Why can't science and religion just get along?

[Infinitus]

I have been wondering why a lot of scientists, atheists, and other people I'm forgetting to name all have a problem with religion. I mean what's the big deal with believing in God or any other deity. I mean major atheist assholes say," Religion teaches people how to judge others who don't believe what they believe and they're all lies."

I have two things to say about that. One: In a sense, that person is being hypocritical. That person(which I will refer to as Todd) is doing the same thing that he said the religious people he was talking about are doing.

And Second: None of us really knows what the hell is going on in the universe. Science gave us theroies of what might be how the universe works, but they have no proof.

But can someone believe both in science and religion?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I don't believe in God (any of them), however it doesn't seem that difficult to build from two points:

1. $deity made the universe.
2. Science is our exploration of how $deity did it.

This involves giving up any purely literal reading of religious creation stories, but that doesn't seem like a big loss.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Science is a method. Religions are usually belief systems. Asking why the two "can't get along" is on the order of asking why songbirds can't study tae kwon do.

 

[trekkiedane]

Religion is the antithesis.

 

[Miss Chicken]

The vast majority of people believe in both science and religion without any conflict. For example, my sister is a devout Catholic but she believes in the theory of evolution. She also believes in the theory of gravity, the theory of relativity etc.

 

[B.J.]

^ That would describe me as well. Not to mention that my kids are in Catholic school, and they're learning about all that stuff (including evolution), too.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I completely agree. I think both can co-exist. In fact, I believe that it's crucial to understanding both in order to understand the whole, something like having all the puzzle pieces in order to complete a puzzle. The universe has many different aspects to it and it's impossible to understand them if one isn't open-minded.

My Grandfather on my Dad's side of the family was a deeply religious man. He was a biology professor. I know this might stir the pot, but he was also an evolutionary biologist. He wrote many papers and books on the subject. He contended that his religion allowed him to understand what science couldn't do alone, which allowed him to do a better job in turn. But he didn't allow it to cloud his vision. Science also played an important role in his faith. This was passed on to one of my Uncles who's now a pretty famous paleontologist.

To be one who completely denies the other is like chopping off one's ear. You'll be able to hear, but you won't have a complete understanding of what's going on.

 

[JarodRussell]

Because religion is based on a complex. Which is why people are afraid that if you take their religion from them, you take meaning and hope out of their lives. Which is why religious people react so agressively to mocking. Mohammed cartoons anyone? They feel you insulted them personally if you crack jokes about someone who has been dead for centuries. That's the height of irrationality.

Fundamentalists I'm speaking of obviously. "Earth is 6000 years old and humans and dinosaurs lived happily together in paradise" folks. Or "Earth is flat and scientists who say something else need to be burned" type of power hungry folks.

Science is rational, religion is irrational. This will never ever go together well.

He contended that his religion allowed him to understand what science couldn't do alone

Which is wrong because religion doesn't make you understand anything. It only makes you feel that your guess is right. We don't know how evolution gets so complex, ordered, intelligent chaos? Well God did it. But that's no answer to anything. A wizard did it using this magic black wonder box. Eventually everything a wizard does can be explained rationally.

Science tries to look behind the curtain to see what the magician does. Religion wants to keep the curtain to be amazed, because everything else would take the fun and mystery out of it.

 

[1001001]

^ That would describe me as well. Not to mention that my kids are in Catholic school, and they're learning about all that stuff (including evolution), too.

Me three. I was taught evolution by priests. I remember the statement well. "If evolution is the mechanism of creation, so be it." And that was the end of any conflict.

The problem comes from people who believe the Bible, Koran, etc. are literally true. They are boxed in by the advance of science that continues to prove these beliefs cannot be true (the world is not 6,000 years old, and so forth). These fundamentalists can't change their beliefs, no matter what scientific evidence is presented. Their only option left is to attack science itself and mock intellectualism (see Sarah Palin). Or take a look at that ridiculous creationism museum in Kentucky. A multi-million dollar monument to ignorance.

The irony now is that fundamentalists claim to be "persecuted for their beliefs". Being proven wrong is not persecution. It's a pretty clever way to turn the tables though.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I'm somewhat mixed about entering another debate of science vs. religion, but what the hell. I will give the OP the benefit of the doubt.

I have been wondering why a lot of scientists, atheists, and other people I'm forgetting to name all have a problem with religion.

I must say that you start pretty bad here. Being a scientist is a job. Being an atheist is position about belief. It doesn't make any more sense than saying "I have been wondering why a lot of bricklayers, musicians and atheists have a problem with religion".

I mean what's the big deal with believing in God or any other deity.

Well, I surmised it's kind of a big deal for those who believe.

I mean major atheist assholes say," Religion teaches people how to judge others who don't believe what they believe and they're all lies."

I would answer to explain themselves better, since that sentence is rather confused.

