Page:Divine Selection or The Survival of the Useful.djvu/7

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PREFACE


IN ATTEMPTING to search out first causes, science, fearing the introduction of the uncertain, has rejected all contributions from religion. Indeed, this feeling has been carried so far, that God is not mentioned in science, except as unknowable or unnecessary. Religion, fearing the destruction of so-called "faith," and the overthrow of favored doctrine, has rejected science, and slowly and stubbornly granted concessions to its conclusions. This separation and antagonism reduce science to gross materialism, and religion on one hand to irrational dogmatism, and on the other to scientific skepticism or even agnosticism.

MORE RECENTLY, under the influence of the new renaissance and the feeling that all truth is a unit of harmonious parts, there has been a growing tendency to recognize that true science and genuine religion are in perfect agreement and mutually helpful.