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Asked by Anonymous
I will admit some trepidation in attempting to answer this question, because any time you throw “science” and “religion” into a discussion, it tends to get fairly heated.
That said, I think it’s a very important discussion.
So, here are my two cents.
We have an essential desire to know how the universe works. We’re pushed and pulled towards understanding the world around us, because it gives us peace of mind and the ability to make reasonable decisions about what we do with our lives.
The fundamental goal of science and religion is to address that desire, and I think people who are genuinely interested in learning about the world and humanity will study both.
That said, unquestioning certainty is the biggest thing that keeps us from understanding. The unquestionable idea is both poisonous and tenuous — poisonous in that it isolates people and sets them against each other, and tenuous in that all theories and beliefs are eventually tested. When a theory holds true, it is no longer unquestioned — if it is not, it gets discarded for something better.
This pattern has has repeated itself for as long as we’ve been around: The landscape of human history is littered with the remains of failed ideas. It takes time, sometimes thousands of years, but when we’re empowered to ask questions, we start to see and move beyond our failed ideas.
I think it’s reasonable to believe that this trend will continue.
The “battle” between religion and science is short sighted. Extraordinary scientific progress has come from deeply religious cultures, and it bothers me to see so much time and energy wasted on polarizing questions that can only be advanced by thoughtful, attentive, and reasonable discussion.
The place of religion in science (and science in religion) is to work towards discovering the truth about who we are, where we are, and why we’re here. The goal is to improve ourselves and the world around us. The goal is to lead fulfilled lives, to have adventures, to play games, to connect with others, to learn — to do the things that we love to do.
That’s my theory, anyway.
You’re welcome to ask why!
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