Project Subject : English Topic : Science and religion , conflict or cooperation ?

Worked by : Erlind Brame

Acceptedfrom : Xhiliola Abdihoxha

This project contains :

Introduce the topic What is Science? What is religion? Stating the issue . Identifying the issue. Science without religion , religion

without Science.

History of Muslim science . Muslim Scientists in History. Lets see some Qur’an Verses :

Christianity and Science Do the Bible and Science Disagree? Christian Scientists in History.

Science without religion is lame , religion withput science is blind , or it is like that , or it is the opposite ?

Doesn’t matter . all we should know is that none of them can livewithout the other. We can’t deny their connection , their relationship. Science and religion generally pursue knowledge of the universe using different methodologies. Science acknowledges reason, empiricism, and evidence, while religions include revelation,faith and sacredness. Despite these differences, most scientific and technical innovations prior to the Scientific revolution were achieved by societies organized by religious traditions. Much of the scientific method was pioneered first by ancient civilizations such as the Greeks, Egyptians, Indians, andSumerians. Later during the middle ages the Catholic church was responsible for saving much of the scientific knowledge from these civilizations, thus allowing the scientific method to develop in Europe during and after the Renaissance and through the enlightenment period. Islam also made great contributions to areas such as Mathematics, and Astronomy. scientists, and some contemporary theologians hold that religion and science are non-

overlapping magisteria, addressing fundamentally separate forms of knowledge and aspects of life. Scientists see no necessary conflict between religion and science. Some theologians or historians of science, propose an interconnection between them. But first lets understand each of them . What is science ? What is relagion?

What is science ?Science is that branch of study which seeks to observe, discover,and understand the nature and principles that govern our universe, our world, and ourselves.  The result of this process is a systematic categorization of knowledge with the goal of predicting and manipulating events according to discovered natural laws.

Science has shaped our lives dramatically.  Because of science wenow have great medical knowledge.  We can travel in jets, automobiles, and trains over great distances.  We can harness rivers, predict storms, and use the power of the atom.  By picking up a phone we can talk to almost anyone in the world.  Wecan see anywhere on the planet via television and even gaze upon the surface of the moon and Mars.  Like a giant flood gate that has been opened, what is flowing through its doors is a wonderfultechnology of helps, advancements, relaxation, amusements, security, answered questions, and hope.  No longer must we till the land with our hands, pray for life giving rain to water our crops, be subject to the whims of nature, and be helpless during times of sickness.  In fact, science has become for many a new god.

Before the time when science was looked to for explanations of the unknown, mankind turned to religion.  History is full of stories, writings, and the influence of religious beliefs upon entire societies.  Temples dedicated to various gods are all overthe world.  Even though science has not replaced religion in all

areas, it offers an intellectually justifiable reason to deny God's sovereignty.  Evolution is a good example.

When a society is powerless to control its future and is vulnerable to the elements of nature, it turns to that which is in control of those things: god(s).  In all religious systems, prayers are offered in the hopes of appeasing and convincing a god or gods to help in time of need.  But now that we can provide irrigation to replace rain, medicine to cure diseases, weapons to protect our homes, and television to dull our minds and hearts, the need for a deity to pray to has given

way to the need to obtain money in order to gain the benefits of technology: comfort, leisure, and security.  The world offers a new kind of religion: science.  The

scientists are its priests and the general populace is the congregation.

The first thing to say, here, is that it is exceedingly difficultto characterize these phenomena. First, consider science: what exactly is science? How can we characterize it? What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for a given inquiry or theoryor claim to be scientific, a part of science? This is far from easy to say. Many conditions have been proposed as essential to science. According to Jacques Monod, “The cornerstone of the scientific method is the postulate that nature is objective…. In other words, the systematic denial that ‘true’ knowledge can be got by interpreting nature in terms of final causes …”. Inthe 1930s, the eminent German Chemist Walther Nernst claimed thatscience, by definition, requires an infinite universe; hence Big Bang theory, he said, isn't science Another proposed constraint: science can't involve moral judgments, or value judgments more generally.

Still others claim that science is constrained by ‘methodological naturalism’ (MN )—the idea that neither the data for a scientific investigation nor a scientific theory can properly refer to supernatural beings (God, angels, demons); thus one couldn't properly propose (as part of science) a theory according to whichthe recent outbreak of weird and irrational behavior in Washington D.C. is to be accounted for in terms of increased demonic behavior in that neighborhood. How do we know that MN really is an essential constraint on science?

