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From the time when humans evolved there have been many explanations for events that appear out of human control. In recent history, religious and scientific views have often disagreed with one another. Religious ideas are usually presented first, and then enough scientific evidence accumulates to challenge religious beliefs. These discoveries dealing with science are looked upon with utter disbelief. Dating back to the middle ages, religion always held the answer to any question posed.
Within the following years, many people began to find ulterior answers to questions, using science to support their answers. Science was now considered the new formula to deal with unanswerable questions. The church, being a strong believer in religion, refused the idea of science as logic, and banned anyone who believed in such logic. As a result, many conflicts arose between men of religion and men of science. When the church was given evidence to back up the notion of science, that person was shunned and denounced.
In todays day and age when a scientific theory is viewed as false, the research is continued till the proper theory arises. If new ideas were not presented, the world would never have been able to evolve, and would not have come to its current state. When turning to the Bible on the topic of creation, it states that God created man; Adam using dust, and woman; Eve using a piece of Adams rib. This concept is what is taught by most religions and what most people believe. Scientists and philosophers later came up with the theory of evolution, which was then put up against the creation theory. The reason why there is plenty of controversy over who holds the correct answer is due to the fact that no one theory has been proven fact.
Till the day of confirmation arises, there will be a continuous debate over which theory is true and which is false. If there were no contrary views on issues, there would be no advancements, and the world would be loosing out on new information. There would also be no development in both scientific understanding and an increase in the growth of religious beliefs, therefore, making the world and useless, and information free. I believe that science and religion can and in many cases do complement each other. Many famous scientists have been very religious people. Sir Isaac Newton, the father of physics and calculus, was a very religious man; he devoted much of his life to deciphering biblical prophecy.
Albert Einstein was also a very religious man. He researched the nature of matter and of the universe. He saw the infinitesimally complex nature of the universe, and believed that God had to exist. "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind. " His religious beliefs didnt clash with his scientific research; they complemented it and drove him to delve into the mysteries of the universe. Einstein saw his research as a way to get closer to God and even understand Him a little bit better. "I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice. " He wanted to better understand the universe, so that in doing so, he could better understand God and thus be closer to Him. There are many historical examples of scientific technology working with religion or religion inspiring a technology. The motivation for the printing press, invented in 1422, was to find a better way to copy the bible and books of prayer.
In fact, the first book ever made with a printing press was the Guttenberg bible. The rise of the printing press technology made having a bible much more accessible to the masses, hence helping religion. Most writing technologies, including paper, were invented for religious purposes, essentially to make the word of God (s) more accessible. The Chinese invented paper in the first century in order to make copies of the central Buddhist text - the Ti pitaka - easier. Scientific and religious beliefs do not necessarily clash. They can be reconciled.
Science can explain many things in our universe. Yet, there are some things that are beyond scientific understanding. This is where religion and science work together. Religion fills in the blanks left by science. My belief about the creation of the universe exemplifies how I reconcile my scientific and religious beliefs. I my opinion, the story of creation portrayed in Genesis isnt the literal truth.
There is too much evidence to contradict it. There have been many fossils of dinosaurs found that are billions of years old, much too old to have been created a couple of days before humankind. To reconcile my beliefs, I merge my belief in the Big Bang theory with the story of Genesis. In the beginning there was chaos, then God came and set off the Big Bang causing the universe, as we know it, to form. He placed on the Earth the spark of life, which started the first life forms. Gradually, with His divine guidance, plants, animals and humans evolved.
Thus, I reconcile my belief in the bible and scientific theories. Religion is very important to science. Without religious guidance, science can be very dangerous. Religion provides ethical guidelines when doing scientific research and for using the technology that comes from science. When these ethics are forgotten or set aside, the results can be disastrous.
This happened in the making and testing of the nuclear bomb. The scientists became so obsessed with solving the problem at hand, that they ignored the fact they were making a weapon of mass destruction. Before the initial test of the nuclear bomb, the scientist were only 90 % sure that the chain reaction that is the root of the bomb would stop. Had the chain reaction not stopped, the bomb would have consumed the entire world. Religion is the basis from which the ethics, which are a necessary part of science, originate.
Whether through the invention of the printing press, or the discovery of quantum mechanics, religion and science have successfully worked together throughout history. Scientific and religious beliefs dont have to clash if you take what is in the bible figuratively, rather than as the literal truth. Religious and scientific thought can be merged. There have been many violent acts due to conflicting views on religion and science, if society did not take the initiative to advance themselves scientifically, no improvement could have been made in the fields of biology, psychology, and several other fields dealing with science.
