Being aware of the spectacular mysteries of the universe, I have been led to a firm belief in the existence of a higher power. I cannot envision this whole universe coming into being with all its precise laws and so forth without something like divine will. As I see it, science and religion, properly understood, are not antagonistic pursuits. It is indeed quite logical that science, evolving through the ages, is merely giving us greater and greater insight into just how perfect and complex the creation of the universes truly is.
This leads to my question. Why is it that so many view science and religion as opposing viewpoints? I often wonder if it is the fault of the Bible, a book written by brilliant philosophers during a time when science could explain little. Followers of the Bible seem unwilling to accept that explanations given 2000 years ago could perhaps be limited by the limited knowledge and perception of those in that time. Is it time to update the Bible?
2006-09-01 10:48:49 · 21 answers · asked by Marcello 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I suppose the point I am driving at that I hope to hear everyone's insight on is that so many seem to focus on the Bible as the final word...but as we evolve science permits us to discover the physical laws and meanings of things that those 2000 years ago could not possibly conceive of (just as we likely cannot conceive of where science will be 2000 years from now). So, while I do believe in a greater power in some manner, its seems to me that those who abide only by the Bible's view of things and reject the advancements of science are limited by a time frame. Surely the existence of science is proof that a God wanted us to strive to discover his power. If God as explained in the Bible is so almighty, then millions of years of scientific advancements will never explain his full creation...so how can anyone expect that its essence was discovered in entirety 2000 years ago? So again, it seems that the Bible is the limiting factor that causes its followers to deny science.
2006-09-01 11:05:02 · update #1
Well, science essentially is oblivious to god... and rightfully so. Science is looking for natural explanations for natural things. The presumption of science is that everything that can exist and anything that can occur in the universe is, by definition, natural... even if we cannot presently understand it or explain it. Again, this is as it should be.
Religion does not see it that way, though.
At the bleeding edge of science, at the point where it REALLY starts to get interesting, science says: "We don't know... OK, boys... let's roll up our sleeves, dig in and find out."
At the bleeding edge of science, at the point where it REALLY starts to get interesting, RELIGION (imagine South Park - Officer Barbrady) says: "That's too complicated. God did it. Move along. Nothing to see here. Everybody go home now."
Religion exists in a strange dichotomy between two logical fallacies... the 'Argument From Incredulity' ("I can't understand how that might have come to be; therefore, god did it.") and the 'God of the Gaps' fallacy, also known as the 'Divine Fallacy'. The God of the Gaps lives at the bleeding edge of science... and religionists view the advances of science as an encroachment into their territory. They are at war, fighting a rear-guard action against the advance of scientists... and the preoccupied scientists, for the most part, don't even KNOW that they're in a fight.
"Science doesn't attack god." That is correct from the perspective of science... as I said, science is oblivious to god... he/she/it is simply out of scope. From the standpoint of the religiose, though, science is the mortal enemy. First they took away the earth being the center of the universe, and the focus and purpose of all creation... the god of the gaps got his **** whipped. Next thing you know, lightening is just an electrical discharge... not a manifestation of the wrath of god. The god of the gaps got his butt kicked again. Disease caused by germs, not demons. Ouch. Planets aren't wandering stars... they are bodies that orbit the sun. Whap. Stars aren't little lights placed on the firmament (the solid barrier between heaven and earth... i.e., the sky)... they are actually suns, like our own, unimaginably far away. God of the gaps gets kicked right in the balls. And on, and on, and on. The god of the gaps has NEVER won a fight... NOT ONCE. Every time there is a scrimmage between science and the god of the gaps, another gap gets filled up with knowledge, and the god of the gaps slinks away, with his tail between his legs. Earth isn't 6,000 years old... it's 4.5 BILLION years old. G of G kicked in the nuts again. And on and on.
