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Point One: The Orthodox Church’s View of Science and Scientific Research
To sum up at the beginning: We’re all for it. In this we are unlike Fundamentalist Evangelicals who oppose some discoveries of modern science – for example, that the universe is many billions of years old, which they believe to be contrary to the story of Creation as presented in Genesis. * We are also unlike some politicians who… well, we’re coming to that.
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Courtesy of Saint Elisabeth’s Convent, Minsk, Belarus Just in passing: Regarding Genesis chapter 1, Saint Basil the Great distinguished between the latter 24-hour days of Creation – after the Fourth Day when the sun was created – and the earlier “days” of which he wrote “whether you call it a day, or whether you call it eternity, you express the same idea”. Hexaemeron (Homily 2)
We Orthodox believe scientific research is a good and Godly thing, because it tells us about the natural world which God created, thereby indirectly revealing something about God Himself.
I have always assumed this to be the accepted Orthodox point of view, but to make sure I know what I’m talking about (one should never take such things for granted) I did some actual research. I found patriarch after bishop after theologian, article after paper (both scholarly and popular), * all reflecting the same: Science and scientific research are not a challenge to the Faith. They are the gift of God, to be valued and encouraged, for God is “Creator of all things, both visible and invisible”. Therefore true theology and true science are necessarily in harmony with each other. Conflict can occur only in case of false science or false theology – when theology tries to dictate scientific discovery or when science wants to dictate theology. For example, if someone tells us science has proved that God doesn’t exist. That’s not in the realm of science, which deals only with the visible, measurable, analyzable world. God does not hold still to be measured!
- I’m surprised how much has been written on this topic. A few interesting papers are listed at the end of this Post.
Here are two quotes from His Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I:
“Faith and science are beneficial forces for man. Their cooperation promises a future full of expectations. It is inconceivable and ineffective for faith to be suspicious of scientific knowledge and for science to link the future only to its progress.” Friday, December 8, 2023, at the Phanar, the opening of the work of the 3rd International Conference on “Bioethics and Young People”,
“The dialogue between theology and science must not be a clash between adversaries but a collaboration between two great forces that serve humanity. It should be a partnership, not a rivalry.” Nativity Address, December 25, 2024 (reported in “The Orthodox Times”)
We may disagree with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia about many things, but not about this: “We can say that science, religion and art are different ways of examining the world and mankind, by mankind. Each of them has its own instruments, its own methods of learning. They respond to their own questions… though during human history relations between science and religion were very different, religious and scientific ways of examining the world do not have contradictions, as there are no contradictions between science and art, religion and art.”… “Though during human history relations between science and religion were very different, religious and scientific ways of examining the world do not have contradictions, as there are no contradictions between science and art, religion and art.” (quoted in Pravmir, August 2, 2016)
From A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom” by Andrew Dixon White: “As to [the Orthodox Church], it has never, since the restoration of science, arrayed itself in opposition to the advancement of knowledge. On the contrary, it has always met it with welcome. It has observed a reverential attitude to truth, from whatever quarter it might come. Recognizing the apparent discrepancies between its interpretations of revealed truth and the discoveries of science, it has always expected that satisfactory explanations and reconciliations would ensue, and in this it has not been disappointed. It would have been well for modern civilization if the Roman Church had done the same.”
Father Emmanuel Hatzidakis, writing to an Orthodox monk who took the Fundamentalist view of Genesis: “ [Orthodox] theologians accept the freedom of scientific research… The truths of faith and the truths of science belong to different categories indeed, but notwithstanding this fact they can never come into conflict. The truths of science are of the natural order, while the truths of faith belong to an order which is supernatural. Both have God for their author, and as He cannot contradict Himself, and as truth cannot be opposed to truth, so the truths of faith never can be at variance with the certain conclusions of science.” March 17, 2018 https://www.orthodoxwitness.org/on-faith-and-science/
Before we proceed, I’d like to make a clarification:
Does science come to “certain conclusions”? Not quite. Scientific research takes facts and produces theories, probabilities based on the evidence. New evidence is forever being discovered. For example, the evidence, as so far discovered, points to our cosmos having begun with a “Big Bang” about fourteen billion years ago. New evidence could yet emerge which could overturn that theory.
