ABSTRACT
One often encounters the view that there is an underlying conflict between scientific and religious mentalities, the one dealing in testable facts, the other deserting reason for faith; the one relishing change as scientific understanding advances, the other finding solace in eternal verities. Typical was White's account of the reluctance of the clergy to fix lightning rods to their churches. In 1745 the bell tower of St Mark's in Venice had once again been shattered in a storm. Within ten years, Benjamin Franklin had mastered the electrical nature of lightning. Science and religion are sometimes presented not as contending forces but as essentially complementary – each answering a different set of human needs. That doctrine, it is said, refers to the ultimate dependence of everything that exists on a Creator. It need not entail the separate creation of every species.
