Science and The Church

Photo Credit: Stony Brook Young Investigators Review

For the past few centuries, mankind has been going through a fundamental shift in values. Now, what is meant by this statement is that, for the past 400-500 years, mankind has begun to replace the belief in a divinity with the notions and theories of science. I do not mean to condemn science or scientific achievement or studiers of science in any way, my only aim in writing this is to identify how science and religion, Catholicism in this case, go hand and hand. In addition to that, I wish to show how the Church has not been an enemy of Science, but actually has contributed to it. 

If we look back at the dawn of mankind's recorded history, some 5,000 years ago, we see that there is evident devotion to supernatural beings. Now, this devotion was not just in limited sense, but rather made up the entirety of society. What I mean by this statement is best understood by looking at the Sumerians. 

"The Mesopotamians generally, and the Sumerians specifically, believed that civilization was the result of the gods’ triumph of order over chaos."

This quote entails that society, as the Sumerians knew it, was built off of the existence of the gods. Even though these peoples were before Christianity and the formation of The Church, they still recognized the authority of the Divine and the importance of it's influence on nature and man. When we examine mankind himself, we realize that he is made up of two internal impulses, connected by a central force. These two impulses are:1.The impulse to understand physicality and become more knowledgable about the realm we live in. 2. Seek the knowledge of and a connection to the divine, whose existence is automatically and naturally felt. The element of man which acts as the central-force, connecting these two impulses together, is the Christ Principle within man, the "I am", or Ego. Christ is the creator of man, we are beings formed in his image and likeness, He is the God of Genesis, the origin of Adam. Because this is fact, we know him to also be the God of Moses, to whom He said, 

"I AM WHO AM"

This statement made by God, is confirmation of the fact that, yes, the Christ principle is in fact within man because, Christ, being the Supreme "I AM", upon creating us, inputed his essence, the "I AM", into mankind, as any creator naturally does with that which he creates.

"In final form Fichte held that the subject or self or ego of the world is fashioned after God, the Absolute Ego."

This principle gives mankind the ability to recognize himself as an individual, to be self conscious. Without this fact, man would have no ability to act out willfully on his own and so he would subsequently be powerless to act on the two impulses written about above. Now, concerning those two impulses themselves, we can clearly see that the second impulse, is the belief in God. Man has a subsequent urge to pursue and understand that which he originates from, the spirit, the Divine. The first of the two impulses is that which we know to be science. Now, Science, according to practitioners within the field, would define the field itself as a systematic organizing of knowledge of the world. The scientists would speak about the scientific method and hypothesis, however, when we understand that science is basically the testing of ideas regarding the physicality, which we dwell inside of, we also see that we continuously perform a form of science. From the time an individual can walk and talk, they are constantly performing scientific research. 

"Do not touch the hot stove because you will be burned". 

While this statement seems so common, and so widely heard, it is really a scientific statement. Within this quote we see that something being hot can be, or is, associated with danger and pain because it can burn skin. This data, regarding heat, alters one's perception of the world and new concepts are formed from it. Now, all of this deals with the overall point because, when we get down to the nit and gritty of life, we find that organized, modern science, is nothing more than an industrial sized system of observation and assessment. We, as human beings, observe and assess life continuously, as was stated above, so, we are all scientists to a degree. Continuing on, we must ask a question: Why cant a man, who observes and logically assess the world around him, be religious? The answer is that he can do so and he cant help but do so. We have already addressed that mankind has two impulses. Whether any individual recognizes both or consciously acts on both is besides the point. Consciously or not, the impulses of man effect him to such a degree that even if he were to disavow one of them, religion in this case, his efforts and actions would be directed in such a way as to prove the existence of the very thing he rejects, the divine. This statement is proven by the fact that Science, which currently rejects God, has introduced a theory, which goes against the laws of physicality, but which can be explained by religion, Catholicism. This theory is known as, "The Big Bang". This theory states that there was a massive explosion, billions of years ago, which created the entire universe. Now, while this may have actually happened, the one part of this theory, that cannot be true, is that this "Big Bang" occurred on it's own, for we know that all physical events must have a cause. 