However, sometimes the probabilities are so overwhelming that the theory should be accepted as true, for the good of mankind: For example, the evidence that measles vaccine protects from kids from measles, which is why it is (in some places, was…) made mandatory, lest there be an epidemic of measles. Or that smoking nicotine causes cancer. Therefore, for the sake of human health, cigarette smoking has been made very difficult.
Or take global warming. (“Climate change” is a euphemism.) Here is the given evidence: 1) It is well-documented that earth’s climate is warming rapidly *, and 2) man-made CO2 in the atmosphere has been increasing at the same rapid rate, and 3) no other cause has been found to explain the warming. Therefore for the sake of future generations, attempts have been made by world governments (and formerly by our own) to try to find ways to limit CO2.
- with the result that ancient glaciers are melting, ocean levels are rising, extreme heat waves are taking place, forest fires are far more numerous, and storms of all sorts are becoming more intense and less predictable.
And that brings us to the subject at hand.
Point Two: The Trump Administration’s War on Science
War. I don’t know what else to call it.
Please forgive me if I go off on a tangent here, but this is something I care about.
In what follows I don’t intend to be “political”. If it seems political, it is because some have lately made it that way. * I’m simply documenting the suppression of science which is taking place, and I’m saying that Orthodox Christians should be concerned about this for theological reasons. It distorts our knowledge of God as revealed in His Creation. Equally important, God’s people will suffer.
- Once it was not. The Environmental Protection Agency was created on a bi-partisan basis in 1970 under the leadership of Republican President Richard Nixon.
I am not ascribing evil motives to anyone. I have no idea why some have turned against science. I wonder if there is some connection with the Fundamentalist distrust of scientific discovery, but I don’t know. I honestly cannot make sense of it.
What’s happening here, for the most part, is not honest disagreement with scientific theories or conclusions. That is not a problem. This happens all the time within the scientific community as new evidence needs to be dealt with, and sometime the scientific establishment is very slow to abandon entrenched positions.
This, however, is an entirely different matter: Active suppression of scientific investigation and distortion of scientific conclusions.
The United States, for many generations, has led the world in scientific research and discovery. The only possible results of suppressing science are worse health, more pollution, the migration of scientists and scholars to other countries, the refusal of capable students from overseas to study in America. And if you have been to a hospital or clinic recently, you are probably well aware how much our medical system, for whatever reason, relies on doctors and nurses from other countries.
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Now let’s do some documentation, with a few sentences, usually from the documents, summarizing their contents.
This has been very difficult: So much so negative has happened so fast that it’s hard to keep up with it.
To begin, here is an article, well worth reading, from The Union of Concerned Scientists, entitled:
“Science and Democracy Under Siege”
It details the following: 1) Extreme Rise in Documented Attacks on Science, 2) Staff Cuts in Science Agencies, 3) Steep Decline in New Research Grants Awarded by the National Institutes of Health, 4) Steep Decline in New Research Grants Awarded by the National Institutes of Health, 5) Industrial Facilities Eligible for Air Pollution Regulation Exemptions, 6) Disruptions and Terminations of Federal Advisory Committees at Science Agencies, 7) Removal of Government Webpages and Information Related to Climate Change and Environmental Justice, 8) Major Trump Administration Attacks on Climate and Clean Energy Policies and Investments.
(https://www.ucs.org/resources/science-and-democracy-under siege#:~:text=At%20least%2030%20instances%20of,from%20government%20decisions%20and%20policy. )
For the remainder of this Post, I am going to concentrate on one of the few fields I know something about: weather and climate. I’ve told you often that in days of yore I graduated University of Wisconsin – Madison with a degree in meteorology (atmospheric science), and I have followed developments therein.
