MYTH: Christians are anti-science

REALITY: This is false. The fathers of almost every scientific field were Christians.

If it weren’t for Christians there would be no calendars, universities, hospitals, scientific method, quantum mechanics, physiology, stratigraphy, geology, calculus, experimental design, genetics, physics, statistical mechanics, or chemical thermodynamics. So there would pretty much be no science or modern medicine.

Christians have won a total of 72.5% of all Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, 65.3% in Physics, and 62% in Medicine.

Most critics of Christianity will cite the persecution of Galileo as evidence that the church is anti-science. The story of Galileo is full of many falsehoods. Most critics will intentionally omit important details to mislead people into believing Christians are anti-science. They also intentionally leave out the contributions Christians have made to science.

In addition, scientific persecution and censorship have occurred in a larger quantity and a more severe degree in State-sponsored atheist countries than in Christian countries.

Christians are not anti-science. Christians led the way for scientific discovery. They are responsible for founding many scientific fields and are responsible for the way we understand science today.

FAMOUS CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS

Sir Francis Bacon— Established the scientific method.

Charles Babbage— The father of the computer.

Gregor Mendel- Founded the science of genetics.

Georges Lemaître- He is the father of the Big Bang theory.

Isaac Newton- Is considered the Father of Physics.

Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck— Widely regarded as the creator of quantum theory.

Werner Heisenberg— One of the primary creators of quantum mechanics.

John Ambrose Fleming- Inventor of the two-electrode radio rectifier.

Samuel Morse— Developed the electric telegraph and patented it. He also took part in developing the Morse code.

Albrecht von Haller— The father of modern physiology.

Humphrey Davy— He was a pioneer in the field of electrolysis and discovered several elements.

Nicholas Steno— One of the founders of modern geology and stratigraphy.

Antoine Lavoisier— The founder of chemistry.

Michael Faraday— Discovered electromagnetic induction.

Alessandro Volta— Invented the electric battery.

J.J. Thomson— Discovered the electron and invented the mass spectrometer.

Ronald Fisher— Invented experimental design.

Charles Townes— Invented the laser and maser.

Willard Gibbs— Founded the sciences of modern statistical mechanics and chemical thermodynamics.

Robert Boyle— He is known for his law of gases, as well as for defining elements and compounds.

Blaise Pascal— Co-founded probability theory, created Pascal’s triangle for the binomial coefficients and invented the mechanical calculator.

Arthur Eddington— He verified Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity through experimentation.

Charles Barkla— Discovered that an atom’s electron count is the same as its atomic number.

Arthur Compton— He discovered the Compton effect, which is one of the principal forms of photon interaction.

James Clerk Maxwell— Created the theory of electromagnetism.

John Dalton— Known for the development of modern atomic theory.

Ernest Walton— Performed the first artificial nuclear disintegration.

*Christians are also responsible for creating modern universities and hospitals, as well as creating the modern calendar.

COMMUNISM AND ATHEISM ARE INSEPARABLE

Communism is responsible for the deaths of over 100 million people in the 20th century. Atheism is at the core of communism. Every Communist country identified as an atheist country.

Communism is grounded in Marxism, a theory created by Karl Marx in the 19th century. It was later implemented by Vladimir Lenin during the rise of the Soviet Union.

According to Karl Marx, “Communism begins where atheism begins.”

According to Vladimir Lenin, “Atheism is the natural and inseparable part of communism.”

(Click to read my article the “True Communist Death Toll“)

STATE-SPONSORED ATHEISM KILLED CHRISTIANS IN THE MILLIONS

Either currently or in their past, China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Russia, and Cuba are or were officially atheist countries. These are the countries where some of the largest genocides and human rights violations have occurred in the last 100 years.

According to some sources, the total number of Christian victims under the Soviet regime has been estimated to range from around 12 to 20 million. A minimum of 106,300 Russian clergymen were killed between 1937 and 1941.

Countries like China, North Korea, Ethiopia, and Cambodia also committed mass genocide against Christians.

ATHEISTS PERSECUTED SCIENTISTS FAR MORE THAN CHRISTIANS DID

During the communist reign in China, Russia, and Cambodia, many scientists and intellectuals were massacred.

For example, during the communist rule in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge killed anyone that they believed was an intellectual. Scientists, lawyers, doctors, engineers, teachers, and other professionals of any field were murdered, along with their extended families. The Khmer Rouge even started killing anyone with glasses.

