One of the oldest and most unresolved debates in the history of mankind is the one which pits religion versus science. In his book Religion and Science, Bertrand Russell provides examples of the historical tussle between religious faith and the pursuit of scientific fact. He provides numerous examples of the historical conflict between the two, including such polarized views as religion’s creationist mythology and Darwin’s scientific theory of evolution. While be does not mock religious viewpoints, Russell obviously sides with science in this debate. His argument that at various points in history religious believers have stood in the way of the progress of the ideas and the technologies produced by science, is timely in modern society (for example, the debate between modern forms of contraception and abortion).
Bertrand Russell was a philosopher, mathematician, pacifist and an agnostic. His views on everything from religion to marriage and morality created an enormous amount of controversy during his lifetime from those who opposed his views. Perhaps his views on religion caused him the greatest amount of opposition. At heart, Russell believed the key to the conflict between religion and science sprang from inherently conflicting methodologies adopted by each. Russell believed science was superior to religion and he points out many examples where religious adherents opposed scientific discoveries, discoveries that have been proven factual, like religious opposition to the heliocentric view of the universe. Russell begins his book by defining religion and science and pointing out the chief aspect of religion which makes it in conflict with science, “Science is an attempt to discover, by means of observation, and reasoning based upon it, first, particular facts about the world, and then laws connecting facts with one another (in fortunate cases) making it possible to predict future occurrences. Religion, considered s...