Religion, Violence, and the Secular State assesses contemporary religious violence in the context of tensions between state secularism and religious ethics, and ultimately concludes that the West must reemphasize its own religious tradition in order to successfully combat the rise of a violent fundamentalism. The book presents an argument in three parts: first, an examination of the nature of religious violence; second, the effects of the present secularism of the American state on our ineffective ethical framework; and third, an advocacy for both the reasonableness of religious belief and the value of religiously based ethics (i.e., Jewish, Christian, and Muslim) as an influence within the modern state. The conclusion is that, with the arrival of violent Islam in the West, the presence of (traditional) religious influence in the United States needs to be reemphasized to combat religious terrorism. Islam represents a challenge to America and the West as a religious ideal that can only be successfully met by an energetic renewal of our own religious resources.

This collection addresses current controversies about the relationship between science and religion, in which Augustine is appealed to by opposing sides, showing his continuing relevance, as well as the subtlety and complexity of his views. Questions on evolution are especially focused on, and from a variety of perspectives, often with quite different conclusions between the essays. This is truly a conversation about Augustine, science, and religion.

This volume's title stems from an observable and seemingly amusing phenomenon--the placement of fish symbols on the rear of automobiles. There are two kinds: one a fish outline with a cross, exhibited by Christians; the other a fish outline filled with the word "evolution," with little legs attached underneath. These symbols manifest the cultural war between religion and science, a clash that draws from nineteenth-century conflicts over evolution roots in the Enlightenment. Today's cultural environment is a result of the internationalization of communication, labor, money, and commerce. This global culture emphasizes tolerance and acceptance of all peoples and traditions, but it also demands a moral and intellectual relativism that rejects "master narratives," including religious tradition as well as scientific theory. In some respects, the postmodern environment is caused by science itself, by the development of postmodern science, its nineteenth-century adversarial stance toward religion now somewhat softened. Among new developments are the historical understanding of science, renewed appreciation of the troubled careers of scientists, and "God" talk among physicists and psychologists. Both science and religion are being overwhelmed by new levels of technology, which is becoming the premier element of contemporary culture. The conflict between science and religion is being resolved in the form of a dynamic. Religion and science are both ways of giving moral and intellectual order to the universe, enabling mankind to cope with a chaotic universe and live well. Both religious critics and scientific researchers have attacked and analyzed pornography, which has become a prominent characteristic of our culture. Both share contemporary sensitivity to individual opinions and protection of the individual from social control. Both science and religion share a sense that postmodern culture lacks structure. Caiazza shows how renewed attention to religious and scientific insights can resolve longstanding conflicts, providing postmodern society with a vision of tolerable order.

The Disunity of American Culture describes culture now, when different forces are influencing it than in the past, altering it to near incomprehensibility. Identity issues have an effect on culture and politics; more influential is the question of what support the state is obligated to provide the individual. John C. Caiazza seeks to explain how this situation came to be. He begins with an explanation of the origins of Protestantism in America. Caiazza describes how the American religion has declined and the recent responses the decline has provoked. Caiazza follows with an analysis of science as it presently exists in American culture. The work of three scientists prominent in their respective fields Steven Weinberg in physics, E. O. Wilson in biology, and Stanley Milgram in psychology are examined with respect to how their work has influenced culture. The author examines the failure of America's school of philosophy, pragmatism, to explain the relationship between religion, science, and general culture, even though its founders, Charles S. Peirce and William James, made serious efforts to do so. He concludes by making the case that there is a contradiction between scientific reason and the claim of state power. Caiazza argues that cultural disharmony will guarantee that the secular state never achieves the dominance over culture and political life it desires.

Within the last one hundred years, the scientific conception of the universe has undergone radical change. As a result a new field has evolved, called "cosmology," that examines the philosophical and scientific nature of the universe. Cosmology conceives of a material universe in which the interior of atoms do not act in the same predictable manner as the objects we can see and in which space is no longer empty volume unaffected by the matter within it. The universe is not a machine that operates with the same set of rules, but rather a living, growing organism. This new cosmology is forcing a consideration of the meaning of life that also calls for a reconsideration of moral law the doctrine of natural right. Natural law theory is based on a cosmology that is grounded in classical metaphysics. John C. Caiazza uses the term "natural right" rather than "natural law" since his argument for cosmic teleology is based on the cosmology of contemporary science and not that of classical metaphysics. If evolution and development are the key to understanding nature, it is important to get the evolutionary concept of nature right, especially when it involves ethics. The universe can be viewed in two ways. One can admire the intricacy of the cosmological process on the physical, chemical, and astronomical levels. Or, one can look at this process as a result of design or providence. These two options should not preclude each other, Caiazza asserts; we should instead look closely at what science reveals about design. This volume offers an opportunity to reconcile the thinking of those who hold to traditional religious views on the origins of the universe and those who look to scientific explanations.

