The Never Ending Battle of Religion and Science
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Sumaira_Zaheer]Sumaira Zaheer
The relationship between science and religion has been on the rocks ever since the beginning. Religion, whose knowledge is based merely on faith and beliefs in the supernatural things, which are too abstract to put into test to verify their credibility, relies on subjective methods for finding the truth.
Science on the other hand requires countless intricate experiments and laborious efforts of theoreticians to make sense of a data and to prove its credibility. According to science a thing is real unless its existence can be verified by tangible facts, while religion makes us believe in the divine concepts, for which we are too puny to ever understand them properly.
Although many great scholars and scientists say and have proved that when it comes to science and religion to talk about one is to talk about another. That is to say that science and religion are both different ways of finding the same truth. While religion thinks that science is deviating people from God, science works hard to find the proof of God. According to Richard Dawkins, religion makes predictions about the real world while science put them into testable scientific theories.
However, the two have co-existed besides all the differences, though not so peacefully but with mutual consent on both sides, which permitted both of them to carry on their individual missions without meddling into each others affairs. But before this mutual concord, the history of violence regarding religion against science is quite huge and might go back to the time when the first person on earth, for the first time in his and earth's life, might have made his first logical assumption, about the first thing that has been technically observed by him. Anyway let's not go too far, we all might be familiar with the Galileo affair, remember the poor the guy who was charged of felony for supporting the idea that Earth revolves around the sun instead of the vice versa. And after observing the skies with his newly, made-by-himself, telescope, he presented the model of the solar system almost exactly like what we study nowadays, and for that he was sentenced to a lifetime imprisonment by the Catholic Church. And that is not all, when Charles Darwin proposed the Theory of Evolution; he was opposed quite aggressively by various religious tenets for his blasphemous conjecture.
The same attitude was adopted by Islamic religious sects which led Islam's Golden Age of scientific developments during the 8th and 15th century, to its decline. Though many great scholars, physicist and mathematicians worked hard to produce great works of scientific discoveries of the age, controversies and protests were followed by others, who rejected modern science as infiltration of corrupt western thoughts. And according to them to prevent Islam from stagnation was to stick to the Islamic studies.
According to many religious extremists, many attempts of horrendous scientific discoveries were made as a result of infidelity and disbelief in the divine power of the Almighty. But if we look at the history of scientists, we would find them as much devoted to their religion as they were to the science. Galileo was a devote catholic, his strong religious bearing led him to ponder more and more in nature and make numerous remarkable discoveries. Many Muslim scientists, most notably Avveroes, who was among the greatest contributors to the Golden Age of Islamic history was a devoted Muslim scholar.
This is only a fragment of huge backdrop of controversies, conflicts, banishments, imprisonments, accusations and even bloodshed against men of science for the sake of saving religious doctrines from destruction. But it's not only religion which taken the aggressive side against science, its science as well which keeps making doubtful assumptions about probability of God, and rejection of the existence of many principles that form the basis by many religious beliefs.
Even though many scientists are found to be devoted to both religion and science and are struggling hard to bring the two of them together, there are many scientists, when questioned about God, were are found to be non-believers of any kind of religion or God. For them only physical world exists. But the idea of a Godless world is quite frightening even to the non-believers. I can't imagine a world being left to the mercy of human beings, with no God to watch over us and guide us. What would happen to the faith and hopes of millions of people if they were to be told that there is no God and they have been praying, sacrificing, preparing for a better afterlife for nothing?
However, science is nowhere near in proving that. Science can suggest theory of evolution, trace back our ancestors, but can it trace their origin? Science itself says that nothing comes into being on its own accord than how did life first originated? What is the great source of power behind all that if it is not God? There is so much science has yet to discover to make assumptions like these.
Science has also succeeded in creating dents in faiths of numerous people who have respect for both sects. Because the world isn't divided into religious zealots and scientific nerds, what about those people who regard both science and religion equally important. The conflict between these two have led immense amount of confusion among people. They don't know what to believe in because if one proves a thing, the other rejects it.
But it is religion which gives answers when science fails. It fills up gaps which science has left empty. It is faith in the Almighty that helps the poor, the sick and the lonely to find his strength when science fails. While science creates weapons of mass destruction, it is religion which brings hope and peace to people in war. I'm not saying that science is only destructive or religion is only conservative. Both have done great things for the human kind. Faith works wonders everyday in people's lives, bringing them closer, bonding them with love and science make thousands of development each day to make life easier for us.
Science and religion are not contradictory to each other. Their methods may differ but they both struggle to find the same truth that connects us all together and that is, nearness to God.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sumaira_Zaheer http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Never-Ending-Battle-of-Religion-and-Science&id=953581
The relationship between science and religion has been on the rocks ever since the beginning. Religion, whose knowledge is based merely on faith and beliefs in the supernatural things, which are too abstract to put into test to verify their credibility, relies on subjective methods for finding the truth.