I have two things to say about that. One: In a sense, that person is being hypocritical. That person(which I will refer to as Todd) is doing the same thing that he said the religious people he was talking about are doing.

Well, if you want to go deep down, everybody is an hypocrite in a way or another. However, when religious people raise themselves above others morally and ethically, I am going to hold them to different standard. When they don't, it's all good.

And Second: None of us really knows what the hell is going on in the universe.

Well, some of us know a bit more than others. Just sayin'.

Science gave us theroies of what might be how the universe works, but they have no proof.

We have pretty good proofs in general. We might not know the answer to the ultimate question about life, the universe, and everything, but we know many things. I guess the problem lies in the fact that you are confusion the meaning of "theory" in a layman's world with its meaning in science.

But can someone believe both in science and religion?

I would argue that one can believe in religion and practice science, since religion is spiritual belief while science is a method and the body of knowledge derived for it.

Given that caveats, sure it's possible. Actually, I think it's common: personally I'm atheist, but many of my peers are religious in a way or the other.

 

[C.E. Evans]

To me, science and religion are two different sides of the same coin. Both are trying to find the definitive answer on how the universe works, but generally disagree on principle with each other's answers.

Sure, you have people who can reconcile both science and religion very easily, but the ones who can't tend to be just more vocal why they can't...

 

[Owain Taggart]

Because religion is based on a complex. Which is why people are afraid that if you take their religion from them, you take meaning and hope out of their lives. Which is why religious people react so agressively to mocking. Mohammed cartoons anyone? They feel you insulted them personally if you crack jokes about someone who has been dead for centuries. That's the height of irrationality.

Fundamentalists I'm speaking of obviously. "Earth is 6000 years old and humans and dinosaurs lived happily together in paradise" folks. Or "Earth is flat and scientists who say something else need to be burned" type of power hungry folks.

Science is rational, religion is irrational. This will never ever go together well.

He contended that his religion allowed him to understand what science couldn't do alone

Which is wrong because religion doesn't make you understand anything. It only makes you feel that your guess is right. We don't know how evolution gets so complex, ordered, intelligent chaos? Well God did it. But that's no answer to anything. A wizard did it using this magic black wonder box. Eventually everything a wizard does can be explained rationally.

Science tries to look behind the curtain to see what the magician does. Religion wants to keep the curtain to be amazed, because everything else would take the fun and mystery out of it.

And that's why you have science to help with understanding the other half.

 

[FlyingLemons]

And Second: None of us really knows what the hell is going on in the universe. Science gave us theroies of what might be how the universe works, but they have no proof.

We do experiments and observe things to test our theories. If they're wrong, they get scrapped. If they're right, we have proof that our theories are accurate in describing the world.

But can someone believe both in science and religion?

Yes, but don't mix the two. Trying to justify the events of your faith as literally happening as described in its holy books simply doesn't work.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Science called religion's mother fat. The relationship soured and generally went downhill following that.

Seriously, there's no reason why they can't co-exist. In fact, as others have already pointed out, they often do.

 

[Rii]

I have been wondering why a lot of scientists, atheists, and other people I'm forgetting to name all have a problem with religion.

Communists? Humanists? Cricketers?

 

[iguana_tonante]

Science called religion's mother fat. The relationship soured and generally went downhill following that.

Best description ever.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I believe that faith, taken in a considered, open-eyed manner is "irrational" in the sense of a mathematically irrational number. We can and should attempt to find out every bit as much as we can on our own, but for all the distance we push, there will always be more to go, just as there is when we attempt to calculate pi to all of its decimal places. (It's no wonder pi was given almost exactly this sort of symbolic importance in Contact.)

I am a Methodist, and I was definitely brought up to understand both my faith and science--heck, my parents even bought me books on both subjects, and never commented on it as though there were anything strange about it. And the great thing about it was that by presenting it so openly, without hiding anything, I was able to work it out for myself and even at 6 years old I understood that science is for discovering what is physically around us, how things happen and, and what possibilities there are for us to interact in that world. Faith guides us in why things happen, who is responsible, and what we should do with the possibilities that our senses and our science provide us.

Science can never serve as an arbiter of ethics or faith, and faith can never serve as an arbiter of the observable. This is why I believe it takes both--unaltered and uncompromised--to fully understand ourselves and the world we live in. Why the two "must" be in opposition I will never understand, and I find it to be a terrible and unnecessary battle.

 

[SPOCKED]

I mean major atheist assholes say," Religion teaches people how to judge others who don't believe what they believe and they're all lies."

So are all atheists assholes... or just the major ones?

 

[iguana_tonante]

Maybe only the major assholes are atheists? Or the atheist assholes are majors?

I'm going on a limb here, but it's kinda the blind leading the blind...

 

[1001001]

"I KNEW IT!!! I'M SURROUNDED BY ASSHOLES!!!"