Aviva Directory » Faith & Spirituality » Science & Religion

To begin, I will say that this portion of our web guide is not about science, and it is not about religion; it is about science and religion.

Topics exploring the compatibilities, incompatibilities, and relationships between science and religion are the focus of this category.

Most people are detached from the conflicts between science and religion. If they have any interest at all, they imagine the two occupy separate, non-intersecting domains. They generally believe that science explains how the physical world works, while religion deals with worldviews and issues related to moral standards.

This is a simplified view as it ignores the contradictions between science and religion.

The public's opinions of conflicts between science and religion are mixed, but most do not believe these disputes rise to the level of incompatibilities. This is especially true as it pertains to their own faith-based beliefs. Thus, it wouldn't be unusual to find someone teaching macroevolution from Monday to Friday, yet teaching Sunday School on the weekend.

In large parts of the world, we are raised to believe that science and religion coexist harmoniously. Pointing out the contradictions is distasteful, and those who do risk being labeled negatively.

While science is taught in the schools, religion is not. Even in religious schools, the contradictions between the two are rarely mentioned. Thus, most people don't understand either science or religion well enough to appreciate the contradictions. Also, it doesn't help that the subject has become politicized and dominated by misinformation.

Science is generally cold and impersonal, but religion is comforting and personal. At the same time, people tend to view science as practical and are reticent to be labeled a science denier. However, science can't reach people emotionally, while religion can. Religion provides a sense of purpose and the hope of a life after death. Science is detached and doesn't care about anyone as a person, while religion does.

Although we're not inclined to explore the contradictions between science and religion, they are not insignificant. There are questions for which either the world's largest religions are wrong, or science is wrong.

Are births and deaths influenced by God? Can God heal illnesses? Does God control the weather? Does God influence the destinies of individuals? Does God influence any events on the Earth? Did God create the universe? Were all of the species on Earth created by God, or did they evolve? If they evolved, did God direct evolution? Does prayer work? What happens to us after we die?

These are questions for which science and the major religions are at odds. Can a rational religious person believe in the supernatural and science?

Science refers to the pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world through a systematic methodology based on verifiable evidence. Religion has reference to the service and worship of a deity or the supernatural, as well as to a personal or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices.

The relationship between science and religion has been discussed since antiquity. Theologians, philosophers, scientists, and politicians have long addressed the subject, some characterizing science and religion as incompatible or conflicting, with others insisting that there is a harmonious relationship. In contrast, some have insisted on a complete separation or little interaction between the two.

There are some positions we could take to avoid the contradictions. We could reject science's explanation and put our faith in the supernatural or decide to have no religious or spiritual beliefs whatsoever. We could adopt a form of deism in which God is relegated to a reverence for the natural order of things, or believe in an abstract god who exists solely in our minds. We might continue in whatever religion we ascribe to while presuming that it is wrong about anything contradicted by science, or we could consider that both science and religion might be wrong. Similarly, we could remain undecided on whether science or religion correctly interprets worldly events while understanding that they couldn't both be right simultaneously.

Either of these worldviews could represent a worldview that isn't contradictory. However, simultaneously believing in a supernatural intervening God and science's interpretation of things is a misinformed worldview, as it ignores irreconcilable contradictions and is not rational.

The interdisciplinary field of theology and science, also known as science and religion, studies historical and contemporary interactions between these fields and seeks to provide an analysis of their relationships. This category presents a collection of websites discussing the relationships, difficulties, and contradictions between science and religion.

 

 

Feature Article


The God of Science or the God of Religion


God

Nearly every scientific society in the United States has issued statements rejecting intelligent design and, so we are told, nearly every scientist in America, and throughout the world, believes that God had nothing to do with the origin of species, specifically the human species.

U.S. courts have repeatedly ruled in favor of teaching evolution in public school classrooms, and against teaching creationism, even as an alternative theory.

Yet, a 2012 Gallup poll holds that 46% of Americans believe that mankind was created by God. Additionally, about one-third of Americans believe that humans evolved, but with God's guidance, while only 15% hold that humans evolved with no help from a deity. These results have remained largely unchanged since Gallup first asked these questions thirty years ago.

Approximately eighty-five percent of Americans believe that God was involved, in some manner, either in the direct creation or in the evolution of man. Only fifteen percent believe that God had no part in it. In fact, between 2010 and 2012, the number of respondents who believed in direct creation went up by six percent, while those who believed that God made use of evolution went down by the same number, and one percent fewer people believed that God had no part in the process.

"All in all, there is no evidence ... of a substantial movement toward a secular viewpoint on human origins," states the Gallup report

Why is this? Are Americans ignorant or is there some other reason why they don't trust their scientists?

Apart from the fact that scientists have been caught lying to us about global warming, I believe the answers are simpler than that.

The vast majority of Americans reject atheism, and thus, naturalism as well. A solid majority of Americans are Christians, and many more believe in God. It should be no surprise then, that when a choir of experts insist that evolution is incompatible with a belief in God, people are forced to choose one or the other.

If science is the enemy of God, then only those who do not believe in God would choose science over God.

It should also be unsurprising that many Americans are reluctant to have evolution taught as fact to their children in the public schools, which their taxes support. Protestants don't want Catholic doctrine taught to their children, yet the distance between Protestantism and Catholicism is far less than the distance between Christianity and naturalism. For that matter, Christianity has far more in common with Judaism and Islam than it does with naturalism, as naturalism stands in direct opposition to theistic religion.

Thanks largely to declarations made by the experts, whose gains have largely come through the court systems rather than by persuasion of the public, evolution is seen as being central to naturalism, and naturalism is viewed much like a competing religion.

Claims by members of the scientific community that religion and evolution are incompatible does harm to science because it forces people to choose between science and a belief in God, and most believers are not going to choose science over God.

The tactics of members of the scientific community of going to court in order to prevent the teaching of creationism or intelligent design, has led to suspicion and mistrust of the scientific experts.

The perception that the scientific community has allied itself with a specific political faction, on this issue as it has with global warming, has served only to exacerbate feelings of misgiving.

If there is anyone who Americans distrust more than their scientists, it is their politicians.



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