• Question: Do you believe in Religion or Science ... or both?

    Asked by alamin to David, James, Mike, Suze, Will on 15 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by gingersrus96.
    • Photo: Mike Dodd

      Mike Dodd answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Hey Alamin, That’s a difficult question. I wouldn’t say I was religious, but I’m not an atheist. I do believe in the theory of evolution and that this is how humans came to be, from simpler organisms. I believe that the universe started in the huge explosion that was the big bang. But I still fail to see how the big bang started, or why the simplest molecules joined to eventually form a single cell.

      Einstein once said:” I believe in Spinoza’s God, who reveals himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a god who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind”

      He is saying that he doesn’t believe in a personal god, but something that runs through the universe and creates the harmony and beauty of the world!

      I’m not going anywhere near comparing myself to Einstein as a scientist, but I think that his view is similar to mine on religion.

      Sorry my answer is a bit vague. I guess I believe in Both, but science first!

    • Photo: Suze Kundu

      Suze Kundu answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      I personally believe in science, but I also see that religion has its place in people’s lives.

      It’s a difficult one to get too involved in really, because discussions about money, politics and religion tend to always end up being arguments! Religion is something personal to everyone. It is what you make of it.

      I’m not overly religious, but I certainly have some beliefs and thoughts on it. Sometimes these contradict science however, I think (and again, this is totally my opinion) that religion or faith or whatever it is, whether it’s praying to a God, or not wanting to do anything that would upset your Grandma, are still just moral guides through what turns out to be a pretty confusing life sometimes! I think that the stories told in religion are there to show us of the consequences of what happens when we do something bad, or something good, and how this can affect us and others around us. It’s something that people find strength in.

      The whole science vs. religion thing is something that has always been around, but I think that as it’s a personal thing, you can believe in both, one, the other, or neither of them at all! I still don’t entirely believe in quantum mechanics. I’m pretty sure it’s all a big joke…

    • Photo: James Marrow

      James Marrow answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      A tricky one, Alamin, what’s your opinion?

      I find it hard to accept the exact details of any religion, since the books were written at a time when we had very different understanding of the world (earth at the centre of the universe, and so on).

      I think most theologians (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology) would also have the same problem (at least the ones I’ve talked to seem to!), but accept that there is good advice on how to live within these books (and some odd advice too), and also that a lot of what we call “religion” is an interpretation by people. Like many things people think and do, this interpretation can be wrong, and indeed very wrong! For example, the “plogiston” scientific theory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogiston_theory) was widely believed and supported by the available scientific evidence, but we laugh at it now, and people did really think the world was flat, and that the whole universe moved around the earth.

      However, the universe is so weird and well connected and works “just so”, that it’s either a remarkable coincidence (which is quite possible), or there is something else that we just don’t understand and which we try to understand through religion.

      Might be fun to have “I’m a theologian, get me out of here!” – to which an answer might be “where am I anyway? and who’s asking?” 🙂

    • Photo: William Eborall

      William Eborall answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Hi alamin. I’m a humanist, which is a kind of atheist – so I don’t believe in religion. I was brought up as a protestant but as I got older I began to fall away from this. As a humanist I believe that we should live our lives according to a moral code, not because some being has told us to, but because it is what is right as a society (i.e. I shouldn’t steal from people because I don’t want them to steal from me).

      I don’t believe in science either though. If you believe in science you take what ever it says without thinking. History has show us that that’s dangerous. Science has evidence which should be looked at and understood carefully before you accept it as being true.

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