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Asked by sodiumpolyacrylate to David, James, Mike, Suze, Will on 22 Jun 2011.
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Suze Kundu answered on 18 Jun 2011:
I don’t think it needs to. Science and religion are completely different things. While science focuses on hard facts and the development if ideas, religion is based on ideas that are centuries and millenia old. Religion gives people faith, and hope, and something that they can turn to in times of celebration or great need. Everyone needs faith in something, whether it be religion, or your parents, or the desire to never upset your grandparents, and I think that they serve completely different purposes in people’s lives.
Do you think that religion could ever be replaced? If, as in your recent question, an asteroid was due to hit Earth, people would turn to science to fix it, but I think that a lot of people would turn to religion too. They’re different, but very important to different people.
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William Eborall answered on 20 Jun 2011:
I agree with Suze, they are pretty much different things. However I see what you’re getting at. As our society as a whole gains more understanding of science and what it tells us about the world there does seem to have been a shift to more rational thinking, so secularism. However I imagine that when most people are on their death beds they will still ponder if there is a supreme being and what will happen to them afterwards. I think religion is partially built in to our species and I don’t think it’ll ever disappear.
What do you think?
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James Marrow answered on 21 Jun 2011:
I don’t think so – as the others say, they are very different and not mutually exclusive (you don’t necessarily have to have one without the other).
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David Ingram answered on 21 Jun 2011:
Science and Religion are not competitions – they are complementary.
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Mike Dodd answered on 22 Jun 2011:
I agree with David 🙂 Science and Religion are not competitions – they are complementary.
Comments
sodiumpolyacrylate commented on :
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drewtheawesome commented on :
I’d beg to differ, the import of dogma prevents scientific and technological development, dogma is caused by religion. Though, most modern religions don’t force dogma, they all hold back on accepting new theories.
James commented on :
Drew: you’d be surprised how much dogma there can be in science – how many of us really understand what other scientists are doing, and so accept it to be true in good faith without question? One difference, however, given enough time we could question it and test its truth.
Will commented on :
Drew I think what you’re saying goes to explain why most scientists have an unusual relationship with religion. By no means are all scientists atheists, but I think their professional experience seeing how ideas develop gives many difficulty with the dogma idea.
That said, James is right that many become polar opposites (like Richard Dawkins) who is a priest for Darwinism in my eyes. He holds it and quotes it with such reverence that sometimes I find him as scary as a religious fanatic.