why does space exploration and the pursuit of knowlede take a back seat from religion?

Question

In this modern day we are lucky to have witnessed images from the hubble space telescope and to discover so much about our galaxy and beyond. Yet its something you will only hear about on Nova or Discovery. It's rarely big news unless we touch down on the moon or next will be mars and soon after people stop talking about it. People talk about religion and gather in churches to discuss God yet we have so much to talk about in terms of what's beyond our world and ourselves. I just dont get people. I like to think while im on this earth ill like to learn as much about the world and beyond as well as form bonds with one another and set religion aside as just a figment of peoples imagination.

Answer 1

The only commonality that we all have is what we can all see objectively with our own eyes. That objective commonality is Nature. Science is merely a tool for looking at Nature objectively. The BIG trick is to figure out ways to share objective findings with others who may not have the education to understand the real world as readily as do those who have math and science knowledge. For example, stem cell research is very frightening and confusing to people who have never even understood elementary chemistry, better yet genetics. People are needed who can communicate with bridges between rational, complex knowledge and simple magical-thinking. Below is an example of a communication "bridge" between subjective belief and objective knowledge. Please consider becoming a communicator devoted to making these kinds of bridges:

1. "And God said, Let there be light, and there was light."
2. All of the light that began the Universe is where everything that we know about so far comes from, including you and I.
3. That light is pure energy. Energy flies in waves. (The electromagnetic spectrum).
4. Bundles of that energy called photons come together, cease to fly freely in waves, and form tiny tangled shimmerings called particles. We named those particles "electrons, neutrons and protons". Those shimmerings are also called "matter".
5. Particle shimmerings come together and form shimmering families called atoms.
6. Atom families that are alike come together and form elements, such as helium, hydrogen, gold, oxygen, etc.
7. Elements come together and form compounds.
8. Compounds come together and form organic compounds.
9. Organic compounds come together and form lifeforms capable of consciousness and possessing senses.
10. Humans are made of the original light. Humans are made of zillions of tiny shimmerings that come together and form a giant shimmering that is us.
11.Photons can be tangled in shimmerings (matter) or flying free in waves (energy). (E=MC2)
12. When we think and have feelings, our brains emit free flying photons (brainwaves).
13.Recent scientific reseach in the Netherlands has found that the feeling and associated brainwave that we humans can experience and emit that matches the avearge frequency of the Universe itself, is COMPASSION.
14. "Equipped with his five senses, man explores the world around him and calls the adventure Science." Edwin Powell Hubble
20. Here is a picture that we have recently made of the beginning of the Universe when all the energy of all the shimmerings, including you and I, began:

http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/03/0217/

Answer 2

The persistence of religion after all that science has discovered and provided is evidence to me that the human species is still in its animal infancy, desperately in need of something bigger that will protect it and kiss all its boo-boos.

Well, that's the mental state of infants and small children! There is *no* evidence that anything exists outside nature, and what would that mean, anyway?

Without getting too wordy, emotions and values are still real for arising naturally from living in social groups, and their importance is not diminished because they won't last forever; on the other hand, being temporary makes them more important and precious.

There may be some people who would go on a selfish rampage if they thought there was no deity watching them, but I haven't met one yet (on the contrary, more religiosity usually correlates with more criminality) - you don't have to be a genius to develop a conscience and figure out the golden rule all by yourself.

Religion has always tried to co-opt 'morality' and is always being caught with its pants down and its hands in the nearest cookie jar - and if you expose it for the fraud it is it will first try to insult you and if that doesn't work it will try to kill you. I think humanity has had enough of religion!

Answer 3

journey previous the earth and sky doesn't impact Christianity or Judaism in any respect. have you learnt that diverse astronauts were Christians? Others of them got here decrease back from area and grew to grow to be Christians (both Jim Irwin and Charlie Duke were very open about this, although there have been others.) (that is well worth noting besides the undeniable fact that that bill Anders also got here decrease back from his journey on Apollo 8 and became remote from lively non secular idea.) Scripture says that the heavens declare the enormous difference of God. The extra I study astronomy and the further nights I spend outdoors staring on the sky by a telescope, the further inspired i'm with God's magnificent potential. I make sure the further people learn about the vastness of the Universe, the improbability of existence, and the surprising procedures in which the Universe looks finely tuned to allow existence as all of us recognize it, the further they'll see that all of it factors a thanks to God. you're proceeding from the concept that there's no God, and the further all of us recognize the a lot less likely we are to count number on God. in truth, that is an incorrect attitude. If God exists (and that i trust he does) then all truth is God's truth; all creation is God's creation. ----- superb9006 is making an allowance for vacation Pilot Rick Husband.