Well, they're tired of getting kicked in the nuts... so, they've changed tactics. Rather than fighting the battle on the basis of knowledge, they will fight it on the basis of lies and misdirection. Science won't engage them... heck... it won't even acknowledge them. So, rather than engaging science, they just appeal to their constituency, which is scientifically ignorant for the most part, and feed them a bunch of plausible sounding pseudo-scientific lies. Take 'Intelligent Design'. The strategy is not to argue this on a scientific basis... it is to "Teach the controversy"... except in the scientific community, THERE IS NO CONTROVERSY. But their dumbass constituency doesn't go to the scientific community for their scientific information... no... they go to the people they TRUST... their SPIRITUAL LEADERS... and they get fed pseudoscience and lies.
Willful ignorance, lies and delusions are winning. Science is losing. The god of the gaps, FINALLY, is holding the line against knowledge, reason and critical thought.
So, while it is true that evolution doesn't attack god, that doesn't really matter... because as long as they PERCEIVE science (in general) and evolution (in particular) to be an attack on god, we're going to be in an ongoing fight. At some point, in the near future, we need to wake up and realize that, or we're going to end up back in the Dark Ages... with nukes.
2006-09-01 10:59:59 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The vast majority of believing Christians do not see the Bible and science as being antagonistic in the first place. You are much more likely to hear that from someone bigoted against religion or some nominal Christian too lazy to give much thought to it either way. The scientific method itself did not exist during the centuries of the Bible's writing. It was developed later primarily by believers exactly BECAUSE they expected to find an orderly universe because they knew it had a creator.As far as I know virtually all Believing Christians realize the Bible has to be read in the context of its period of writing. That is basic to exegesis. Bible 101 if you will.That however does not imply that the Bible needs "updating". As far as I know nothing in the Bible has been shown to be contradictory to anything scientific ( despite the rantings of about 3 million chat-room experts).---one other minor note -terming the authors of the Bible philosophers is-in my opinion- a poor Choice of words. There is Very little abstraction in the Bible.The Bible proclaims God, it does not speculate about Him.
2006-09-01 11:09:30 · answer #2 · answered by TalkingDonkey 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Science and religion often give conflicting explanations for things. In the past, it was about the shape of the solar system. In the present, it is about how life came to be.
I think it is also partly the fault of pigheaded people on both sides. Many of my religious friends believe that the Bible was written personally by God and it is the eternal, unchanging truth. They aren't able to integrate any new scientific knowledge into their worldview. There are also people who have the view that religion is some form of mass madness, and that it can only do harm in the world. They don't take into account all the good religion has done as well.
2006-09-01 10:59:03 · answer #3 · answered by dunearcher212 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Religious people are often great scientists too.
The real divide is on the matter of 'right and wrong'. Science threatens religious advocates of what is 'right' because it often presents a Godless world of mere mechanical and chemical interaction. In that system, there is no right and wrong, therefore your daughters are not safe from those doing what they believe is only 'natural' because it pleases them.
In its best form, religion is a means of establishing common values in a society and placing those values out of the reach of pleasure-seekers. America is built on that concept - that our Rights come from God and therefore greedy politicians or other people are not allowed to infringe upon them.
Religion and Science are not necessarily opposing viewpoints. Many scientists believe God created this amazing system they are currently exploring because, it seems, it is just too well designed to be random.
Conflict comes about because of particulars like the age of the Earth. Religious folks must believe that everything in their religious texts is true, otherwise their entire belief system might not be. They get defensive when their beliefs are challenged just as any political ideologue does. That sparks conflict.
Those who wish to deny the religious are often quite violent in doing so. Secularist Leftist governments have murdered tens of millions of religious people to eliminate competition for dominance over the masses' belief systems. So, the violence between religion and non-religion comes from both sides.
2006-09-01 11:06:17 · answer #4 · answered by speakeasy 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Egos... power... money... and the thought that if the church was wrong on one point, why not others as well. If the church is flawed then they lose power and people lose faith. Scientist fear what they cannot explain. So if things happen just because, it would send there world into chaos. Together, they can't exist. At least not at the extremes people take thier studies/beliefs.
There are a few people... like me personally... who would like to see the 2 combined. I'm also of the belief that everything must change to survive... including the bible.
