Science’s morally ambiguous fruits eroded its own authority too

Evidence

Even repressive governments fi nd it diffi cult to block unwanted communications. Although secularization has not marginalized religion, it has weakened many traditional religious authority structures. Contributing factors to this decline have been the prestige of science and technology; population migration to diverse, media-rich urban areas; and the spread of compulsory secular education. Many religious authorities have responded by attempting to withdraw into enclaves, while others have tried to adapt their teachings to avoid confl icting with secular ideas. … Paradoxically, although science has contributed to the decline of religious authority, science too has seen its standing decline, especially in the last three decades of the twentieth century. The fruits of scientifi c research—whether they be nuclear weapons and nuclear power, the application of fossil fuels, or the manipulation of genetics—appear morally ambiguous. Hence science itself, instead of emerging as a surrogate for religion, has faced challenges to its authority, notably from those claiming access to nonrational forms of knowledge. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 149

Categorization

• XREF: The symmetry between declining religious authority and declining scientific authority echoes themes in White Noise about science and technology’s ambiguous fruits. — connects to: Science’s claim to exclusive truth paradoxically enabled its own destructiveness; Science’s value-freedom dismantled normative barriers to genocidal co-operation — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 315
• DEFINE: This explains why both traditional religious and scientific authorities weakened simultaneously, clearing space for improvised belief systems.

Broader Connections

• Science’s claim to exclusive truth paradoxically enabled its own destructiveness #expands (0.85)
• Science’s value-freedom dismantled normative barriers to genocidal co-operation #expands (0.80) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 315