Some claim that it is simply a matter of definition; thus Nancey Murphy: “… there is what we might call methodological atheism, which is by definitioncommon to all natural science. She continues: “This is simply the principle that scientific explanations are to be in terms of natural (not supernatural) entities and processes”. Similarly for Michael Ruse: “The Creationists believe that the world started miraculously. But miracles lie outside of science, which by definition deals only with the natural, the repeatable, that which is governed by law”. By definition of what?By definition of the term ‘science’ one supposes. But others thenask: what about the Big Bang: if it turns out to be unrepeatable, must we conclude that it can't be studied scientifically? And consider the claim that science, by definition, deals only with that which is governed bylaw—natural law, one supposes.

Perhaps there are several quite different activities that go under the name ‘science’; these activities are related to each other by similarity and analogy, but there is no one single activity which is just science as such. There are projects for which the criterion of success involves producing true theories; there are others where the criterion of success involves producing theories that are empirically adequate, whether or not they are also true. There are projects constrained by MN; there are other projectsthat are not so constrained. These projects or activities all fall under the meaning of the term ‘science’; but there is no single activity of which all are examples. (In the same way, chess, basketball and poker are all games; but there is no single game of which they are all versions.) Perhaps the best we can do, with respect to characterizing

science, is to say that the term ‘science’ applies to any activity that is a systematic and disciplined enterprise aimed atfinding out truth about our world, and (2) has significant empirical involvement. This is of course vague (How systematic? How disciplined? How much empirical involvement?) and perhaps unduly permissive. (Does astrology count as science, even if onlybad science?) Still, we do have many excellent examples of science, and excellent examples of non-science.

What is Religion ?If it is difficult to give an account of the nature of science, it is not much easier to say just what a religion is. Of course there are multifarious examples: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and many others. What characteristics are necessary and sufficient for something's being a religion? How does one distinguish a religionfrom a way of life, such as Confucianism? That's not easy to say.Not all religions involve belief in something like the almighty and all-knowing, morally perfect God of the theistic religions, or even in any supernatural beings at all. (Of course a substantial majority of them do.) With respect to our present inquiry, what is of special importance is the notion of areligious belief: what does a belief have to be like to be religious?

Once more, that's not easy to say. To cite the furor over intelligent design again, some say the proposition that there is an intelligent designer of the living world is religion, not science. But not just any belief involving an intelligent designer, indeed, not just any belief involving God, is automatically religious. According to the New Testament book of James, “the devils believe [that Godexists] and tremble”; the devils' beliefs, presumably, aren't religious. And what about a system of beliefs that answers the

same great human questions answered by the clear examples of religion: questions about the fundamental nature of the universe and what is most real and basic in it, about the place of human beings in that universe, about whether there is such a thing as sin or an analogue, and if there is, what there is to be done about it, where we must look to improve the human condition, whether human beings survive their deaths and how a rational person should act? Will any system of beliefs that provides answers to those questions count as a religion? Again, not easy to say; probably not. The property of being religious isn't intrinsic to a belief; it is rather one a belief acquires when itfunctions in a certain way in the life of a given person or community. To be a religious belief, the belief in question would have to be appropriately connected with characteristically religious attitudes on the part of the believer, such attitudes as worship, love, commitment, awe, and the like.

Stating the problem. The relationship between Religion and science has been the focal point of exertion and controversy for quite a long period of time.In 1983 aJameelah lashed out at modern science :

Modern science is guided by no moral value but naked materialism and arrogance . Thewhoe branch of knowladge and its applications is contaminated by the same evil. Science and technology are totally dependent upon the set of ideals and values cherished by its member. If the roots of a tree are rotten then the tree is rotten ;therefore all its fruits are rotten.

Some other religious had expressed fears that the clearity and precision of mathematical demonstration could lead those who studied them to deny God’s attributes.

They have noticed :even if geometry and arithmetic do not contain notions that are harmful to religious belief , we nevertheless fear that one may be attracted throuh them to doctrines that are dangereous.

Another scholar has said : Those who forbit science and knowledge in the belief by pretending on defending the religion they are really the enemies of this religion. Religions , but mostly islam is very closeto science and knowledge and there is no incompatibility between science and knowledge and the foundation of the islamic religion.

Identifying the issue. Science is a body of knowledge that we acquire through observation and analizys . the term is quite broad for almost every branch of human inquiry can be called a science.. Given this, we can talk about religios and social science. Such as science as ‘methodological naturalism’ (MN) . In this paper I usescience to mean the phisycall sciences, whether theoreticalor applied , that use consistent experimentation , observating , andinference in an attempt to comprehend the physical and amterial univ erse . the relationship between such science and Religion isthe core issue of this debate.