2006-09-01 11:04:48 · answer #5 · answered by wolvie145 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Science disproves religion and religion can't take the truth. It is time to realize that the catholics threw out most of the bible and rewrote it to their beliefs eons ago. We will never know if more than two words in it are still the same until we break into vatican city and get the original documents. They only admit to mistakes in translations over the ages,
2006-09-01 10:58:03 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Improper education is number one. Most of the arguments I've seen here against evolution for example show more that those posing the arguments don't have a functional understanding of evolution and science in general.
I too believe that science and religion can coexist. I mean religion has been in opposition to science for a long time (Galileo for instance), and yet much of his discoveries are accepted today by modern Christians.
2006-09-01 10:52:54 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
faith starts with a end, and then seems for data to help it. This narrows (greater wisely, HAMSTRINGS) the scope of study to the factor the place contradictory data is filtered by way of the worldwide view FIRST, and then immediately discarded as incorrect. This finally ends up in an extremely misguided representation of certainty, it is the right opposite purpose of technology. technology is all approximately beginning with the data, and making a lead to keeping with the place the data takes you. this methodology is self-correcting as time strikes forward and greater human beings get entangled, and it varieties a miles greater precise view of certainty than something has. faith and technology can coexist, as long as non secular presuppositions are checked on the door, otherwise all that consequences is undesirable technology in keeping with unverifiable claims. "EDIT: Banana- have been you conscious that evolution honestly verifies the order of creation interior the e book of Genesis? issues have been created in a particular sequence, and definitely, evolution verifies this sequence." i'm gonna thieve this one from Banana: it is incorrect. Genesis a million:a million itself is incorrect, and what follows isn't defined via evolution. you're a liar.
2016-10-01 04:42:09 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Another victim of the atheistic propaganda machine!!!!
There is no friction between religion and science. All Christians I know (besides the Quakers) like science and technology for it seeks knowledge and advancement of human existence.
The conflict has only been marketed the way it has to get people like you to question the Bible and ultimately reject it. Once it looks like Christians reject science, they look like a bunch of foolish fanatics.
The true conflict is actually secularism VS. religion. Secularists push evolutionary theory as scientific fact in order to mislead people and hijack science for their own interests (pushing atheistic philosophy) At the same time, they set up a perceived conflict between religion and science. Did you know that 40% of all scientists out there believe in a god that answers prayers?
Maybe instead of changing the Bible to fit our atheistic philosophy, we should update science books so that they teach scientific facts instead of mindlessly pushing atheistic philosophy.
2006-09-01 11:05:37 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
The main reason is intelligence versus madness. Consider the following.
Religion is a serious mental illness. It’s the inability to face the reality of life and the finality of death. It affects 85% of the USA and 75% of US victims are Christians. The more pathetic and desperate a persons life, the more likely they are to believe in a god. People with otherwise empty lives, are the strongest believers. It gives them false hope that there’s a higher meaning to their sad and pathetic lives.
Non-Believers are more intelligent than religious believers. My own observation and analysis of the various posters on Yahoo Answers clearly reveals that Non-Believers are without any doubt, far more intelligent, thought provoking, and capable of holding sensible debate compared to their religious counterparts.
My private research studies indicate that religious people tend to be below average intelligence, and also have a tendency to be more violent than non-believers. This also seems to be supported by profiling various YA religious posters.
Science suggests that religion is a mental illness and that religious people act irrationally because they are genetically predisposed to the “religious or spiritual” gene. Statistics indicate that the higher your education, income, and intelligence, the more likely you are not to believe in a god.
In general terms, this summarises as Non-Believers are intelligent and religious people suffer from madness.
We need smart kids, not dumb violent children who believe in a God. It’s a statistical fact that the higher your education, income, and intelligence, the more likely you are not to believe in a god. For every college student that converts to a religious belief system, 17 college students convert to atheist beliefs. Atheists have an average intelligence of 25 IQ points above their Christian counterparts.
80% of the world’s population is religious.
80% of the world’s violence and wars are caused by religion.
80% of religious people are of below average intelligence.
There are numerous examples of the above, but such statistics are ignored or more importantly, deliberately concealed by religious groups.
2006-09-01 10:51:04 · answer #10 · answered by Brenda's World 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