Here, in no particular order, are some examples of what’s happening:
1 A veteran Miami, Florida, weathercaster tells his audience why he now no longer feels confident about hurricane prognosis.
2 “A team of scientists and legal experts at Environmental Defense Fund has submitted to the Trump Department of Energy a detailed, chapter-by-chapter response to an ‘irredeemably flawed’ climate report that was created at that department’s request…”
So you don’t have to squint: Pages in dark orange contained at least one false claim. Pages in light orange contained at least one misleading claim.
“The Climate Working Group’s report was immediately denounced by scientists whose research it cites for using scientific data inaccurately and fundamentally misrepresenting many of their findings. Yesterday more than 85 scientists issued a scathing rebuttal to the report, and EDF and the Union of Concerned Scientists have already filed a lawsuit challenging its use as contrary to federal law.”
“Climate change is a serious and growing danger to Americans’ health, safety and well-being, but the Trump administration is trying to use this deeply flawed report to eliminate protections that reduce climate pollution,” said EDF Associate Chief Scientist Lisa Dilling. “Decades of peer-reviewed research by thousands of scientists has confirmed, over and over, what so many Americans are now experiencing firsthand – climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions is driving more extreme weather and other dangerous impacts that are increasing costs and harming Americans. This hastily constructed report does not represent the state of climate science. The report is also riddled with errors and distortions and many scientists have already described how the report fundamentally misrepresents their work. It should be immediately withdrawn.”…
(https://www.edf.org/media/edf-responds-irredeemably-flawed-report-trump-administration-using-effort-eliminate-vital#:~:text=The%20Climate%20Working%20Group’s%20report,has%20played%20in%20causing%20them.)
3 Trump Administration’s Budget Threatens NASA Climate and Carbon-Monitoring Satellites
“Trump’s administration is seeking to end two of NASA’s most advanced climate-monitoring missions: the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)-2 and OCO-3. The move has sparked strong concerns among scientists, lawmakers, and environmental advocates. The instruments (a free-flying satellite launched in 2014 and an experiment mounted on the International Space Station in 2019) provide the most precise global carbon dioxide measures ever obtained. They also detect the subtle glow of photosynthesis in plants, helping experts monitor drought, assess crop health, and anticipate potential food shortages that could lead to unrest.”
“Trump’s cuts are not only devastating U.S. climate research and policy engagement inside the federal government. The cuts are also disrupting climate-science, technology-development, and education efforts that depend on federal funding at colleges, universities, state and local governments, NGOs, and businesses across the country.”
4 Major cutbacks are being made to: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the most important center of climate-change research, monitoring, and education in the federal government. Early in the administration, the Trump-Musk team dismissed more than 10 percent of NOAA staff, started cutting back its climate-monitoring and database operations, and announced the intention to dismantle NOAA’s research office – one of the world’s most important producers and funders of climate science. Trump’s budget for fiscal year 2026 would indeed dismantle that office, if approved by Congress, as well as hobble early warning systems for natural disasters and demolish climate-science education for students in kindergarten through high school.”
“NASA’s earth science programs are a major source of satellite- and aircraft-based observations of the planet’s land and vegetation, oceans, and ice – information essential to tracking climate-change impacts and designing adaptation strategies, among many other uses. Having fired NASA’s chief scientist and her staff in March, Trump’s 2026 budget calls for a 50 percent cut to NASA’s Earth Science division.”
“The 15-agency U.S. Global Change Research Program coordinates federal government efforts on global-change research, most importantly on climate change. At the end of April, the Trump administration terminated the consortium’s quadrennial assessment of climate-change impacts on the United States in midstream. The assessments, mandated by Congress and previously produced in every administration since Clinton’s, focus on disaggregating climate-change impacts by region and by sector. They’ve provided indispensable guidance to states, communities, and businesses on specific needs for climate-change adaptation.
