Can religion and science be seperate?

Answer 1

Yes. But they do not have to be.
The greatest scientific minds of humanity have embraced the concept of God.

Answer 2

Can they be? Yes...

SHOULD they be? I'm not so sure...

While I am not a person of faith (not a big God believer) I do believe that some of the basic tenets of religion are required, for morality's sake.

Science can easily say that the human race is a fluke. An accident that evolved from an ancient cesspool... and, there is nothing after we're gone... blunt, but true.

Religion and spirituality on the other hand, allows us to put a value on the things around us.

Now, while I believe that Science is correct in saying that Humanity was a cool series of coincidences, evolved... I also believe that human life has a value, and this value (again, my personal belief) stems from the morals and values that Religion has given us.

So... where am I going with this? These morals and values, put in place by religion and spirituality GUIDE science into new and exciting directions. Science is used to discover and heal... to advance, educate and nurture the population...

(yeah, it also can be used to kill, maim, and destroy people too... but that's stuff's been around since the damn of time)

While I don't see the evolution/creationism argument ending ... well... ever... I do see the need for the co-existence of both religion and science as necessary.

Answer 3

In my opinion, seperate? Absolutely. Compatible? It can be.

Religion and science are fundamentally different disciplines. The logic that 'science explains how and religion explians why' is useful, but more importantly, science starts with the evidence and moves towards the conclusion. When science meets religion, we get things like 'intelligent design', wherein the conclusion is taken as a given ('watchmaker) and evidence is sorted through to put together a case.

This may be how lawyers work, but it's not how scientists work. Science needs to be unafraid to say when it's wrong and when its original theories no longer hold water. Science is self-correcting. Religion is none of these things. That doesn't mean that religion is bad; it just means it's fundamentally different from science.

The problem I have with apologetics is that they try to blur the boundaries between the two. I think the better route, vis-a-vis religion, is to say 'I believe it; I take it on faith; I see it as unprovable; thus, I will not seek proof.' In my opinion (as a person who kinda-sorta has a 'scientific mind'), this is more admirable than saying 'religion can hold up to the strictures of science if you bend it this way and fold it that way'.

No it can't. It insults the intelligence of both the scientific and the religious to try.

Answer 4

They are by nature already seperate. The ideals of both seperate them. Many people who study science also have a firm belief in God, but usually not the other way around. More religious people refute science until they need medical attention, then they are all for it. But there has to be a comprimise.........I dont think there can be one without the other. As an Entomologist, I would love to think that all I study is based on science and in particular evolution by natural selection..........That is the one aspect of religion that I dont believe in completely...........my work disproves the creationist ideals of life appearing on earth..........but I retain my faith just the same.

Answer 5

Yes it can. Many scientists are also religious as well. You can keep them seperate by not applying science to prove religion, or using religion to prove science.
Take for example, Intelligent Design and Evolutionary Theory. When you try to appliy religion to science, it doesn't work out. If we just let them alone, they can work out, co-exist together. One could be taught at church, while the other taught in schools. They don't necessarily have to be clashing.
But anyways, we have plenty of scientists today that go on with their work, not letting their religion effect their research.

Answer 6

I am always surprised that people fail to see that science and religion explain the beginning of the universe in almost exactly the same way.

Science says the universe began with a huge burst of energy (light) that they call the Big Bang.

Religion says the universe began when God said "Let there be light!" and they call it The Creation.

Science says the burst of energy expanded and cooled to form stars and planets.

Religion says God first created the stars and planets.

Science says life evolved from simple to mankind.

Religion says God created life in a sequence where the final creation was mankind.

In my mind, saying the beginning of the Universe was a microscopic point that exploded into a universe is just as fantastical as saying that an invisible Superbeing said "Let there be light!"

What's the difference? Neither version adequately explains how something came from nothing, does it? I suspect there never will be an adequate explanation. Our minds would be unable to think it.

Answer 7

Religion and science are already separate.

Religion is belief in a story with no actual evidence or facts to back it up.

Science is the observation of how the world works based on fact and observation. Experiments can be done to prove that theories are correct.

Answer 8

Yes, but you have to be very careful when you cut...
It's a lot like two antagonistic siamese twins joined at the head...

Seriously, it's not so much science, or technology, but deductive reasoning that seperates the two schools. The Bible and other literature of that time rely on inductive reasoning, and most people view the Bible as dogmatic. It is. But that's ok. I can think backwards...and sideways too if I have to...

Answer 9

"Can religion and science be seperate?"

CAN they be seperate? They ARE seperate. Your question is not legitimate... it merely sets up a few logical fallacies:

* Straw Man Argument

* Fallacy of Propositional Logic

   - Affirming a Disjunct
   - Improper Transposition

What, exactly, are you trying to accomplish here? Are you playing a game, or do you just not know any better?

Answer 10

They are a s separate as Fairy Tales and Facts

"The greatest scientific minds of humanity have embraced the concept of God. " wiregrassfarmer
Think again, Farmer boy:

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism."

-Albert Einstein, German-born American physicist


"I don't think we're here for anything, we're just products of evolution. You can say 'Gee, your life must be pretty bleak if you don't think there's a purpose' but I'm anticipating a good lunch."

-Dr. James Watson, American biologist, (Discoverer of DNA.)


"Religion is all bunk."
"I cannot believe in the immortality of the soul.... No, all this talk of an existence for us, as individuals, beyond the grave is wrong. It is born of our tenacity of life – our desire to go on living … our dread of coming to an end."

- Thomas Edison, American inventor (1847-1931).



"If you study the bible carefully, and compare it to the science,... I found it that they sort of fill in one another.... " Agus
That is called "The God Gap" Anything you don't understand, you say "God did it" It was a well known fact that God made lightning 300 years ago. Science fills in the gaps, and a little piece of religion dies.

Answer 11

They have to be - science deals with the way the real world actually is whereas religion deals with the world the way some people would like it to be.