Can Religion and Science Coexist?

[Five In One]

Something that I've always been wondering is whether or not science and some form of religion can work together. While some people believe that science can disprove the existence of a higher power because of evolution and other theories, others believe that their religion speaks the truth and that these theories are incorrect. With the thousands of years of accumulated knowledge by mankind, we can only really wonder where the truth lies.

What do you think? Can religion and science work together in some way? Or does one side reign over the other?

(By the way, I know this is a touchy topic, but please try to be civil and respect one another's beliefs and opinions. Thanks.)

[doublecross]

Theoretically, they can. You just need a religion that doesn't contradict scientific fact and/or the ability to accept a contradiction.


Accepting a contradiction is possible.

"I am large. I contain multitudes" - Walt Whitman

[Bloodshadow]

Yes. I vehemently disagree with Christianity and other forms of religion, but I do believe in my own "God" of sorts. We humans are limited by our perceptions, so we can never really grasp reality; I believe that "God" is the truth beyond our perceptions. I named my "God" Infinity, and I believe that the ultimate purpose of science is to find this "God".

[doublecross]

Religion doesn't necessarily have anything that disagrees with how the universe works.


I would consider my philosophy I posted in "What do you believe" to not be a religion, but I can see how one might claim it was, and I would not argue with them.


Many religions can be like philosophy, and thus, can be completely compatible with science, and thus, the universe.

[QuantumT]

Religion doesn't necessarily have to be at odds with science, but it does have this tendency to be dogmatic about things. If your religion is willing to reconsider things as new evidence presents itself, it can coexist just fine with science. If not, then it can't really.

[Daytripper]

There are certain belief images that cannot exist together with science. The more dogmatic a religion is, (like Christianity) the worse it is. You should ask yourself if you really still want these belief images, if they obviously don't fly.

Other than that, religion does not have to be very scientific. You've got your rituals, seeing life and human interactions in a certain way, which is all very much possible.

[funplay]

Yes, they can coexist...they already DO?!

There will always be some points, where both will disagree on...evolution is just the most recent topic. But if you are willing to listen and trying to understand each other, you will come to some agreement...

The point where it really gets touchy, is when they try to invade into each others domain...science cant really be a religion and shouldnt be preachy and religions cant really be scientific. Belief and Science are simply to different things.

[killybob]

i believe they both can easily live parallel in harmony. lots of the things in religion that contradict science are simply legends or stories that were told in that way to help the people in that time understand it. for example in the book of genesis in the bible it says that God made the world in seven days and in another passage it reads "to God a day is 1000 years and 1000 years is a day" this could mean that when it says the world was made in seven days it may mean over millions of years. this, along side with the order of creation (let there be light - the big bang; he then separated the sky and the seas - the planet cooling and the gasses condensing; etc...) can be easily associated with the theory of evolution and how scientists think the earth was formed.

[Neopergoss]

I think that in general religion is unscientific. Religious belief tends to be defined as "faith," and this concept is squarely at odds with science. Harmonious coexistence is possible only when religion confines itself to areas that don't affect scientific progress or education. Unfortunately, this is not the case in the United States, where stem cell research and the teaching of the theory of evolution have been stymied.

The more secular/relaxed/liberal sorts of religion are more likely to respect science, but this fundamental opposition between faith and scientific discovery is irreconcilable. As long as people use faith to support their beliefs, there is always the risk that they will use this same faulty pillar to support anything under the sun, regardless of whether it has any factual basis at all. Society pays a high cost for faith.

[Ajit]

I believe they can and do... as far as my religion is concerned ^^

I'm a science christian; I believe anything that happens and exists in this realm can be explained scientifically, including the works of God.

The only thing is, we just simply don't understand some things yet (:

A fine example; I believe that God created the big bang process.  OK so what happened to God creating Earth in 7 days?  Simple; that was someone's interpretation.  No one is perfect except God, so obviously the Bible, written by humans, isn't perfect.  In Genesis, Moses wrote it took seven days to create Earth.  He was being shown what to write.  God couldn't show Moses millions of years of evolution.  So what did God do?  He sped up time.  He showed Moses a sped of version of Earth's creation that felt like 7 days to him.  It appeared to Moses that Adam and Eve rose from the clay immediately when in reality it was a process.
Plus... could you imagine if the Bible read;
"And God created the Earth in 13 billion years"

Now the underlined part above about "in this realm";
I don't believe Heaven or the Spirit are physically calculable or can be contained, duplicated, etc.

[killybob]

basically religion is a meme based interpretation of science. i do believe God caused the big bang and started life on earth (as i cannot for the life of me believe for a moment that organisms just sprang from some prehistoric swamp).

[jmizzle7]

I think it's a silly question, to be honest. In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth. We are part of God's creation. We developed what is called the "scientific method" of observation, and have since discovered many amazing things about God's creation that would have otherwise remained unknown. I don't see how "religion" and "science" can't coexist, because science is merely a symptom of God's creative energy.