14 September 2014

Simcha Fisher on Catholics, Science, and Fear

"'It is a disgraceful and a dangerous thing for an unbeliever to hear a Christian, presumably explaining science, nutrition, and medicine, talking nonsense on these topics. Many non-Christians are well-versed in Natural knowledge, so they can detect vast ignorance in such a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The danger is obvious - the failure to conform interpretation to demonstrated knowledge opens the interpreter, and by extension, Christianity as a whole, to ridicule for being unlearned.'

"All right, so St. Augustine didn't say 'science, nutrition, and medicine,' he said 'the meaning of scripture.' But other than that, he's describing a good 40% of my Facebook wall.

"More and more, religious people are pitching their tents in the vast, squashy wilderness that calls itself 'natural living' or 'alternative medicine,' and are rejecting science and modern medicine - not some of it, but all of it. Their creed is this: drugs are evil, chemicals are evil, doctors are evil.You can cure most diseases, mental or physical, with a handful of seeds and a few essential oils squirted into the proper orifices. Above all, be afraid.

"It's not only Catholics, of course, who are using the most dubious of weapons in the backlash against science and medicine. Religious, agnostics, and atheists may all believe that, based on something they overheard on Oprah, they have pierced the veil and now they know better than the Mayo Clinic.

"But it's especially galling when Catholics become anti-science. Catholics have an ancient tradition of rigorous inquiry into the natural world that the Creator made for us. We invented the university. Catholics have dominated science and medicine for centuries. . . ."

In a recent commentary, writer Simcha Fisher reflected on the attitude of many Catholics on matters related to science and health.

To access her complete post, please visit:


National Catholic Register: Blogs: Science, Catholics, and Fear (2 SEP 14)

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