In hmolscience, David Marshall Brooks (1902-1994) was an American writer and famous atheist noted for his 1933 The Necessity of Atheism, in which he pens a chapter on “Religion and Chemistry and Physics”. [1]
Religion | Physics & Chemistry
Brooks opens his “Religion and Physics and Chemistry” chapter to the following:
“The establishment of Christianity, beginning a new evolution of theology, arrested the normal development of the physical sciences for more than 1500 years. The work begun by Aristotle and carried on to such a high state of relative perfection by Archimedes, was stifled by the early Christians. An atmosphere was then created in which physical science could not grow. The general belief derived from the New Testament was that the end of the world was at hand, and the early Church fathers poured contempt upon all investigators of the science of nature.”
He then notes that in 1163, Pope Alexander III forbade the study of physics to all ecclesiastics.
Brooks then points out how Francis Bacon tried to breech this forbidden barrier, by using the experimental method of science; the result of which the Pope threw him into prison for 14-years, finally being released at the age of 80, he declared:
“Would that I had not given myself so much trouble for the love of science.”
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Education
Brooks completed his MD somewhere, was a practicing psychologist (ΡΊ), and a New York Times columnist. [1]
Quotes
The following are noted quotes:
“By predicating a first cause, the theist removes the mystery a stage further back. Such a belief is a logical absurdity, and is an example of the ancient custom of creating a mystery to explain a mystery. Moreover, if it is reasonable to assume a first cause as having always existed, why is it unreasonable to assume that the materials of the universe always existed? If everything must have a cause, then the first cause must be caused and therefore: who made god? To say that this first cause always existed is to deny the basic assumption of this theory. To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy.”
— David Brooks (1933), The Necessity of Atheism [3]
References
1. Brooks, David M. (1933). The Necessity of Atheism (§10:Religion and Chemistry and Physics, pgs. 154-) (aud). Freethought Press Association.
2. Huberman, Jack. (2007). The Quotable Atheist: Ammunition for Nonbelievers, Political Junkies, Gadflies, and those Generally Hell-Bound (pg. 52-53). Nation Books.
3. (a) Huberman, Jack. (2007). The Quotable Atheist: Ammunition for Nonbelievers, Political Junkies, Gadflies, and those Generally Hell-Bound (pg. 52-53). Nation Books.
(b) Strobel, Lee. (2004). The Case for a Creator: a Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence that Points Toward God (pg. 133). Zondervan.