Science consider as a scienific each proved fact .So other theories that don’t come from observation and experimantion are just hypothesis.

As science can not be sure fore the future it dont do specific predictions. The doubt is scientific baze of research, the Mohammed Profet who learn from the God had done very crucial predictions.Most of them are scientificly proved. To many Quranicversestell as about facts scientificly proved lately.

When studied withut prejudice and prenonciation the Qu’ran showsthat it promotes the love of science and humanity, justice and order. The Qu’ran is full of verser urging us to study nature. Italso urges us to reflect upon the creation and the created , to aproach it responsibility , and tu use it to everybody’s benefit.According to Islam the whole point of seeking knowledgeis to discover the meaning of existence so that we car reach the

Creator and benefit humanity of all creation. And then we arre tocombine that knowledge with belief , love and altruism. Christianity did not develop as a comprehensive religion encompassing all field but as a set of spiritual and moral valueswith a direct bearing on life’s worldly aspect. This has had serious conequences for subsequent western histori. For example christianity condemned war but refused to recognize its reality in human history and therefore laid down no rules of conduct for it. Since such an attidute has never ended any war the lack of religion –based rules for war has resulted in great brutality andruthless massacres bny various western nations throughout the world.

Similarly , Christianity condemns the world and nature as a veil seperating humanity from God , a view that has encouraged modernscience to regard religious authority as irrelevant.Also the dualism apparent in seperating this world and the Hereafter religion and science , spirituality and physicality . led Westernthinkers and philosophers who tried to find a space for religion beside science to assign different fields tio religion and science , reason and revelation , this world and the Hereafter.So what is there to fear from science? Planned acts based on knowlwdge sometimes cause but certainly ignorance and dissorganization allways cause bad results. Instead of opposing the products of science and technology , we must use them to bring hapiness to humanity.Although scince can be a deadly weaponin the hand an irresponsible minority , we should not hesitate toadopt both science and its products and then use them to establish a civilization in which we carn secure our happiness inthe worldand the next.It is pointless to curse machines and factories because machines will continue to run and factories to operate. Science and its products will begin to benefitus unly when people of truth and belief begin to direct our affairs. Manyof bad things that had happened in the world has come from those who still believe thar the only might is right.this situation

will continue until we built a world on a foundation of faith andscience.

Science without religion , religion without Science.Great scientists had always asked : Where will go ethic that is connected with uses of science.? How we should deside which will should be our purpose? Which is the best way to all human beings?Philosophes and scientists had very doubt on answering those questions.Einstain had said :science without religion is weak , religion without science is blind.based on hic experience Einstein said that science can be created only by who want to reach the perfection ,who want to know and understood the truth.He protected types of faith that proclaims that the rules that govern the world of existence are rational and therefore understandable for humanity logic . on his famous esseay : “Athomic war or peace” emphasizespowerlessness of scientists to infuelncuar on moral judgments:

I think the atomic scientists are convinced that they can not awaken the American people regarding the truth of the atomic era,starting only from logic. this should add power and depth of feelings which is the basic constituent of religion.Knowledges ofscience need religion to come back as a blessing for humankind.Raise of natural scienceimpact powerfully on human minds and in their daily life.When Kopernik and Kepler were askedto face with the moment of truth they choosed aroad that was not their faith.Since then a conlict that it seems to be incompatiblehad existed between knowledge and faith and most schooled peoplescame into the conclusion that faith must be replaced by science. This bring a negative way of thinking about religion. Anyway people on the west identify science with technology and its aplications. They had earned by strength of technology and use it

to make their lifes more simple and safe.But science has not contributed on theirmoral and spiritual life. So this way of livehad bring the nowdays society that we all can se where it is going.

History of Muslim science . Lets go through history to see some facts.I dont want to make diference between religions i just want to see them as one.

Ghiles notes that :

At its peak about one thousand years ago the Muslim world made a remarkeble contribution to science notably mathematics and medisine.Baghdad in its heyday and southernd Spain univerities to wihich thousands flocked. Rulers surrounded themselves with scientists and artists.

This tribute is one of many that western scholars are belatedly paying to muslim civilization.Sarton records that :

From the second half of the eighth to the end of the elevent century, arabic was the scientifi , the progressive language of mankind...anyone wishing to be well-infomred , up to date , had to study arabic.

