Do all atheists just assume that Christians have no interest in sceince, or no nothing about the subject?

Question

Isn't it rather arrogant to suppose that our modern science can actually tell us the true origins of the universe, when we can't even be sure how many planets there are in this one solar system?
Don't get me wrong, here, science is a wonderful tool, and we all have reason to be thankful for the dedicated men and women who devote their lives to learning about how things work...but it is only a tool, and can't really be expected to answer the "eternal questions" mankind has:
Where did we come from?
Why are we here?
What's the point of my existence?
If these questions are not important to you, fine.
They aren't important to dogs and cats and other animals, either.
If you think science has the answers, please let us know what they are, and provide some sort of logical reasons for these answers.
If not, why not let religion handle what science cannot, and vice versa?
Before you remark that religion ought to do the same, I totally agree with you. Science vs God is a sucker battle...

On both fronts...
I am interested in hearing everyone's opinions, but once again, please respect one another's right to their own beliefs.
As always, bashers will NOT be considered for best answer. Show me how mature you actually are...

OOOPS...misspelled "science"...my bad!
PLEASE don't call the spelling police on me!!

St.alia there is a case in point. So, she doesn't want the ten points, that's fine with me...but she also doesn't seem to realize that she is showing me (and others) just how immature she is.
Respect for one another is a basic tenet of my faith.
What about yours?

Yoda doesn't disappoint me with reality.
But he disappoints me with his condescending attitude.
(Yeah, I misspelled "know" too. Let the one who has never made a spelling error cast the first stone.)
I don't really want to have to choose a fellow Christian as "best answer"...could even one atheist please try not to talk down to everyone who doesn't think just as you do?
Please?
Give me a reason to respect you...I'm begging, here...

If only you could all be more like Kwx, there...a gentleman, as well as a scholar.
And he can actually read and understand my question...I am deeply impressed!

Answer 1

Thanks for the responsible question--not easy to find in here.

I think that where the divide comes in is whether you are trying to answer metaphysical/philosophical questions or scientific ones with religion. I would classify the three you posed as more philosophical than scientific. If we are going to have religion at all (none for me, thanks), I agree that these types of questions can and should answered there. I'm not sure that there is ever going to be a scientific answer for them.

My problem is when religion is used to answer either controversial or heretofore unanswered questions that are scientific in nature. Frankly, using supernatural explanations to answer questions because the scientific facts are still being gathered and tested is intellectually lazy. Nothing infuriates me more than "there is no fossil directly linking animal X with animal Y, so therefore evolution is all bunk and it must be intelligent design". Is that not the easy way out? Don't we want to strive to understand where the link is rather than throw up our hands and say, "God must have done it"?

So does science have all answers? Certainly not. Will science ever have all the answers? I highly doubt it. Do we stop embracing science as a way to explain things we don't comprehend in favor of wishing the question away as the work of a supernatural being? I hope not.

Answer 2

I wouldn't call it arrogant by any means. And we don't assume at this point that science can tell us the origins of the universe. We have confidence that someday it will.
It is, however, the best thing we HAVE. While a lot of people like to rely on explanations involving God, we don't have anything to show for a God. We don't want to just attach an explanation to something simply because we don't understand it yet, and that's the reason that people made up the idea of a grand creator...to fill in the gaps of our limited understanding. I would rather just be honest and admit that I don't know, and hope that generations down the line will eventually HAVE the science and the technology that will be able to explain it.
You ask, "why not let religion handle what science cannot?", well, the reason for that is because there is no evidence to back up religion. Again, like I said, it's just making up an explanation to fill in the gaps. Maybe that makes sense to some people, maybe it makes some people feel better, but that's not OK for me, and it's not logical to me to do that.

Answer 3

I have yet to meet an atheist that claims that science has proven everything there is. As a matter of fact, atheists are quite comfortable knowing there is much more to find out. On the other hand, such questions like the ones you listed doesn't give more truth or merit to any religion and it surely doesn't bring forth proof that science should be dismissed when it comes to certain questions. Most theists will try to rely on the fact that their has to be a cause and effect to justify their belief. This is a scientific theory by the way. But if we are the effect then what is the cause? God? Well then, where did God come from? He always existed? Well that doesn't really explain anything, especially if you truly believe we have to have a cause and an effect. If God always existed, why couldn't you just say the universe always existed?

Answer 4

Of course not. When a specific Christian mentions something that suggests ignorance of a specific area of science, then I might make that assumption, but even then I wouldn't generalise that claim to science in general.

By the way, the number of planets in our solar system is irrelevant in explaining the origins of the universe, and the fact that science can't explain everything at the moment does not mean that science cannot handle those questions. That's why we still have scientists; there are things that haven't been explained that may be explained in the future.

If you go back just a few hundred years people didn't know how lightning worked. Many cultures invented religious explanations. Since then, science has explained lightning quite thoroughly, and funnily enough it has nothing to do with Thor. See where I'm going with this?

Also, even if science couldn't answer those questions, that wouldn't mean that religion can. Believing in a mythical answer is illogical whether a scientific answer exists or not.

