AMERICAN CATHOLICS AND SCIENCE 



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SINCE the time of Voltaire and the French encyclopedists 

 there has been a constant effort to discredit religion in 

 general, and the Catholic Church in particular, for its 

 alleged antagonism to natural science. The accusation is with- 

 out foundation, for religion and science have entirely different 

 goals and deal with different subject matters. Religion is con- 

 cerned primarily with the supernatural, while the experimental 

 and observational sciences are interested only in the natural. 



It happens that religion and science are practised by men, 

 often the same men. Their successes or failures in the realm 

 of either religion or science are sometimes falsely attributed 

 to religion or to science itself. In 1931 Lehman and Witty ^ 

 made a study of church affiliation, or the lack of it, among 

 American scientists who were considered " outstanding." " Out- 

 standing" was defined as inclusion in Who's Who and being 

 starred in American Men of Science. They reported: 



1. " Only about 25% of the outstanding scientists in America 

 report church affiliation in their biographical sketches in Who's 

 Who," whereas " about 50% of all individuals whose names 

 appear in Who's Who provide this information." 



2. " The 25% who give information regarding church affili- 

 ation are associated in most instances with the relatively liberal 

 denominations," such as the Unitarians and Congregationalists. 



3. "Noticeable indeed is the small frequency of Roman 

 Catholics among the starred names in Ameiican Men of Sci- 

 ence." Among 1189 outstanding scientists, three only report 

 membership in the Catholic Church." 



4. From this they come to the unwarranted conclusion: 

 " The conspicuous dearth of scientists among Catholics sug- 



^ Harvey C. Lehman and Paul A. Witty, " Scientific Eminence and Church 

 Membership," Scientific Monthly, XXIII (1931), 544. 



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