Answer 4

If we could learn everything there was to know about space, time the universe, matter and energy, we would not therefore be automatically happy, or good.

We will never be truly happy until we are good, and the final frontier is not concquest of space but conquest of self.

We will not begin new and perfect societies on new unspoiled worlds if we bring along all the selfishness and evil with ourselves.

If there is nothing but matter and energy, then nothing is evil, no matter how much it hurts you, no matter how much you complain. Remember that, if someone hurts you.

If there is nothing but matter and energy, justice is an illusion. Remember that, if someone cheats you.

If there is only matter and energy, truth and falsehood do not make any difference, and might as well be interchangeable. Remeber that, if someone lies to you.

There are so many things that are not matter and energy, and these are all the things that make life meaningful to us.

A live body and a dead body contain the same number of particles. Does that comfort you, when you are thinking of a lost loved one?

18 NOV 06, 0514 hrs, GMT.

Answer 5

Over the centuries, your planet was a curious place to visit once or twice and was not considered very interesting . Sure, your wars showed us how undeveloped you are as a species. Your infantile,(in cosmic terms) dependence on god concepts does not bode well for you and neither does your penchant to breed beyond your planet's ability to sustain you. We are now showing an interest in you because it is not often that we get to observe a species commit suicide. You are so close to maturing as a sentient species and it will be a shame to see you kill yourselves. There are just not enough of you becoming rational enough to force the issue. You let the least among you determine your fate, so be it.

Answer 6

you dont get it? religion is some rules with stories and morals in it to keep people good and the society wont be in chaos. well, it's supposed to. someone just made them up so it's like people will help people and we wont live like the "surival of the fittest", but intelligence helped us survive(ex: those life threatening viruses and vaccines that fight them) science started by people who started questioning religion proved some of it false (like the earth was round, like gallileo said, but the clergy of the church made him say it was flat). science is started my observations, questions, hypothses....(basicly, the scientific method) invented my newton or something( the guy who proposed gravity?) so what if people discuss about god? if they were taught that for a long time and then you say that it isnt true, do you think they will believe you, after that have beleieved it for their life and someone says it's not right? i didnt learn about religion or read science books until i was in 6th grade. both were kind of interesting, but i believed evolution more than "intelligent design". and then later i just thought that religion was made up. i think going far out and exploring is better than being isolated in a tiny bubble. we look into space or else you'll never know when an asteroid is going to hit us or something bad like that happens. it's like predicting the wheather.
but still, science had brought nuclear weapons and such and the invention of those heavy elements such as plutonium that could instantly kill us and there's pesticidal poisioning in soil...
but, people had genetically engineered some plants to withstand bugs brought solar/wind power, vaccines, antibiotics, musical instruments, recognizing and trying to save endangered species...
i dont get people who believe in nothing BUT god, or people who believe in nothing BUT science. they should go check out things they dont believe it, study it and see how they like it. i'm still an atheist, but i will believe in things IF they could possibly be proven, or not believe in something if it sounds like nonsense. religious stories are inspiring, but i just like science a lot.
and about that guy that says there are the same amount of particles in a dead person and a living person, in a dead person, the nucleus of the radioactive carbon isotopes start decaying inside the person, releasing particles and positons. (whether or not the person is beind decomposed), and oxygen stops being converted to carbon dioxide, glucose doesnt convert to adenosine triphosphate(cellular respiration), and yeah, the functions in your body just stops and you lose nitrogen or something( i think).

Answer 7

Its easier to believe in the stories of religion because we humans tend to like fantastical ideas.

Answer 8

There is a video - "What the Bleep - Down the Rabbit hole" - that discusses this very issue - very good video.

Personally, I don't think that they are mutually exclusive. I think that one supports the other.

Answer 9

i think both are being "explored" but by different groups. some put their all into one and others into the other. and sometimes they come together, or at least i think they will!