This last remark, that all physical events have causes, is what I will address now, and by addressing it, we will see that science does explain religion and that both Catholic and Scientist are correct. If we boiled down all of the matter makes up our physicality, we would arrive at a procession of 3 forms: Molecules, Elements, and Atoms (Not including sub-atomic particles). Now, according to science, atoms make up elements, and elements make up molecules. Because atoms and elements make up a form, they are what St. Thomas and Aristotle refer to as, "Matter". Elements, then, are the matter, which makes up the form of molecules, and atoms are the matter, which makes up the forms of elements. Now, if everything that exists in physicality must have a cause, where do atoms come from? What is their "matter"? Well, this question brings us to "Prime Matter". Prime matter was first conceptualized by Aristotle, however, after reading about this brilliant idea, St. Thomas Aquinas studied the subject and added to Aristotle's notions, regarding it. 

"For this reason Thomas frequently attributes to prime matter what Aristotle said of matter in general. In this way prime matter came to be regarded as the necessary component, together with substantial form, of the essence of corporeal substances as well as the permanent substrate of all substantial change."

What this quote basically states is that, Prime Matter, is the matter behind all physicality. Prime Matter brings about the form of atoms, which form material life. Prime matter is all things physical, however, it itself is not. Prime matter has no "matter", no form which requires something to make it up. Now, the most interesting thing about this concept is that Aristotle, who came up with it first, and St. Thomas, who expounded on it with such precision, had no means to prove their theory. Aristotle could not, nor did he, know that all life boils down to certain principles or particles. While the notion of "Atoms" and the law of Causality were spoken of, these were rough, abstract concepts and could, as far as Aristotle was concerned, only be applied in limited situations, if at all. These theories and notions could not be proven until our modern day, in which we can now put the notions of the ancients to the test and see how they stand up, and how they have. The law of causality is unmatched to this very day. So, naturally, the concept of Prime matter must be correct, because there cannot be an infinite chain of forms and matter, even if this chain goes subatomic. In the end there must be an end to the chain, and Prime Matter, Spiritual essence, must be the answer. Once this concept is recognized, we arrive at the acknowledgement of God. 

In concluding this writing, we see that the Church and Her teachings were actually correct. However, we also see that science is correct as well. Science and Religion are not separate things as most modern peoples would have you believe. Both science and religoon come from the internal impulses of man. Mankind's objective, the end purpose behind his creation, is for him to grow, learn, develop, and become, both spiritually and physically. Christ wants man to become as He is, to become true "I-Am"'s and this is only possible through self exploration. Self exploration however, must involve the exploration of the outside physicality. For, as science knows, our bodies are made up of the Stardust. 

Sources Cited:

1. Gorman, Margaret, and Antonio Allegra. "Self, The." New Catholic Encyclopedia Supplement 2012-2013: Ethics and Philosophy, edited by Robert L. Fastiggi, vol. 4, Gale, 2013, pp. 1383-1387. Gale Virtual Reference Library, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&sw=w&u=23009&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CCX2762500645&asid=8c06468b5ae4592c17b49aa09c55076c. Accessed 17 Aug. 2017.

2. Yarza, Ignacio. "Prime Matter." New Catholic Encyclopedia Supplement 2012-2013: Ethics and Philosophy, edited by Robert L. Fastiggi, vol. 3, Gale, 2013, pp. 1260-1262. Gale Virtual Reference Library, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&sw=w&u=23009&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CCX2762500594&asid=6e1bba5df5c23993bea2042f8ae22ab6. Accessed 19 Aug. 2017.

3. Joshua J. Mark, "Sumer", April 28th 2011, Ancient History Encyclopedia, @ http://www.ancient.eu/sumer/ 

4. Exodus 3:14 Douay-Rheims Bible 1899

5. "Science and Religion", jpg. Stony Brook Young Investigators Review, @ https://sbyireview.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/debate.jpg?w=700