Science and religion are two subjects that have been in conflict since the begging of time, well more, since when modern science came to be so influential. Religion on the other hand has been around much longer; it has grown to be so dominating that most people today believe in some type of “religion” and more so it has become a basis to today’s world powers. But with that being said we have also come to realize that science has enlightened us with many answers to questions left unanswered by religion. In fact it goes both ways. Science has come to provide explanations to where religion had faltered and religion has come to provide explanations to where science had faltered. In other words science and religion can coexist on the same plane. Today we have come to understand the world because of science.
Science is looked into rationally. Everything and everyone that is looked into, is trough experiments and observations. Those who “believe” in science are taught that nothing is true unless it is has been proven in truth through experiments. On the other hand religions believed through faith. Its followers are taught beliefs through teachings and religious books. Followers believe that every word that is read or said is in the word of God. God existence isn’t proven but felt and believed trough faith. Science believes in fact and religion believes in faith. Science believes in fact and in science nothing is believed to be absolutely true. There is been instances where something was proven false one day and the next its proven truth. For example, for the longest we believed that the earth was flat. In Hawkings article, “Our picture of the Universe” a philosopher believed otherwise, he believed that the earth was round not flat. In his book On the Heavens he supports his theses with arguments. One argument had to with the eclipses of the moon; the eclipse gave “earth’s shadow on the moon was always round, which was only true because the earth was round” (Hawking page 566). The other argument had to do with the Greeks and their travels to the North Star and how the star was lower in the north than the south. That had to do with the position where the North Star is positioned over the North Pole.
When someone looks at the star from the North Pole it looks like it’s above them but if they look at it from the equator it looks like its positioned at the Horizon. In this case, science was advancing to the truth trough investigation and experiment. Aristotle proved his point ever so efficiently through experiment. Now when it comes to books of religion anything said in the book is assumed to be true and anybody questioning and criticizing the word of God is punished. According to Adam Frank, in the “The Constant Fire,” he talked about a free thinker named Bruno who was burned to the stake because of “his bold support contentious ideas like Copernican astronomy” (Frank 20). The main reason is because “half of Europe poised to revolt against papal authority” and “the Church was in no mood to entertain such freethinking” (Frank 20). The Church, which in this case is part of religion, had lots of power and was very influential, that it was easier to burn Bruno without any implications.
Religion lost lots of its ground in recent years due to the advancement in science, it sayings and beliefs have been analyzed through science and have been proved to be inaccurate. Science has proved to be convincing and rational through its methods that it has caused people to lose their faith in religion. Although it is true, science has its limitations. Even though science helps provide facts and achieve materialistic goods it can’t provide anything for the soul. Science can provide physical comforts but it is religion that can provide courage and faith. It can make people influence and make people believe in God’s word. In the end science and religion are still in conflict with each other no matter the situation. Science is linked to material and fact while religion is old its linked to spirit and faith. Very different that they come in conflict because one science is more modern and linked to change while religion is more traditional that it follows traditions. No matter the circumstances there is always going to be those people that only believe in fact and those people that only believe in there faith but there will also be that one person who will believe in both. There is always going to be a middle line between them both and no matter what explanation needs to be explained, there always going to be one that picks up where ever the other left off. Science will be there to provide explanations to where religion came short and religion will be there to provide explanations to where science came short. They can coexist. Works
Cited
Frank, Adam. The Constant Fire: Beyond the Science vs. Religion Debate. Berkeley: University of California, 2009. 20. Print. Hawking, Stephen. “Our Picture of the Universe.” A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes.Toronto: Bantam, 1997. 566. Print.