He then gives a lengthy list of muslim scientists who bore the torch of civilization while in hoodbhoy’s word “Europians were preoccupied with desembowelling heretics” citing the work of a muslim scientist Sarton writes the following about Robert of Chester’s tranlation of al Khwarizmi’s work : The importance of this partikular translation can hardly be exaggerated . it may be said to mark the beginningof Europian algjebra.

Gandz is even more elaborate in explaining modern science’s debt to Islamic civilization :

Al Khwarizmi’s Algebrqa is regarded as the foundation and corerstone of the sciences.In a sense al Khwarizmi is more entitled to be called “the fathe of algjebra” tha Diophantus because al Khwarizmi was the first to teach algebra in an elementary form and for its own sake , Diophantus is primarily concerned with the theory of numbers.

Rosenthal presses the same point when he writes :

Muslim science and medicine are important aspasrt of te continuity of the classical tradition in the East as well as the

West which was greatly indebted to Muslim Civilization in these fields.

Professor de Santillana of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says of al Biruni :

In al Biruni the greatest scientist of Islam we meet a mind in on a way different from theWestern lay scientific mind at its best.His religious faith is secure but . . . does not impede his freedom of judgement his love fact , his free wheeling curiosity , his easy sarcasm his strict and watchful cult of intellectual integrity.

Hoodbhoy while quite crityical of islamic science has good words for the scientists of the golden age of muslim civilization :Today we remember Nasir al Din al Tusi for his trigonometry, Umar Khayyam for his solution of cubic equations , Jabi ibn Hayyan for the ingenuity of his chemical apparatus, Al Jazari for his intricarte maschines.

The invetion of the Zero by Muslim mathematicians is one of the most spectacular contributions of Islamic civilizationtio modern science . It is difficult ti imagine modern mathematics without it. In reference to this contribution al Daffa notes that :

The zero’s creation opened the way for the entire concept of algebraic positive and negative numbers which are used for calculations, identification of electric charge and discharge. For navigation etc.

Of course muslim scientists were proceded by other , notably those of the priop greek oan roman Civilizations . Far from shunning them as irrevelantmuslim studied their work and acknowledged benefiting from the work of Euclid , Apollonios Pythagoras Ephesus Vitruvius , Pergamos , Ptolemy and others. Onescientist Abu a;-Faraj Abdullah Tayyib states :

In our studies we have followed in the footsteps of our redecessors and taken pains to understand their works well.We have also discovered in connection with abscure statements and explanations of theirs a number of ideas going beyond what they have said.

Muslim Scientists in History.Al-Hassan and Hill , Sarton Nasr and other give long but by no means exhaustive lists of muslims scientists and their

achievements. Certain scientists have benn too imposing to be ignored if onlybecause they have dictated trends in modern science .Among the Al Khwarizmi whose original studies in algebra provided a stepping stone for modern mathematics. Abu al Fath Umar ibnIbrahim al-Khayyami is celebrated almost to the same degree.Thabit ibn Qurraa Sabian

from Harran is remembered for his authoritative work on mathematics physics medicine and astronomy.Maslama al Majriti an authority on alchemy and author of The Sage’s Step.and The Aim ofthe wise was also a distinguished astronomer and mathematician.Nasir al-Din al-Tusi ranked by some as the greatestmuslim scientist after ibn Sina was a great historian astronomer and mathematician.

Mahmud ibnMas’ud Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi excellent in mathematics and astronomy. In medicineIbn Sina is legendary even in the west.His Canonof Medicine and The Book of Healing were long term staplesfor university academics especially in France .Mohammad ibn Zakarija al-Rhazi is remembered for his The secret of Secrets and for his Outstanding medical treatise The Treatise on Smallpox and Measles.Abu Ali al-Hassan ibn al-Haythamwas a great physiscist whose Book on Optics earned him a placwe in scientific history.Santillana as the greatest muslim scientistis respected in east and west too. There are more famous scientists that have studiet philosophy chemistry as Yakub Ebu Jusuf ibn Is’hak, Abu Nasr al-Farabi, Hassan al-Masudi etc.

