Abstract
Christianity, with its rational God, provided the ideal culture for the rise of modern science. Philosophy of science, the understanding of how the scientific process works, has changed over time. The positivist philosophy had rather rigid ideas of how science confirms theories and demarcates the dividing line between science and non-science. This philosophy has given way to a more sophisticated view of science, which recognizes the weaving together of the careful, rational scientific process with the inevitable human choice or judgment that is involved in choosing experiments or hypotheses and in interpreting evidence. Science is a continuing search that makes progress but never reaches absolute truth. This leaves open the door to suggest that religious factors can legitimately interface with science, if the interaction is done carefully, to avoid hidden pitfalls. Many in science follow the philosophy of naturalism, which does not allow any explanations that require or imply supernatural causes at any time in history. Others suggest that religion can, in varying ways, contribute to the scientific process in very constructive ways. Three models of the relationship between religion and science are described, which differ in their view of the nature of theology and how it should or should not interact with science.