“… With climate and environmental health research shutting down at EPA and at universities nationwide due to funding cuts, our ability to evaluate emerging health threats – including wildfire smoke toxicity and new infectious disease threats – will be severely compromised. Shutting down this research undermines our ability, as a society, to protect the health of Americans of all ages – and when science is silenced, lives are lost.”
(https://www.clearbluemarkets.com/knowledge-base/trump-administrations-budget-threatens-nasa-climate-and-carbon-monitoring-satellites#:~:text=Trump’s%20administration%20is%20seeking%20to,have%20significantly%20advanced%20climate%20science.)
5 “In late July, President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposal so bold it would once have been seemed unthinkable: to reverse [a finding which rests] on a vast body of scientific evidence showing greenhouse gas emissions cause climate change and threaten public health.”
(https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-trump-policies-climate-science/#:~:text=The%20earliest%20impact%20felt%20by,go%20ahead%2C%20pending%20further%20litigation.)
6 Here is an article documenting Mr Trump’s various opinions regarding Climate Change/Global Warming: (https://www.factcheck.org/2024/09/trump-clings-to-inaccurate-climate-change-talking-points/)
7 “Lives are at stake: Deadly Texas storms put spotlight on Trump’s weather agency cuts.”
“Since February, the Weather Service has lost about 600 staff through a combination of firings, early retirements, and deferred resignations.”
Typically, [a regional] NWS office has at least 13… scientists on their staff…. Yet offices in Goodland, Kansas and Hanford, California each have a 61.5% vacancy rate for meteorologists, according to the NWSEO union data. The office in Amarillo, Texas, has a 30.77% vacancy rate for meteorologists, and Rapid City, South Dakota was at 46.15%.
[A spokesman] said. “You can’t run a weather forecast office on a bare bones operation. Too many things are at stake, too many lives at are at stake.”
“In June, the Trump administration said it would allow the NWS to hire more than 100 new positions despite the federal hiring freeze.”
“More cuts are potentially on the way, however. NOAA has proposed cutting its budget by about $1.8bn for the 2026 fiscal year, according to a report it submitted to US Congress, and planned to reduce staff by about 17%, according to Federal News Network.”
8 Here is a video from 2019 about the incident when Mr Trump displayed a map from the Hurricane Center which somehow had been altered with a sharpie marker (his usual way of writing) to show that Hurricane Dorian was going to hit Alabama. The Hurricane Center had predicted no such thing, and quickly issued a correction, lest the people of Alabama panic. Mr Trump stuck to his guns. What in the world was this all about?
Here you can see it all:
https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/video/questionable-hurricane-forecast-used-by-president-trump
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There’s so much more material it has been hard to get a handle on it. I’ll stop here. Thank you for your patience.
Distortion of science. Suppression of science. Is it important? I’ve told you what I think. What do you think?
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Some papers regarding Orthodoxy and Science:
Have I read them all? NO! I have scanned them sufficiently to feel sure they’re of good quality.
“The Emerging Recconciliation between Religion and Science”: https://www.goarch.org/society/tech/-/asset_publisher/XptdT1BfyjZK/content/the-emerging-reconciliation-between-religion-and-science
“Theology, Science and the Eastern Orthodox Tradition”: https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9780800634995/Light-from-the-East-Theology-Science-and-the-Eastern-Orthodox-Tradition
A basic explanation: “Faith Versus Science”: https://www.saintjohnchurch.org/faith-vs-science/
A scholarly overview from the University of Chicago; “Science and Orthodoxy”: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/688704
The first chapter of a long and what looks to be a very interesting series on “Science and Religion” written by Saint Luke of Simferopol: https://www.bio-orthodoxy.com/2025/06/science-and-religion-chapter-1-st-luke.html
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Next Week: King David, Ancestor of God
Week after Next: Saint John the Theologian, Apostle and Evangelist