Answer 5

Answer is No!
I am a believer though not a Christian. Still I must underline a point here that almost all the scientific discoveries and the resulting products we are living and enjoying with are the result of research work done by Christians. And I also agree that we have not yet understood even a small part of the creation. However, one must understand that we have only discovered and not made any scientific laws, for example “law of gravity”. We have discovered and invented the things under the scientific laws ALREADY IN EXISTENCE. Who is responsible for these? Only answer is the creator. And who is the creator????? And how to reach him? Do we need to?????

My point of view is that science and the creator cannot be visualized in isolation.
The earth, the planets, the stars, the mankind, the animals, emotions, relations, feelings, love, jealousy, terrorism, war, destruction, service, good, bad, enemy, friend, laughter, pain business, education, science, air water, vegetation, and so on, and infinite numbers of so on’s ……………and what not!! --Is all part of, the Universe, the Mother Nature?

The sum total of all, compressed and focused in to one SINGLE POINT, brings us nearer to the definition of GOD.
Thus understanding and acting as per the laws of the Mother Nature is the only way to go near him. Any other SHORTCUT is like dreaming to go to moon without a space rocket, sitting in my bedroom.

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Answer 6

I am an atheist and I do not assume christians have no interest in science. I also do not assume that christians have no knowledge on the subject.

It is not arrogant to suppose that science can actually tell us of the true origins of the universe. Science has told us about many things that we have not known before. We do not know how much more science can tell us. We can push it to discover more and more about the universe around us. I would rather do that than stick my head in the sand and pretend that some deity is responsible for everything and stop inquiry.

Where did we come from? From my perspective, this is a nice to know, however, it detracts from the more important question, of where do we want to go? (i.e. the purpose of life)

Why are we here? From my perspective, we all determine our own purposes in life, and that this is a fundamental responsibility that each of us has to ourselves.

What's the point of my existence? See above.

For me, personally, my purpose in life is to raise my children as responsible adults, and to leave the world in a better condition than when I came into it.

Science can increase our knowledge of the world around us. We have to determine what we want to do with that knowledge.

Religion does not have any role for me in my life. It just isn't necessary for me to accomplish my goals.

Answer 7

Actually, Science can (and does) shed light on all these questions. From anthropology to zoologgy, scientific investigation helps us comprehend our place in the cosmos. How, answer this: why have believers had such a hard time accepting the great strides science has made? For example, believers continue to question the validity of evolution by natural selection. Or, a few centuries ago, believers had trouble accepting that the planets move around the sun. There are many more examples. The point is: science continues to challenge mere belief, by using reason, intellect, and doubt. And all such questions about where we came from or what it all means-- all of this is certainly comes within the realm of science!

Answer 8

I think many Christians have an interest in science. But what I don't understand is why is it so hard to accept what science has given us so far for the answer to the big three?

We evolved from a primordial soup eons and eons ago.

We are here to insure the survival our DNA. We evolved to a higher degree to insure the DNA will be carried on to the next generation.

Again the point of our existence to insure the survival of our DNA. Consciousness just helps that survival probability out.

These are important questions. Science has answered them.

You have some good points. Still some of you points have faults.

For instance, why is it when science cannot explain something, we have to immediately go to the god did it excuse? We know how stars work now and why they exist, but before we did many people just said god did it.

I hope that answers your question.

Answer 9

To answer your headliner: When you examine most Christian's scientific-sounding arguments you discover that it is so off-base with what it says about some of the more basic and available scientific statements that it's difficult not to conclude that they are deliberately making this stuff up! The information is not secret! There is no magical formula that only initiates know or only "the elect" may obtain. You do not need to have been present when Einstein presented his paper on Special Relativity (or whatever) in order to be able to call yourself a first-hand witness of the most astonishing proof of anything! This is what I love about science: anybody but anybody can become involved at least in trying to understand what it is saying! Furthermore, if this form of sneakiness (cloaking lies in scientific-sounding nothing-talk) is what the Christian religion promotes, I not only want to have as little to do with that religion, but I want them to keep their religious teachings away from our children. Keep it in the safety of the home where only those families who are willing to assume the risks of playing such dangerous head-games with their kids will be exposed to it.

WHERE DID WE COME FROM?:
Well first of all It is erroneous to think in terms of the universe having a "beginning." Our existence is finite as a result of our makeup. Matter is always in motion and subject to erosion and decomposition. Energy is constantly transferring itself into other forms. Information, the basis of the DNA code, becomes noisy and distorted over time. Since nobody has detected the existence of a “soul,” this is all we know about our makeup: matter, energy, and information. The most important question to keep in mind is this: If the universe is so vast and complex that it requires that a creator created it (that "it couldn't have just happened"), then that creator would need to be even more vast and more complex than the universe. Thus, all the more would we need to explain the creator. In other words, if you think the existence of the universe needs explaining, and if you posit a creator to explain the universe's existence, then you will need to explain the existence of the creator.

Answer 10

No, atheists do not claim that Christians have no interest in science. I know a few Christians in school who are in my science classes. They just don't really mix the two that much.

And the answer to your questions are being answered.

Where did we come from? The first life may have made it to earth on a foreign body. It may have developed on earth from the building blocks of life (I'm not going to list them)
What is the point of existence? There is no point. Things exist because they exist. Do rocks exist to hold down the ground?