Religion and Science: An Evolving Relationship

[rug]

Evolution Weekend is an opportunity to demonstrate how creationism does damage to both religion and science.



By Michael Zimmerman, February 07, 2012

On February 10-12, hundreds of clergy from all over the world will, for the seventh time, do something that many will feel is utterly shocking. They will, no doubt, be attacked for their actions, mercilessly by some. At the same time, largely because what they're doing is outside of the rhetorical norm, they'll largely be ignored by most media outlets.

What will they be doing that is so odd that it yields these vehement responses? And why do these deeply religious individuals undertake an action that has them accused of being anti-religious zealots by some and scientifically illiterate religious fanatics by others?

The answer is as simple as it is intellectually satisfying. These men and women are members of The Clergy Letter Project and they will be celebrating the Seventh Annual Evolution Weekend Event.

Evolution Weekend has become an opportunity for hundreds of congregations all over the world to raise the quality of the dialogue about the relationship between religion and science. It's an opportunity for clergy to engage hundreds of thousands of congregants and demonstrate that, despite what some of the loud fundamentalist voices consistently assert, there is no reason that a choice must be made between religious belief and modern science.

http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Religion-and-Science-Michael-Zimmerman-02-07-2012.html

[izquierdista]

1. Religion lies beyond science

Religion always has an answer for any question, for the priests will consult with the deities and an idea will spring into their mind. Fortunately or unfortunately, science has no priesthood, and scientific answers to questions can be found by anyone willing to invest the time observing, collecting data, analyzing, computing, modeling, testing, and validating.

As time progresses, science builds upon itself, gradually enlarging the world of the known and explainable. When science proved that the Earth is a sphere that revolves around the sun, religion had to take a step back and erase the previous "revealed wisdom" from their inerrant texts and explain that there wasn't really any conflict between the two views. So it goes with any scientific advance, once the science is well established and can be accepted as a truth, religion says "well of course, it said so all along in our holy books".

Creationism doesn't damage science, it just denies it, which is what religions always do. When people tire of false answers that don't work, and they observe that the scientific answer does explain something, they are usually converted to the scientific viewpoint. If not, it just indicates that they haven't tired of the false answer that they were taught and have become secure in.

The further the horizon of science extends and the more it can explain, the further out God and religions are pushed, always living in the unknown.

[bongbong]

2. Old, old subject

You can get the "History of the Warfare of Science with Theology" for free on Gutenberg.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/505

[MarkCharles]

3. This is a great link! Thanks for that book!

I guess I never knew anything about the founding of Cornell University.

Amazing to see how some followers of som religion always try to themselves into the struggle for the advancement of science. That book is a treasure trove of information on the topic.