GOD VERSUS TECHNOLOGY? SCIENCE, SECULARITY, AND THE THEOLOGY OF TECHNOLOGY

Author: Padgett, Alan G.¹

Source: Zygon, Volume 40, Number 3, September 2005 , pp. 577-584(8)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

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Abstract:

In debate with John Caiazza, we clarify the meaning of the terms technology and secular, arguing that technology is not really secular. Only when combined with antireligious secularism do we get the modern techno-secular worldview. Science is not secular in the strong sense, nor does its practice automatically lead to the techno-secular. As a complete worldview, techno-secularism is antireligious, but it also is dehumanizing and destructive of our environment. Religion may provide a transcendent source for a humanizing morality that might move technology in a more ecofriendly, humane direction. The alternative is not a happy one for our posthuman technological future.

Keywords: John Caiazza; ethics of technology; Martin Heidegger; secularism; technology; techno sapiens; worldview

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2005.00689.x

Affiliations: 1: Professor of Systematic Theology, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN 55108;, Email: apadgett@luthersem.edu.

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