NationStates Jolt Archive

Will someone please explain to me why religion and science cannot peacefully coexist? I mean, is it so hard to believe that God, who set this Universe up with natural rules, wouldn't have put them in place for a reason: So that He wouldn't have to run everything Himself? I know if I were God, I'd have better things to do than run an entire Universe. Sure, I could, but it'd be tedious, consciously controlling each subatomic particle in the entire fucking Universe.

For example, I bring up two very well-accepted scientific theories that the religious seem to hate: The "Big Bang" Theory, and the Theory of Evolution. Large amounts of scientific evidence back up both theories, while there is no evidence of the "intelligent design" alternatives. So why are they fought for so strongly? Why not just accept that God, 14 billion years ago or so, set up that supermassive particle and then said "BOOM!"? (Science can't explain that, you know, just what came AFTER the Big Bang.) Or that God checked in on Earth 4 billion or so years ago, saw that it was done cooking, and nudged those amino acids into place and gave them that spark of life (science can't yet explain how that happened either, you know), and then gave them 4 billion years to evolve into the world we've got today? Why not let science explain what can be explained, and leave God to deal with what can't be explained? Science is for schools, God is for church and home.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I must point out that I am an Agnostic, and my god is Science. And there are a few hypotheses that attempt to explain what happened before the Big Bang, my favorite being String Theory. But, I admit that String Theory is more philosophy than fact, as it cannot be proven or disproven (at least not anytime soon, most likely not in my lifetime). I cannot insist that my view is right, though I believe it is, and I cannot force my views on others because they are only beliefs, not facts, and cannot be proven or disproven. Much like the existance of God.

Because the religious folk won't accept science and insist on teaching that crap in schoos.

Will someone please explain to me why religion and science cannot peacefully coexist? I mean, is it so hard to believe that God, who set this Universe up with natural rules, wouldn't have put them in place for a reason: So that He wouldn't have to run everything Himself? I know if I were God, I'd have better things to do than run an entire Universe. Sure, I could, but it'd be tedious, consciously controlling each subatomic particle in the entire fucking Universe.

For example, I bring up two very well-accepted scientific theories that the religious seem to hate: The "Big Bang" Theory, and the Theory of Evolution. Large amounts of scientific evidence back up both theories, while there is no evidence of the "intelligent design" alternatives. So why are they fought for so strongly? Why not just accept that God, 14 billion years ago or so, set up that supermassive particle and then said "BOOM!"? (Science can't explain that, you know, just what came AFTER the Big Bang.) Or that God checked in on Earth 4 billion or so years ago, saw that it was done cooking, and nudged those amino acids into place and gave them that spark of life (science can't yet explain how that happened either, you know), and then gave them 4 billion years to evolve into the world we've got today? Why not let science explain what can be explained, and leave God to deal with what can't be explained? Science is for schools, God is for church and home.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I must point out that I am an Agnostic, and my god is Science. And there are a few hypotheses that attempt to explain what happened before the Big Bang, my favorite being String Theory. But, I admit that String Theory is more philosophy than fact, as it cannot be proven or disproven (at least not anytime soon, most likely not in my lifetime). I cannot insist that my view is right, though I believe it is, and I cannot force my views on others because they are only beliefs, not facts, and cannot be proven or disproven. Much like the existance of God.

Many Scientists are also atheist so they can't allow any mention of the Divine.
Some Religious folks like having power over followers so they bash religion.

Religion and Science can co-exist but the people have trouble doing the same.

Religion and Science can co-exist but the people have trouble doing the same.

And I think that's the key right there. Until we can change human nature, we'll always have this problem. How soon until we can teach them all to live and let live? :headbang:

Many Scientists are also atheist so they can't allow any mention of the Divine.

In truth, the percentage of atheists within the sciences is no higher than that within the general population.


To answer the original question:

1 - There are a lot of "religious" people out there with really weak faith. They need every little detail to be both literal and true or they think that everything will just fall apart. Thus, if science says "hey, this can't be *literally* true, based on these observations", the "religious" people yell "Anti-religion!! Persecution! Persecution!!!!.

2. These weak-faithed people then start attacking science. Scientists feel the need to defend science and some of them begin to have a very poor view of religion based on the actions of a few idiots.

Around and around and around and around.

The truth remains, however, that regardless of who is claiming a dichotomy, they are wrong.

Because the religious folk won't accept science and insist on teaching that crap in schoos.

See...the thing is that there is more evidence to support science than there will ever be to support religion. I never thake anything on faith...I also try not to be disrespectful of other people's beliefs...personally I do not understand the antagonism either. (Science is closer to fact than religion will ever be...so science should be taught in schools)