Thursday, August 21, 2014

The Falsifiability of Christianity

Is Christianity falsifiable?

One of the ways that religion is distinguished from science is the claim that scientific claims are falsifiable while religious claims are not. In theory at least, every scientific claim is open to refutation by new evidence. Science proceeds, more or less, by the constant refutation of wrong theories leaving only those that are right, or better, or at least not yet refuted. It is critical, in science, to state hypotheses and theories in such a way that they are falsifiable.

A belief which is not open to refutation, which is not falsifiable, is not scientific. But it may be religious. For example, you might have faith that God exists but lacking any way to test that belief it is not falsifiable. There is no conceivable evidence that could be presented which would refute your belief in God.

It is often assumed, therefore, that religion, in general, is not falsifiable and that this is what distinguishes it from science.

However, there does exist at least one test of Christianity. Among the most fundamental claims of Christianity is that Christ is risen. Saint Paul wrote, "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." [1 Corinthians 15:14]

If it were to be shown that Christ were not risen Christianity would be essentially refuted. And one way to show that would be to find his burial ossuary. This is a claim that has been made at least once already, see the Lost Tomb of Jesus.

My point is not to debate this particular find but to simply challenge the conventional assumption that religion, and Christianity particularly, is not falsifiable.

No comments:

Post a Comment