Why would an atheist engineer become a religious believer -- a priest in fact -- and after his conversion, how would he understand the physical universe? This book is an attempt to answer that question in detail so as not to avoid the difficult questions involved. The priest's thoughts are expressed not in a straight forward monograph, but in a series of separate but tightly connected meditations and thoughts. The language is clear and deals directly with scientific issues but explains them in a religious sense. There are five areas by which the thoughts are organized including the hot button issue of evolution, which accepts the time-line of evolutionary development of 4" billion years, but distinguishes between the evolutionary theory and the materialistic philosophy which is often but incorrectly attached to it. General issues regarding the supposed conflict between science and religion are dealt with next, including how a scientist might read the Bible. Five models of the relationship between science and religion are presented. Creationism is a highly contentious issue with some fundamentalists going so far as to claim the Bible states that the universe is less than 10,000 years old. This assertion is refuted in light of overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary. A compromise solution is presented which accepts the Biblical account that God created the universe but also accepts the scientific time-line of cosmic and biological evolution. But how is a Christian to live in a time and social setting so dedicated to scientific understanding? Meditations on the question are offered in the fourth section, which includes thoughts on working in large corporations where job loss is a constant danger, but not an unusual event in one's working life. In the fifth and final section, answers to objections, scientific and fundamentalist, are answered in dialog format to try to make the case for "creationism rightly understood".

Why would an atheist engineer become a religious believer -- a priest in fact -- and after his conversion, how would he understand the physical universe? This book is an attempt to answer that question in detail so as not to avoid the difficult questions involved. The priest's thoughts are expressed not in a straight forward monograph, but in a series of separate but tightly connected meditations and thoughts. The language is clear and deals directly with scientific issues but explains them in a religious sense. There are five areas by which the thoughts are organized including the hot button issue of evolution, which accepts the time-line of evolutionary development of 4" billion years, but distinguishes between the evolutionary theory and the materialistic philosophy which is often but incorrectly attached to it. General issues regarding the supposed conflict between science and religion are dealt with next, including how a scientist might read the Bible. Five models of the relationship between science and religion are presented. Creationism is a highly contentious issue with some fundamentalists going so far as to claim the Bible states that the universe is less than 10,000 years old. This assertion is refuted in light of overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary. A compromise solution is presented which accepts the Biblical account that God created the universe but also accepts the scientific time-line of cosmic and biological evolution. But how is a Christian to live in a time and social setting so dedicated to scientific understanding? Meditations on the question are offered in the fourth section, which includes thoughts on working in large corporations where job loss is a constant danger, but not an unusual event in one's working life. In the fifth and final section, answers to objections, scientific and fundamentalist, are answered in dialog format to try to make the case for "creationism rightly understood".

This book is about the concept of progress, its separate varieties, its current rejection, and how it may be reconsidered from a philosophical and scientific basis. John C. Caiazza's main emphasis is on how science is understood as it has a direct impact on social values as expressed by prominent philosophers. He argues that progress is at a standstill, which presents a crisis for Western civilization. Caiazza presents historical examples, both of scientific inquiry and social and cultural themes, to examine the subject of progress. Beginning with the Whig model and progressive political values exemplified by Bacon and Dewey, he also examines other variations, the Enlightenment, cosmopolitanism, and totalitarianism. Technology, argues Caiazza, also has a stultifying effect on Western culture and to understand the idea of progress, we must take a philosophic rather than a scientific point of view. Modern cosmology has inevitable humanistic and theological implications, and major contemporary philosophers reject social science in favour of ancient concepts of virtue and ethics. In the end, Caiazza writes that time is an agent, not a neutral plain on which scientific and historical events occur. We can expect technology to keep us in stasis or become aware of the possibility of transcendence. This book will be of interest for students of scientific history and philosophy.

This volume's title stems from an observable and seemingly amusing phenomenon--the placement of fish symbols on the rear of automobiles. There are two kinds: one a fish outline with a cross, exhibited by Christians; the other a fish outline filled with the word "evolution," with little legs attached underneath. These symbols manifest the cultural war between religion and science, a clash that draws from nineteenth-century conflicts over evolution roots in the Enlightenment.

Today's cultural environment is a result of the internationalization of communication, labor, money, and commerce. This global culture emphasizes tolerance and acceptance of all peoples and traditions, but it also demands a moral and intellectual relativism that rejects "master narratives," including religious tradition as well as scientific theory. In some respects, the postmodern environment is caused by science itself, by the development of postmodern science, its nineteenth-century adversarial stance toward religion now somewhat softened. Among new developments are the historical understanding of science, renewed appreciation of the troubled careers of scientists, and "God" talk among physicists and psychologists. Both science and religion are being overwhelmed by new levels of technology, which is becoming the premier element of contemporary culture.

The conflict between science and religion is being resolved in the form of a dynamic. Religion and science are both ways of giving moral and intellectual order to the universe, enabling mankind to cope with a chaotic universe and live well. Both religious critics and scientific researchers have attacked and analyzed pornography, which has become a prominent characteristic of our culture. Both share contemporary sensitivity to individual opinions and protection of the individual from social control. Both science and religion share a sense that postmodern culture lacks structure. Caiazza shows how renewed attention to religious and scientific insights can resolve longstanding conflicts, providing postmodern society with a vision of tolerable order.