The strongly secularizing tendencies of modern science seem to suggest that the pursuit of science cannot really be an act of piety to which believers are called: yet the doctrine of creation equally implies that science is feasible and desirable in its pursuit commended by theistic religion. It is this paradox which the present paper expounds and explores. The thesis that science is subversive of religion and the antithesis that empirical science is nourished by theistic doctrine are first expounded and then found to give rise to problems. If the antithesis is true, why was there so little empirical science until the seventeenth century? If the thesis is true, can such a subversive activity really be the historical and logical outcome of doctrines so central to Judaism and Christianity? Despite the difficulties, it is concluded that both the thesis and the antithesis must be accepted.