The science of eugenics, a misuse of biological science, runs deep in our countries history. Scientists at institutions like Harvard and the University of Virginia played central roles in eugenics. What is less known is that some progressive religious leaders were also active in promoting it.
Any discussion of race and science must include the many historical ways science has been used against non-white Americans. Some of that history is described here. Two of the more prominent instances include the Tuskegee Study and the experience of Henrietta Lacks.
There’s been a longstanding warfare thesis about the alleged rivalry between faith and science. But in the words of historian Ron Numbers, it’s “more propaganda than history.”