Science on the other hand requires countless intricate experiments and laborious efforts of theoreticians to make sense of a data and to prove its credibility. According to science a thing is real unless its existence can be verified by tangible facts, while religion makes us believe in the divine concepts, for which we are too puny to ever understand them properly.
Although many great scholars and scientists say and have proved that when it comes to science and religion to talk about one is to talk about another. That is to say that science and religion are both different ways of finding the same truth. While religion thinks that science is deviating people from God, science works hard to find the proof of God. According to Richard Dawkins, religion makes predictions about the real world while science put them into testable scientific theories.
However, the two have co-existed besides all the differences, though not so peacefully but with mutual consent on both sides, which permitted both of them to carry on their individual missions without meddling into each others affairs. But before this mutual concord, the history of violence regarding religion against science is quite huge and might go back to the time when the first person on earth, for the first time in his and earth's life, might have made his first logical assumption, about the first thing that has been technically observed by him. Anyway let's not go too far, we all might be familiar with the Galileo affair, remember the poor the guy who was charged of felony for supporting the idea that Earth revolves around the sun instead of the vice versa. And after observing the skies with his newly, made-by-himself, telescope, he presented the model of the solar system almost exactly like what we study nowadays, and for that he was sentenced to a lifetime imprisonment by the Catholic Church. And that is not all, when Charles Darwin proposed the Theory of Evolution; he was opposed quite aggressively by various religious tenets for his blasphemous conjecture.
The same attitude was adopted by Islamic religious sects which led Islam's Golden Age of scientific developments during the 8th and 15th century, to its decline. Though many great scholars, physicist and mathematicians worked hard to produce great works of scientific discoveries of the age, controversies and protests were followed by others, who rejected modern science as infiltration of corrupt western thoughts. And according to them to prevent Islam from stagnation was to stick to the Islamic studies.
According to many religious extremists, many attempts of horrendous scientific discoveries were made as a result of infidelity and disbelief in the divine power of the Almighty. But if we look at the history of scientists, we would find them as much devoted to their religion as they were to the science. Galileo was a devote catholic, his strong religious bearing led him to ponder more and more in nature and make numerous remarkable discoveries. Many Muslim scientists, most notably Avveroes, who was among the greatest contributors to the Golden Age of Islamic history was a devoted Muslim scholar.
This is only a fragment of huge backdrop of controversies, conflicts, banishments, imprisonments, accusations and even bloodshed against men of science for the sake of saving religious doctrines from destruction. But it's not only religion which taken the aggressive side against science, its science as well which keeps making doubtful assumptions about probability of God, and rejection of the existence of many principles that form the basis by many religious beliefs.
Even though many scientists are found to be devoted to both religion and science and are struggling hard to bring the two of them together, there are many scientists, when questioned about God, were are found to be non-believers of any kind of religion or God. For them only physical world exists. But the idea of a Godless world is quite frightening even to the non-believers. I can't imagine a world being left to the mercy of human beings, with no God to watch over us and guide us. What would happen to the faith and hopes of millions of people if they were to be told that there is no God and they have been praying, sacrificing, preparing for a better afterlife for nothing?
However, science is nowhere near in proving that. Science can suggest theory of evolution, trace back our ancestors, but can it trace their origin? Science itself says that nothing comes into being on its own accord than how did life first originated? What is the great source of power behind all that if it is not God? There is so much science has yet to discover to make assumptions like these.
Science has also succeeded in creating dents in faiths of numerous people who have respect for both sects. Because the world isn't divided into religious zealots and scientific nerds, what about those people who regard both science and religion equally important. The conflict between these two have led immense amount of confusion among people. They don't know what to believe in because if one proves a thing, the other rejects it.
But it is religion which gives answers when science fails. It fills up gaps which science has left empty. It is faith in the Almighty that helps the poor, the sick and the lonely to find his strength when science fails. While science creates weapons of mass destruction, it is religion which brings hope and peace to people in war. I'm not saying that science is only destructive or religion is only conservative. Both have done great things for the human kind. Faith works wonders everyday in people's lives, bringing them closer, bonding them with love and science make thousands of development each day to make life easier for us.
Science and religion are not contradictory to each other. Their methods may differ but they both struggle to find the same truth that connects us all together and that is, nearness to God.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sumaira_Zaheer http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Never-Ending-Battle-of-Religion-and-Science&id=953581
posted by Gordon at
Thursday, February 28, 2008
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Comment by Rev. Thomas F. Dailey, O.S.F.S., Director
