Isaac Newton and atheism
"Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind that it never had many professors." - Sir Isaac Newton, A Short Scheme of the True Religion
Isaac Newton and atheism refers to Isaac Newton's beliefs concerning atheism.
Religious Beliefs
Newton was undoubtedly a Christian man. He was one of the foremost theologians of his day and was constantly reading the Bible to further his understanding of its meaning. He deeply believed that the beauty of the solar system required the hand of God.
Beliefs on Atheism
Newton actively distrusted and disliked atheism, as shown in the above quote. Furthermore, Newton proclaimed,"Can it be by accident that all birds beasts & men have their right side & left side alike shaped (except in their bowells) & just two eyes & no more on either side the face & just two ears on either side the head & a nose with two holes & no more between the eyes & one mouth under the nose & either two fore leggs or two wings or two arms on the sholders & two leggs on the hipps one on either side & no more? Whence arises this uniformity in all their outward shapes but from the counsel & contrivance of an Author? Whence is it that the eyes of all sorts of living creatures are transparent to the very bottom & the only transparent members in the body, having on the outside an hard transparent skin, & within transparent juyces with a crystalline Lens in the middle & a pupil before the Lens all of them so truly shaped & fitted for vision, that no Artist can mend them? Did blind chance know that there was light & what was its refraction & fit the eys of all creatures after the most curious manner to make use of it? These & such like considerations always have & ever will prevail with man kind to believe that there is a being who made all things & has all things in his power & who is therfore to be feared."
Newton believed that the advanced science he was uncovering could be reconciled with God and Creation and wrote extensively on this assertion. His powerful and insightful argument, as stated in the second above quote, can be seen as a fundamental part of any argument asserting the truthfulness of Creation over an atheistic view promoting coincidence and chance to explain the universe and life.
Isaac Newton to this day proves the reconciliation of science and God and that science without faith is meaningless.