The same was done in China, the Soviet Union, Laos, Korea, Ethiopia, and many other countries that were communist.

MOST NOTABLE EXAMPLE OF SCIENTIFIC PERSECUTION BY CHRISTIANITY: GALILEO

The persecution of Galileo: Everyone has heard of the story of Galileo, the Christian scientist who supported the theory of heliocentrism, which challenged the known science at the time and the official doctrine of the church. Galileo was sentenced to house arrest for the rest of his life. He spent the rest of his days in his villa in Arcetri, near Florence Italy.

It’s an oversimplification and outright false to state that Galileo’s persecution was because the church was anti-science. The church was responsible for heading every major scientific institution at the time. The decision to persecute Galileo was rooted in politics just as much if not more than it was rooted in religion.

(Click to read my article “The True Story of Galileo”)

MOST NOTABLE EXAMPLE OF SCIENTIFIC PERSECUTION BY STATE-SPONSORED ATHEISM: NIKOLAI VAVILOV

The persecution of Nikolai Vavilov: During the reign of the Soviet Union, a scientist named Nikolai Vavilov supported the theory of Mendelian genetics.

Mendelian genetics was created by Gregor Mendel. Mendel is known as the “father of modern genetics. He was also a devout Christian who joined the Order of Saint Augustine.

In the Soviet Union, Christianity was altogether banned. That included scientific discoveries that were made by Christians like the Big Bang Theory, Mendelian genetics, and quantum physics. Joseph Stalin, the dictator of the Soviet Union, believed that these beliefs opposed their materialistic worldview and offered credence to the biblical worldview.

When it was discovered that Nikolai Vavilov’s work supported Mendelian concepts, he was arrested and sentenced to death. His sentence was lightened to twenty-year imprisonment, he died in prison one year later. Reports state that he was either killed by being thrown into a pit of lime or died from starvation.

The persecution of Nikolai Vavilov was so much worse than the persecution of Galileo. Which punishment would you rather have? Would you rather be sentenced to house arrest at your Florence villa; or would you rather be sent to a gulag, where you spend the next year starving to death?

SOURCES

34 Great Scientists Who Were Committed Christians. Famous Scientists. (n.d.). Retrieved August 1, 2022, from https://www.famousscientists.org/great-scientists-christians/

Lienhard, J. H. (n.d.). The invention of the Hospital. The Engines of Our Ingenuity. Retrieved August 1, 2022, from https://uh.edu/engines/epi991.htm#:~:text=Hospitals%20were%20a%20very%20altruistic, or%20hospices%2C%20were%20highly%20specialized

Gavroglu, Kostas (2015). Sciences in the Universities of Europe, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Academic Landscapes. Springer. p. 302. ISBN 9789401796361.

Christian scientists and inventors Mosaic. Wikimedia. (2014, June 16). Retrieved August 1, 2022, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christian_Scientists_and_Inventors_Mosaic.jpg

How many Nobel prize winners believed in god? John Lennox. (2019, January 23). Retrieved August 1, 2022, from https://www.johnlennox.org/resources/145/how-many-nobel-prize-winners

GA. Dawson, Patricia (2015). First Peoples of the Americas and the European Age of Exploration. Cavendish Square Publishing. p. 103. ISBN 9781502606853.

Christianity’s Role in the Development of Modern Institutions. Wesleyan University. (n.d.). Retrieved August 1, 2022, from https://www.wesleyan.edu/christianitystudies/pathways/development.html

B M. Leonard, Thomas (2013). Encyclopedia of the Developing World. Routledge. p. 1369. ISBN 9781135205157.

Pescali, P. (2017, February 2). Stalin, the big bang, and Quantum physics. Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/Russia/Stalin-the-big-bang-and-quantum-physics-176560

The Mendelian Concept of a Gene. Genetics Generation. (2019, February 14). Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://knowgenetics.org/mendelian-genetics/

Publisher. (n.d.). Genocide in Cambodia. Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://www.hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/cambodia/the-genocide/

Publisher. (2022, July 25). Cambodian genocide. USC Shoah Foundation. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://sfi.usc.edu/collections/cambodian-genocide

Labh, S. (2022, May 15). 5 great physicists who believed in the existence of god. Medium. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://piggsboson.medium.com/5-great-physicists-who-believed-in-the-existence-of-god-eb838262b60b