However, if there were no differing views, the world, as we know it today may be a happier and friendlier place, despite the fact that there would be no expansions in the field of technology. Throughout time, religion has been the key explanation to everything known to date. Dealing with all aspects, religious beliefs replace the views thought of by scientists and philosophers to date. Until scientific evidence and popular support came about, society was dominated by religion. The men and women of science were thought of as the evil, and nevertheless they continued to express their ideas until people became aware of of them and realized that they may have some fact.
These conflicts between religion and science are a part of our society, which allow us to grow technologically, and expand out minds intellectually. But there are certain some differences between religion and science. One reason religion is unwilling to familiarize itself with science because science offers simple, valid, irrefutable and, above all, logical explanations for some of the "miracles" described in holy books. The Nile, for example, is known to turn red when it is overgrown with bacteria. Carbon dating of fossils tells us that there was life on this planet long before the estimated time of the creation of Adam and Eve. You can see where the religious leaders might get a little worried that their congregations would begin to fall away from the belief that an invisible man in the sky makes miracles happen, if too many explanations which appeal to their more rational way of thinking were to come up.
Another difference which I have found between science and religion is the definition of "truth." To the scientist, who is more skeptical, truth is ever-changing - the more one sees of the world, the more observations one makes, the closer one comes to the truth. In laymen's terms, the truth is out there. It is the goal which may not ever be attained, but that certainly won't stop the scientist from coming as close as she can. The scientist does not define "truth" by what it is, but rather by taking away the attributes which truth is not.
In this manner, the definition of truth is always changing and never finalized. The theologian, on the other hand, defines truth as that which is printed in the Holy Texts, that which comes from the mouth of God Himself (although personally I believe that if there IS a god, she would have to be a woman, but that's another paper topic). Truth is absolute, definitive, unchanging and final. You can see the truth, touch it, feel it.
Going further science encourages questioning of its theories whereas religion presents its "theories" as truth. It is only by questioning our ideas that false ideas can be discovered and replaced with better ones. As I already mentioned, human reasoning is not perfect and thus subject to error. This is the motivation behind us continually checking our theories. Science is designed to detect faulty theories through experimentation, so science is self-repairing.
For a great example of this in action, see the Curtis-Shapely debate. Faith is not the beautiful testament to our convictions that churches would lead you to believe. Faith is a prison for your ideas. Faith is an attempt to keep you and your ideas static. It is an attempt to control your mind by eliminating your questioning. I find the concept abhorrent as do many other people.
Those who reject faith and embrace reason are called Freethinkers. We call ourselves that because we encourage the questioning of ideas. Instead of believing in something "without doubt", Freethinkers mandate that one should be skeptical to various degrees of all ideas. Science takes a significant amount of time to learn because its theories are comprehensive whereas religion is easy to learn.
As a consequence of this difference, many people only know the Biblical myths well and not the theories of science. This explains why newsgroups, the World Wide Web, and my e-mail account are flooded with theists calling this or that theory false but who stumble when they explain the basics of the theory they are arguing against. And lastly, to make matters a little more complicated, one more issue must be addressed -- not all scientists are atheist or agnostics. This deserves comment.
If my goal is to show that religion is incompatible with science (and it is) how do I explain this? The answer is sociological. Our society is still going through a transition phase from a religious to a scientific worldview. These people are contrary mixes of the two.
They often do not understand or have never given much thought to their self-inconsistency. And, like many people, some religious scientists do not even feel comfortable thinking about the issue. No wonder they haven't separated the two! With that said, it must also be told that a much higher percentage of scientists are atheist or agnostic compared to the general population. But although there are undeniably many differences between the issues encompassed by science and religion, few people ever take the time to realize how similar in nature the two really are. I believe that religion doesnt only concord with science however; it is a necessary part of science.
Without religious guidance, science can be very dangerous. A quotation credited to Einstein best sums up my belief that science and religion are complementary, even necessary to each other. "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind. Bibliography 1. Lunch, F. I.
Are Religion and Science compatible. New York. 1998 2. Ewing, A. C. Commentary on Religious believes supporting science. London: Methuen (1950), 2 nd edition. 3.
web 4. web 5... Miller, Ed. L. Religion vs. Science.
New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc 1993.
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Research essay sample on Religion And Science Science And Religion
