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Religion vs. Science:

Myths vs. Evidence

What is "Abrahamic Religion"?

Abrahamic religion refers to major world religions that trace their spiritual ancestry to the mythological patriarch Abraham, a figure described in the Hebrew Bible (“Old Testament”) and the Qur’an. For them, Abraham is an early example of faith and foundational ancestry.

The largest Abrahamic Religions are (in chronological order): Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Core features shared by Abrahamic Religions:

Monotheism

One “god”, who is the creator and sustainer of the universe.

Revelation

“God” reveals divine will to humanity through: prophets, scripture, sacred history, and moral/ethical commandments.

Covenant

A binding relationship between God and humanity.
The covenant of Abraham with God myth (Genesis/ Qur’an 2) is a touchstone for all three.

Moral/Legal Framing

Ethical living, justice, mercy, and accountability are central.
Each tradition emphasizes charity, care for the vulnerable, communal responsibility, and the consequences of wrongdoing.

History

They share a worldview of linear history—a story with a beginning, middle, and end: creation, human moral struggle, and a final judgment, resurrection, or ultimate restoration.

Eurocentric + Abrahamic History

The imposition of Eurocentric history (layered onto Abrahamic mythology) on colonized cultures and societies established a “civilized vs. uncivilized”, “saved vs. unsaved” binary that supported and enforced colonialist, imperialist, and racist hierarchies while simultaneously misrepresenting (and attempting to erase) more ancient and enduring Indigenous understandings of intercultural trade, science, agriculture, and social development/structure.

Modern Eurocentric (19th-century forward) trans+ history traces the emergence, visibility, and evolving social, medical, and political understandings of gender diversity from the 1850s CE to the present. While gender-diverse people have existed in every culture throughout recorded history, the recent era marks a shift in how Western societies conceptualize, categorize, legalize (or make illegal), and respond to people whose gender identities and expression may not align with the gender role they were assigned at birth.

Read below for modern Eurocentric knowledge systems.

Anthropology

Before the 1850s, humans were believed to be individually created by a “Supreme Being” and part of a “Divine Order”. Rising general knowledge of emerging science that disproved mythological creation narratives and timelines eroded the power of religious institutions.

  • In 1858, the discovery in Brixham Cave (England) of paleolithic human bones mixed with bones of animal species which existed before Biblical (Bishop James Ussher) timelines, created conflict between theological and scientific human origin stories.
  • In 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, which remains the best evidence-based explanation that evolution (not “divine intervention”) established the diversity and complexity of life forms.
  • These discoveries opened the door to further inquiry into natural human diversity and behavior, without the confining framework of religious morality or ‘divine intent’.

Sociology, Psychology, and Psychiatry

  • In 1838, Auguste Comte coined the term “sociologie” to describe the study of social structures.
  • Sociologist Emile Durkheim believed sexual regulation was necessary to the health of society.
  • In the 1950s, John Money introduced the concept of gender and gender role assignment as aspects of the human experience.
  • Robert Stoller is credited with coining the term gender identity in 1964. His 1968 book Sex and Gender was highly influential in establishing the pathologizing and gatekeeping model of transsexual/transgender care from the 1970s to the present day.
  • From the 1970s to the 1990s, psychiatrist and lawyer Richard Green helped professionalize, legitimize, and defend the clinical treatment of gender dysphoria. Green co-wrote Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment with John Hoopes in 1969.

Genetics & Endocrinology

  • In 1891, Hermann Henking discovered something he called the “X element”, a chromosome existing “in males, not  females”.
  • In 1902-1903, C.E. McClung argues that Henking’s “X element” is related to maleness. He’s close, but his conclusion is reversed.
  • In 1905, Nettie Stevens discovered the Y chromosome and the XX/XY system of biological sex differentiation. She is the first to identify that sex is determined genetically correctly.
  • In 1907, Harry Benjamin met Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin, which started his lifelong interest in studying gender dysphoria.
  • In 1923, Edgar Allen and Edward Doisy identified and isolated the estrogenic sex hormone estrone, and later isolated the more potent estradiol.
  • In 1931, Adolf Butenandt purified androsterone, the first androgen (sex hormone) to be identified.
  • Progesterone, the hormone essential for preparing the uterus for pregnancy and early gestation, was discovered by Willard Allen and George Corner in 1934.
  • In 1935, testosterone was isolated and synthesised by Adolf Butenandt, Leopold Ruzicka, and Ernst Laqueur.
  • Links between prenatal hormone production and absorption and Intersex variations were discovered in the 1920s-1940s.
  • Estrogen and testosterone hormone therapies were first used to treat Intersex people and transsexuals in the 1930s-1940s.

