Question:
Why can't Science and Religion be friends?
genuine♥
2006-10-25 23:04:19 UTC
Isn't it fine to say that God created atoms, that created everything else? Because as we learn more science I think for the believers we can learn even more about where we came from and God. This is my opinion anyway, does anyone feel the same? Can Religion be Logical and Logic be Spiritual?
Twenty answers:
Mom_of_two
2006-10-25 23:11:10 UTC
Yes absolutely religion can be logical and logic can be spiritual. But you also have to remember one major detail. God MADE science. He gave us the signs of the moons and the stars as a proof that we are truly unique. He gave us minds to find reason and a voice in our hearts to tell us right from wrong. Science of proof of this or that is not in itself the center of our worship. God gave us these signs as a proof of His power.
Version_Best
2006-10-26 06:23:54 UTC
Because science has the capabilities to disprove religion. Science is fact and nothing can disprove fact. For the people that don't believe in science, just take a look around you and notice everything that is today. Do you think the world today would have been possible without science? Oh, and don't give credit to something where credit is not due. How many times do you here someone say, "God did it" even to something just recently discovered. For example, if a new breakthrough in science occur, well then we just might know who did it, right? Notice the sarcasm. If you really follow science, then you would have known that it has already disproved some of the things that are said in the Bible. Read "A Dialogue With Pope John Paul II" and learn what science has disproved.
2006-10-26 06:15:19 UTC
When the Christians talk of making good with science they are ignoring the threat to their religion science poses.

If the Evolutionists are correct (and they seem to be) then Adam and Eve were not real.

If the garden and Adam and Eve were not real then there was no Original sin. ( the acquisition of knowledge/free will by eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge)

If there was no original sin then there was no need for expulsion from Eden, no fall from grace and thus no need for Salvation.

If there was no need for salvation then what is God doing sending a saviour, it no longer makes sense.

So no Jesus on a cross.

This event, acceptance of science, would collapse religion. Religion is a multi billion dollar a year business.

I don't think the priests are going to give up all that wealth and power easily.

this is also why the fight at this time is evolution verses creation instead of the quantum fields of atoms.



the fight is strongest in the States because religion was sheltered here from the theological battles that were fought in Europe during and after the 1700's. The Puritans escaped that all by fleeing to America but they Isolated themselves from the war between science and theology. Time has caught up to them now.
2006-10-26 06:34:35 UTC
G'day Don't gow the flow,



Thanks for your question.



They can be and in the past were. It requires mutual respect for each.



The relationship between religion and science takes many forms as the two subjects are both extremely broad. Categorically, the difference between the two subjects is entirely methodological. The scientific method relies on an objective approach to measure, calculate, and describe the natural/physical/material universe. Religious methods are typically more subjective (or intersubjective in community), relying on varying notions of authority, through revelation, intuition, belief in the supernatural, individual experience, or a combination of these to understand the universe. Science attempts to answer the "how" and "what" questions of observable and verifiable phenomena; religion attempts to answer the "why" questions of value and morals. However, some science also attempts to explain such "why" questions, and some religious authority also extends to "how" and "what" questions regarding the natural world, creating the potential for conflict.



Historically, science has had a complex relationship with religion; religious doctrines and motivations have sometimes influenced scientific development, while scientific knowledge has had effects on religious beliefs. A common modern view, described by Stephen Jay Gould as "non-overlapping magisteria" (NOMA), is that science and religion deal with fundamentally separate aspects of human experience and so, when each stays within its own domain, they co-exist peacefully. Another view known as the conflict thesis, which has fallen from favor amongst historians but retains popular appeal, holds that science and religion inevitably compete for authority over the nature of reality, so that religion has been gradually losing a war with science as scientific explanations become more powerful and widespread. This view was popularized in the 19th century by John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White. However, neither of these views adequately accounts for the variety of interactions between science and religion (both historically and today), ranging from antagonism to separation to close collaboration.



I have attached sources for your reference.



Regards
trouthunter
2006-10-26 06:05:42 UTC
no its not fine to say that. If God created atoms, what created God? For that matter atoms are created form sub-atomic particles called quarks. They come in "flavors" Top, bottom, up, down, strange and charmed"

There are also numerous other sub-atomic particles, some of which always travel faster than light. Did God just "Poof" make all these interesting particles to keep physicist busy?

The physics up to time=0 are pretty well understood, and eventually science will be able to explain the how and why.
Nathan K
2006-10-26 06:34:05 UTC
No I don't belive that it can. First of all you if you going to go down the road of a logical discussion of religion versus science, firstly you have to be non opinionated and base you argument on fact. If you opinionated towards a certain belief your deduction will be biased toward that belief.

