BleepingComputer.com: Can Science And Religion Coexist?

Hello, I am a newcomer.
After about 40 days and fifteen posts, it is rather depressing to see that no one attempted to define what they meant by science and religion. If you try to do just that you will find where each of us stand, in the light or shade or some grey spot somewhere in between.

I will recommend a book. If you are still in the good old habit of reading books, the time and money spent on it will not be worthless.
"Unweaving the Rainbow" by Richard Dawkins. (Penguin 1998)
I am sure you will be delighted and enlightened.
Very warm regards - Aprily

This post has been edited by Aprily: 11 June 2008 - 12:54 PM

I am currently reading another book by Richard Dawkins: The Blind Watchmaker. It's on Darwinian Evolution. Very good read so far!

This post has been edited by locally pwned: 11 June 2008 - 03:57 PM

That is a great book to read for those who find the idea of evoloution coming up with an eye, or any other very complex component, a reason to invent an intelligent designer i.e. a God or Creator. All of Dawkins' books are very well written and are a delight to read as well as being very informative.

May be religion is not that bad, because it came in to being as a survival technique of homo sapiens. Science is at the receiving end for many of the evils of our society forgetting that the evil use of science by certain people is the cause. Many people forget - some people have never heard of - the evils done in the name of religion; but they say religion is for the emancipation of mankind. And "My Religion" is the only one capable of leading you to that end!!!And Science takes all the brunt.

[quote name='Aprily' post='849880' date='Jun 11 2008, 12:49 PM'] Hello, I am a newcomer.
After about 40 days and fifteen posts, it is rather depressing to see that no one attempted to define what they meant by science and religion. If you try to do just that you will find where each of us stand, in the light or shade or some grey spot somewhere in between.

I will recommend a book. If you are still in the good old habit of reading books, the time and money spent on it will not be worthless.
"Unweaving the Rainbow" by Richard Dawkins. (Penguin 1998)
I am sure you will be delighted and enlightened.
Very warm regards - Aprily[/quote]

Science is basically facts based on evidence.

The only evidence religion has is a book written a few thousand years ago.

[quote name='locally pwned' post='843182' date='Jun 3 2008, 03:39 PM']I think the problems arise when people feel "attacked," that science is trying to subjugate their religion. I believe there are individuals and institutions that purposely incite this feeling; their motives might range from political or economic gain to true personal conviction. Nevertheless, I think they only do harm and cause division between us.[/quote]

Yep, that's called politics. It's obvious now that intelligent design is a political/social movement designed to sway public opinion. That fact alone sets it apart from science. Scientific laws and theories don't rely on a public relations campaign for acceptance (if that was true, evolution would never have been accepted).

It's natural for people to feel they're personally under attack when their beliefs are contradicted, but in this case there's nothing personal about it. Science purposely has no agenda. It simply reports what it finds without any bias, whether it agrees with any particular theology or not. People who refuse to accept scientific findings are basically denying the world as it really is in favor of a fantasy world they want, no matter how unrealistic it is.

Well said 62blue.

Thanks, Haviland. I doubt that it will sway any creationists, but I liked getting it off my chest. I also could have added, "...whether it agrees with any particular theology or not, or any existing scientific theory."

It all depends on what you define 'religion' from what I can derive from most of the posts here(Cut me some slack its late here.) you all refer to religion as 'Christianity.' Or something involving some higher power. Take Buddhism for example, it's more based on teachings as opposed to a god, which is why I find this religion more favourable. I can believe that a wise man spread some words a long time ago. So if you were to refer to Buddhism, yes I suppose it could co-exist with science.

Christianity hasn't exactly had a good track record as far as I'm concerned, having been modified to better accommodate the truths being discovered(The earth revolving around the sun for example.) I can't help but feel it is lacking credible basis. For the time being though, religion in this sense will continue to fill the holes of what we know and believe to be true. The current hole is 'how did everything come to be' or the creation of the universe. Take the 'Big bang' theory for example, a common response to that is 'God created that big bang.' Which will have to do for now.

Oh right the actual question...For the time being, they will co-exist, though religion had a considerable lead in early days it is slowly losing ground to science.

If God didn't exist someone would have to create him/her.

Can Science And Religion Coexist? Well, they have havn't they? Sorry to be so glib.

How advanced would we be if we did not have religion to fight over? Most scientific advances have been the result of military research or application. And most wars have had a strong religious component in their core as a justification and to garner support. The technological explosion of the twentieth century was in large part a result of military research and development.