Lets see some Qu’ran Verses :The formation of Embrio :

What the Qur’an reveals about the embryo’s formation and developmental phases in the uterus is striking . Consider the following : O Humanity if you have a doubt about the resurrection (consider) that We created you out of dust then out of sperm , then out of a leech-like cloth then out a lump of flesh partly formed and pasrtly unformed in order that We may manifest (what We Will) to you (22:5)

In another verse this development is explained in greater detali and the distinct phases are emphasized more clearly:

Man We created a quintessence (of clay). Then We placed him as(a drop of) sperm in a place of rest , firmly fixed . Than we made the sperminto a clot of congealed blood. Thenof that clot We made a lump (embryo) ; then we made out of it a new creature.(23:12-4).

Miraculuos production of milk: What the Qur’an says about milk and its produstion is as brilliant as the drink itself, and our understanding of it has brought us great benefits:

And verily in cattle (too) will you find an instructive sign. From what is from badies , between excretions and blood . We produce for you drink milk pure and agreeable to those who drinkit .(16:66)

Creation in pairs: The Qur’an reveals that all things are createdin pairs: Glory be to God Who created in pairs all things of whatEarth produces of themsleves, and of which they have no knowledge(36:36)

Everything that exists has counterpart ehether opposite or complementary. The complementarity of human animal and certain plant genders has long been known. But what about the pairs of things of which we have no knowledge ? This may refer to a whole range entities inanimate as well as animate . In the subtle forces and principals of natyre within animate or inanimate entities, there are many kind of pairs.All things as our modern instruments confirm occur in twos. The scientific definition of creation in pairs implies similar opposites . The Qur’an gives three examples:

Pairs produced by Earth such are proton electron neutro9n etc , those with different physical and chemical characteristics ; biologically opposed pairs male and femaleplants and animals and physically opposed pairs.

Pairs of their selves man and woman.

Pairs about which we don’t know.

Creation of the world : The Qur’an recounts in its own unique idiom the first creation of the world and of its living inhabitants:

Do not the unbelievers see that the heavens and Earth were joined together before We clove the asunder? We made from water avery living thing . Will they not believe?(21;30)

The Sun Orbit : The sun is very specieal and very important .The Qur’an shows its most important aspects with four words : Even the sun travel to his end .It isdefinet by Him(36:38)

Moon travel: a long time ago some Qur’an interpretors had thoughtthat the travel to the moon is possible :And on The Moon that is full Moon : You surely live it stage to stage (84/18-19)

Earth shape : Did not they see that We reduce earth by her sides , then they Will not be winner ?

A Barrier between two seas : He allowed seas to meet each other. Between them is a barrier that they could not overcome(55/19-20)

Christianity and Science History , disagries ,the most famous scientists

What Does this Mean to a Christian?To the Christian, science is merely that branch of discovery thatcategorizes, discovers, and utilizes the knowledge woven into thefabric of the universe by a Sovereign, All Powerful, and Omniscient, Creator.  Science is not the end of all things, but

merely one of the means by which man may glorify God.   This is because God is the creator of all that is.  He has hidden the treasures of his ominous glory in the very universe in which we exist.  The power in the atom, momentum, energy, mass, time, etc.are all creations of God and, therefore, under his authority.The more the Christian learns of these things, the more he can glorify God.  Science must be subservient to Him, not the other way around.  Science is not God's replacement.  Every Christian should know that.

Do the Bible and Science Disagree?Where other cosmologies found in religions have the world on the back of turtles, or the earth being the result of a fight betweengods, biblical revelation is quite consistent with science. This is not to say that the Bible is vindicated by science; rather, itis science that is vindicated by the Bible. Consider the following: (note: all quotes are from the NIV)

The Round Shape of the Earth - "He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in," (Isaiah 40:22).

The Earth is suspended in nothing - "He spreads out the northern [skies] over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing," (Job 26:7).

The Stars are Innumerable - "He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars -- if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be," (Genesis 15:5).

The Existence of Valleys in the Seas - "The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of breath from his nostrils," (2Samuel 22:16).

The Existence of Springs and Fountains in the Seas - "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month -- on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened," (Genesis 7:11). See also Gen. 8:2; Prov. 8:28.

The Existence of Water Paths (Ocean Currents) in the Seas - "O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!... When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,... You made him [man]ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet... the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas," (Psalm 8:1,3,6,8).

The Hydrologic Cycle - "He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yetthe clouds do not burst under their weight," (Job 26:8);  "He draws up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams; the clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showersfall on mankind," (Job 36:27-28); "The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.  All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they returnagain," (Ecclesiastes 1:6-7).

The Concept of Entropy - "In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.  They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.  Like clothing you will change them and they willbe discarded," (Psalm 102:25-26).

