-Death Experiences: Recent Data	p. 234
Problems with NDEs	p. 235
Reincarnation	p. 238
Investigation the Paranormal	p. 239
The Physics of Christianity	p. 243
The Rematerialization of Matter	p. 244
A Personal Remembrance	p. 245
Science and Eastern Mysticism	p. 246
Beyond Evolution	p. 249
Justice and Morality	p. 249
Did Morality Evolve?	p. 250
What Do the Data Say?	p. 252
Atheist Terror	p. 255
Slavery	p. 256
Does Morality Prove God Exists?	p. 257
The Postevolutionary Phase	p. 259
Matter and Mind	p. 261
Body and Soul	p. 261
The Material Brain	p. 263
Consciousness	p. 267
Free Will	p. 269
The Quantum Brain	p. 270
Metaphor, Atheist Spirituality, and Immanence	p. 273
A Metaphorical God	p. 273
Spiritual Atheism	p. 275
The Modernist View of Religion	p. 277
Science Works Better	p. 280
From Conflict to Incompatibility	p. 283
The State of Religion Today	p. 283
Is Religion Good for You?	p. 287
Summary of Conflicts	p. 290
Confrontation or Accommodation?	p. 297
Why Does It Matter?	p. 301
The American Anomaly	p. 301
The Ups and Downs of Science in the Public Mind	p. 304
The Cultural Divide	p. 306
Tobacco and Pollution	p. 310
Global Warming	p. 313
The Impending Crash	p. 320
A Final Conclusion	p. 322
Notes	p. 323
Bibliography	p. 363
Index	p. 389
About the Author	p. 407
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.