Science or religion

Jan 14 • General, Group Discussion • 2663 Views • 4 Comments on Science or religion

Science or religion

Always difficult question to answer science or religion

Over time religions have changed as the predictive capabilities of scientific models promised more progress than simply waiting for divine aid. For example, germ theory and modern medicine are much more useful than praying against demons of illness. For actions taking place in the physical, mutually agreed upon world, religion is largely useless. No, this does not imply a spiritual world.

Always a matter of discussion science or religion

It means that technology is not yet able to deliver highly accurate, intelligible information about the human mind (conscious states). But what about ideas ? Morals are not given by religious authorities, but science is not fit to determine the best moral tenets either. Evolution has provided humans with intelligence and survival instincts. Together this can produce the idea that things like killing and theft negatively affect most everyone if allowed to run rampant. We are social. We form groups. We are intelligent. We create rules and punishments to discourage behaviour that is not beneficial to ourselves or the group which supports us. This science is able to determine. And, religious or not, many individuals seem to agree with these ideas. Again, no religion is needed. Of course this alone won’t keep people from believing whatever they want to believe. It never has.

Spirituality is a very different matter. Religion is nothing more than the organization and hierarchy of spirituality. You may believe as you wish in a “religious” sense while belonging to no specific religion. Science has supplied enough evidence to keep citizens informed and aware that at the very least all of the information we receive from religion is unnecessary.

But we should also keep in mind that religion supplies emotional support to science’s logic. Religion is useful because it appeals to the emotional side of humanity. While science is useful for discovery and explanation, it sometimes needs that emotional or moral lens to correctly use the new technology or discovery. Religion still holds some power in terms of morals (albeit sometimes they are skewed) but it is helpful in providing people a more comforting point from which to approach science until society moves forward.

Many people feel that religion is inadequate because it cannot be materially proven. Religion, however, is not based on material reality, but a philosophical reality. It is the simple, logical relationship that is inferred from material reality, but also moral reality. Many people easily accept that the sensations they experience through their eyes and feel with their skin are sufficient to prove an objective morality, just not a spiritual reality. Even if science gave us all the answers about tangible reality, it would not give the answers about moral and spiritual reality.

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