The Nature of Health, Sanitation, and Sickness - The listing for this section is too large for this page.  But the scriptural references are Leviticus chapters 12 through 14.

Biblical literalism (Creationism) Considers the Bible to be the source of scientific information about origins. Presents a particular biblical interpretation of origins as a basis for a scientific understanding of creation andrejects the views of contemporary scientists. Thus creation science starts from a biblical presupposition. We must decide

whether it represents authentic Christianity and/or authentic science.

History of Biblical interpretation of Genesis in the past.

Augustine of Hippo and the Church Fathers .Augustine recognised the problem of the 4th day and the second account of Genesis and considered Gen 1-3 to be non-literal or allegorical.

Galileo and the church. Recognised the problem of heliocentrism and maintained that the Scripture does not teach science.

Geology and the age of the earth. Archbishop Ussher’s date of creation (4004 BC) was discarded withthe development of modern geology and information about the age of the earth.

Concordance and the Scriptural geologists. In the 19th C many Christians sought to fit the geological account to the bible account. The two most prominent concordant theories were the Gap theory and the Day age theory. Others sought to fit science to the bible by suggesting the special creation of a ready made cosmos that fitted the scientific findings e.g. Adam’s being created with a navel and trees with annual rings denoting age.

Darwinism and special creation. Darwinism was not consistent with the creation of individual species as suggested by a literal reading of Genesis 1. Despite

this history there are those who still maintain the scientific accuracy of Scripture with respect to creation.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)"The impossibility of conceiving that thisgrand and wondrous universe, with our conscious selves, arose through chance, seems to me the chief argument for the existence of God."

Clarification: The full quote, from one ofDarwin's letters, carries a different sentiment.

A young admirer asked Darwin about his religious views (the original inquiry is lost), and the great naturalist answered: "It is impossible to answer your question briefly; and I am not sure that I could doso, even if I wrote at some length. But I may say that the impossibility of conceiving that this grand and wondrous universe, with our conscious selves, arose

through chance, seems to me the chief argument for the existence of God; but whether this is an argument of real value, I have never been able to decide."

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)Clarification: While the New York Times noted that "Einstein consistently characterized the idea of a personal God who answers prayers as naive, and life afterdeath as wishful thinking," he also "described himself asan 'agnostic' and 'not an atheist.'" One ambiguous quote,from Einstein's response to a letter from a sixth-grade student named Phyllis Wright, reads "Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the

universe - a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of aspecial sort, which is indeed quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive." German physicist, created theory of general relativity.

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543):

Catholic canon who introduced a heliocentric world view. In 1616, in connection with the Galileo affair, this work was forbidden by the Church "until corrected". Nine sentences representing heliocentricism as certain had to be either omitted or changed. This done, the reading of the book was allowed.Only in 1835 the original uncensored version was dropped from the Index of Prohibited Books.

Galileo Galilei (1564–1642): Scientist who had many problems with the Inquisition for defending heliocentrism in the convoluted period broughtabout by the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. In regard to Scripture, he took Augustine's position: not to take every passage too literally, particularly when the scripture in question is a book of poetry and songs, not a book of instructions or history.

Galileo has become legendary for his confrontation with the church even though a significant part of whose fame was also the fact that he was a devout Christian. Papa Urban VIII who sentenced him to life imprisonment ,was and his friend and Galileo defended by the Cardinal Maffe Barbern.

Although subsequent studies showed that Galileo was right again had it took more than 350 years to articulate the official withdrawal from his position. May 9, 1983 Pope John Paul II made an official withdrawal .

Isaac Newton (1643–1727): He is regarded as one of the greatest scientists and mathematicians in history. Newton's study of the Bible and of the early Church Fathers were among his greatest passions, though he consistently refused to swear his allegiance to the church. He wrote Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John (Nontrinitarianism). Isaac Newton'sreligious views are considered by some to be

close to deism and several biographers and scholars labeled him as a deist who is strongly influenced by Christianity.However, hediffered from strict adherents of deism in that he invoked God asa special physical cause to keep the planets in orbits.

Bibliography

“Islamic prespectives on science” Ali Unal

Kennedy , E.S “Studies in the islamic exact sciences.”

William trevor I “A biographical dictionary of scientists.”

George Sarton “ The life of science.”

Albert Einstein esseays : “Washington post” , other magazines.

Sir Thomas Arnoid and Alfred Guillaume (Oxford UK)

M Fethullah Gylen “Understanding and Belief.”

www.Wikipedia.org

The bible

The Qur’an