Sexology

Sexology emerged as a distinct field in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, at the intersection of medicine, psychiatry, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and later endocrinology and genetics.
 
  • In 1864, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs published Inclusa, which explored the concept of a “female psyche in a male body”, an early inquiry into gender variance.
  • In 1867, he became one of the first people to speak publicly in defense of homosexual rights in Germany. He called for recognition that same-sex attraction is both natural and moral.
  • In 1869, Ulrichs published Prometheus, in which he proposed a structured political movement for the rights of homosexuals, predating LGBTQ+ activism by almost a century.
  • Richard von Krafft-Ebing published Psychopathia Sexualis in 1886, the first major medical classification of sexual behavior.
  • In 1900, Havelock Ellis published Volume 2 of his Studies in the Psychology of Sex, which focused on “Sexual Inversion”; it became the first English medical textbook on homosexuality, a term coined in 1868 by author Karl-Maria Kertbeny. Ellis was one of the first to treat sexuality as natural/non-pathological.
  • In 1897, Magnus Hirschfeld founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, the world’s first LGBTQ+ rights organization. In 1919, he established the Institute for Sexual Science, the first sexology research facility.
  • Alfred Kinsey published Sexual Behavior in the Human Male in 1948 and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female in 1953.
  • “The Transsexual Phenomenon: All The Facts About The Changing of Sex Through Hormones and Surgery” by Harry Benjamin is published in 1966.

Conflict and Tension

From Galileo to Darwin, and Bishop Ussher to potassium-argon dating, Abrahamic religions have long and complex relationships with scientific thought. Much of the time, they coexist, but certain points of conflict emerge due to differences in method, authority, and worldview, particularly when it comes to myths that assert that Earth and humanity hold a special place in “creation”.

Some Abrahamic religions claim (and are dependent on):
  • Teaching that Earth has existed for only 6,000-10,000 years.
  • The universe (including Earth) was created in six days.
  • It was created for a specific purpose and design.
Science has proven and in some cases theorized that:
  • The universe is (more or less) 13.8 billion years old.
  • The Earth formed (more or less) 4.54 billion years ago.
  • Cosmic evolution has no inherent teleology.

What is "Abrahamic Religion"?

Abrahamic religion refers to major world religions that trace their spiritual ancestry to the mythological patriarch Abraham, a figure described in the Hebrew Bible (“Old Testament”) and the Qur’an.

Core Features Shared by Abrahamic Religions

Monotheism

One “god”, who is the creator and sustainer of the universe.

Revelation

“God” reveals divine will to humanity through: prophets, scripture, sacred history, and moral/ethical commandments.

Covenant

“God” reveals divine will to humanity through: prophets, scripture, sacred history, and moral/ethical commandments.

Moral & Legal Framework

Each tradition emphasizes charity, care for the vulnerable, communal responsibility, and the consequences of wrongdoing.

Linear History & Timeline

They share a worldview of linear history: creation, human moral struggle, final judgment, and/or resurrection, or ultimate restoration.

Foundational Epistemology: Revelation vs. Empiricism

(Epistemology is the study of how humans create, justify, and evaluate beliefs.)

Religion claims...

Truth is known through divine revelation, scripture, tradition, prophecy, and spiritual insight.

Truth is known through empirical observation, experimentation, falsifiability, and evidence.

When religious claims about nature rest on sacred authority but science demands testable mechanisms.

Definition of Terms On This Page

INHERENT
Inherent means existing as a natural, essential, or inseparable part of something.

TELEOLOGY
The idea that things exist or happen for the sake of a purpose, goal, or final state.

ASTROPHYSICIST
A scientist who studies the physical properties and behavior of objects and phenomena
in the universe, using the laws of physics, mathematics, and astronomy.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Video clips (with commentary) in which astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson examines the inconsistencies of creationism and organized religion.