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About this quote

What does it mean?
The more we understand how nature works, the less believable standard Christian teachings seem.
In plain terms
Deep knowledge of nature makes popular Christianity seem less true.
What can you take from it?
Natural insight can challenge traditional religious beliefs.

Where it applies

  • studying natural history
  • comparing faiths
  • personal doubt

Putting it to work

  • reading nature texts
  • questioning dogma
  • seeking alternative faiths

Questions to consider

  • Does knowing nature make faith harder or richer?
  • What parts of faith survive deep natural study?

Another view

Many Christians integrate science and faith without conflict.

More from John Burroughs

  1. 'Hence when the man of science says, 'There is no God,' he only gives voice to the feeling of the inadequacy of the old anthropomorphic conception, in the pres…

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  2. 'When I look up at the starry heavens at night and reflect upon what it is that I really see there, I am constrained to say, 'There is no God.' The mind stagge…

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  3. 'Under the old dispensation, before the advent of science, when this little world was all, and the sun, moon, and stars were merely fixtures overhead to give l…

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