In line with your question... which god are you refering to?

- Christianity - The Holy Trinity

- Buddhism - Budda

- Muslim - Allah

- Jehovah - Yahweh

- Rastafari movement - Jah

- Sikhs - Waheguru

- Hindus - Ishvarna

It is understandable if I have missed one or two.

I think that I may be wandering from my point slightly. With this many "beliefs" and interpretation to choose from and the hard cold fact of science I would tend to go with the laws of science than religion.
Bill K Atheist Goodfella
2006-10-26 06:10:50 UTC
Yes, it's fine, but it's also naive. It is possible to use logic to find a way to justify scientific proofs to biblical stories, but it creates a new problem. For example, when science obtained evidence to support the Big Bang, the more forward thinking christians said "Oh, that's what we really meant by the creation story. You didn't think that was literal, did you?" Doing something like this is the same thing as a little kid sticking his fingers in his ears and singing "LALALA" in response to hearing things he doesn't like.



Seriously, the bible itself tells you to ignore logic and operate on faith alone...Proverbs 3:5.



EDIT: For the record, god didn't make science...a lack of science created gods.
suedoubleyou
2006-10-26 06:28:06 UTC
For me there are no issues intermingling the two. I don't buy the whole "God made science' scenario. I believe God is energy. And there's a whole whack of scientific explainations for energy. And I do believe in evolution. When I look at Owl eyes on a butterfly's wings (not trying to sound all 'James' about it) I can see it as a precoess of evolution with a very intended purpose. But even evolution can't happen without energy. When I consider this energy God, my eyes open up to the absolute beauty wrapped up in something with such a divine purpose.
Declan A
2006-10-26 06:18:50 UTC
Surely they go hand in hand and don't need to conflict. Both can't give us all the answers to all questions.



I would think God is the greatest scientist of all! Just look at the human body, what a wonderful scientific creation, when we break a bone, our body heals itself, imagine making a chair than can heal itself whenever it is broken.



I think religion gives us meaning and purpose in our lives and science can help explain the greatness of God's creations and add to our belief in God.



Problems arise when science and religion are taken to be the absolute truth and there is nothing more to add. Both are incomplete!
*fairy_princessÜ
2006-10-26 06:21:16 UTC
No it's not...because if we say that we came from atoms, how can you justify that God has created us uniquely and made us like His image if we all came from atoms? If it is said that God created atoms that created everything else, then we could be no less than plants and animals, and everything else. There's nothing special about humans anymore.....
Delusional- Ignore me
2006-10-26 06:22:24 UTC
It's simple.



Faith needs no proof and it is not based on logic or common sense. You take it for what its worth.



Science needs the entire opposite. It strives on using facts and looking for ways to prove things, it does not simply accept things "just because it feels right".



It does not take a real genius to see why they can't be "friends", don't you agree?
Alucard
2006-10-26 06:13:03 UTC
The problem is not science. The problem is religion being so ambivalent about the whole issue. Although religion by definition goes counter-logic, it could still live within religious doctrine if they so wish it to.
?
2006-10-26 06:10:23 UTC
When I read the Quran and the Bible I see science. Only people who don't utilize their intellect, on both sides see opposites. Religion helps me understand science. A lot of religious people

feel the way we do, but unfourtenely many people aren't on this level of understanding, sprituality, and guidance.



Albert Einstein said

"The most beautiful and most profound experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness. "( Albert Einstein - The Merging of Spirit and Science
Ponylover54
2006-10-26 07:49:35 UTC
Science seeks Truth where as religion fears it.
lilbaton
2006-10-26 06:25:21 UTC
As science goes along and more things are discovered. The more it verifys the Holy Bible, (great flood, Noah, Science states at one time on the earth was a great flood.)
Devaraj A
2006-10-26 06:07:50 UTC
Religion is full of myths but science requires normatic and empirical evidences and proofs.
kveldulfgondlir
2006-10-26 06:16:12 UTC
The main thing is that when science says or does something that religious doesn't like, religious gets mad and goes home and doesn't wan to play anymore.
Shay Guy
2006-10-26 10:40:33 UTC
Maimonides once said "You must accept the truth from whatever source it comes." He excelled as a physician, a rabbi, and a philsopher. Take that for what it's worth.
2006-10-26 06:06:13 UTC
It depends what religion are we talking about...coz..there is no conflict between Islam and science...
2006-10-26 06:11:38 UTC
they can be



http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/PartI.html


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