A featured question on Xanga...
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Lifecrafter
Member # 6700
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written Tuesday, October 9 2007 08:04
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This caught my attention this afternoon. I was a little surprised by the question, in its nature, being there. I was also quite surprised by the lack of responses. Granted, it was only 10 AM Pacific time when I saw it. So. I want your take on it. A few ground rules: Follow the CoC.Answer the Question.Don't cite specific religious principles or scientific theories unless using them as specific support for your answer. This should help prevent flaming.This is meant to be more of an academic discussion in nature than anything else. Don't try to get converts; let the marketplace of ideas do the work for you.-------------------- The Silent Assassin wanted this post to have something to do with towels. As he has yet to create any tactics involving towels, the only thing that I can do to fulfill that request is to mention the request. -------------------- -Lenar Labs What's Your Destiny? Ushmushmeifa: Lenar's power is almighty and ineffable. All hail lord Noric, god of... well, something important, I'm sure. Posts: 735 | Registered: Monday, January 16 2006 08:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 7331
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written Tuesday, October 9 2007 08:27
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Yes. "Religion without science is lame, and science without religion is blind." -Albert Einstein -------------------- We as a race have grown complacent with our computers and thinking machines. The Old Ways of thinking have been lost for millenia. Now, they have been found. Posts: 794 | Registered: Thursday, July 27 2006 07:00 |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, October 9 2007 08:29
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The world contains many religions and a fair amount of science. There are even many people who are widely recognized as both scientists and religious. So the answer seems obviously to be 'yes'. Some people may find other definitions of 'science', 'religion' and 'co-exist', such that they just as obviously cannot 'co-exist'. In neither case is the discussion terribly interesting. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Tuesday, October 9 2007 08:32
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quote:FHT. —Alorael, who agrees that religion is a form of ethics, and it can be a very good form. (It can also be terrible, of course, given how immense a category religion is.) It's just not the only one. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 4153
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written Tuesday, October 9 2007 09:39
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quote:Agreed. It's funny, 'cause I just finished a paper on Galileo's interpretation of the Bible, and yeah, they can definitely coexist. Galileo went to great pains to keep the letter of the Bible intact, even if it meant making most of it into metaphors (or so it seems from some of his original correspondence). Admittedly, more than a few of his theories missed the mark completely, like the idea that sunspots are more or less the sun's fuel, but that's besides the point. Meh, it's possible. Each can fill in the gaps the other leaves behind. -------------------- TM: "I want BoA to grow. Evolve where the food ladder has rungs to be reached." Gamble with Gaea, and she eats your dice. Posts: 4130 | Registered: Friday, March 26 2004 08:00 |
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? Man, ? Amazing
Member # 5755
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written Tuesday, October 9 2007 11:32
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Yes. Religion helps to fill in the gaps that aren't explained by science. -------------------- Synergy, et al - "I don't get it." Thralni - "a lot of people are ... too weird to be trusted" Posts: 4114 | Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00 |
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Agent
Member # 4574
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written Tuesday, October 9 2007 12:18
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Science says that everything started billions years ago, religion says it was "in the beggining". Many scientists are also theists, which further goes to prove the point. Science and religion have also been coexisting for a long, long time. -------------------- GIFTS of the World, Unite! Posts: 1186 | Registered: Friday, June 18 2004 07:00 |
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Guardian
Member # 6670
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written Tuesday, October 9 2007 13:49
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quote:FAT. :P -------------------- The face of a child says it all, especially the mouth part of the face. - Jack Handey Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 4784
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written Tuesday, October 9 2007 13:50
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Of course they can, God created science and the people who like to study it. -------------------- Forever Always on Past the End TrueSite for Blades - Blades Walkthroughs Pixle Profusion - BoE Graphics Archive Posts: 563 | Registered: Tuesday, July 27 2004 07:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 2123
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written Tuesday, October 9 2007 13:59
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quote:Everything obeys Him on a "scientific" level that is many times called "miracles" by us, but is only Him using science. -------------------- Rahhar... Posts: 228 | Registered: Monday, October 21 2002 07:00 |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, October 9 2007 14:01
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Do not mess with Big Al's quotations. He knows your rest frame. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 4153
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written Tuesday, October 9 2007 15:06
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quote:Are we done yet? -------------------- TM: "I want BoA to grow. Evolve where the food ladder has rungs to be reached." Gamble with Gaea, and she eats your dice. Posts: 4130 | Registered: Friday, March 26 2004 08:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Tuesday, October 9 2007 15:51
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quote:That's where we disagree. Religion has many elements, and ethics is only one of them. Most of those elements can also exist independently, and ethics is definitely one of those. Ethics without religion is just fine. —Alorael, who also supposes he must assert that endless FYTs are lame and you'd have to be blind not to see them coming. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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Shaper
Member # 32
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written Tuesday, October 9 2007 17:07
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Weren't there several topics about this same question done recently? As far as the question goes, I think for the most part they can get along nicely. That is until we encounter an external species that is on par or beyond us technologically. Where as if we discover something 'lesser', we'll probably force it to accept our beliefs or reject their society's beliefs as less civilized... -------------------- Lt. Sullust Quaere verum Posts: 2462 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00 |
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By Committee
Member # 4233
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written Tuesday, October 9 2007 19:21
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They do tend to encroach on one another's territory though, and as far as I can tell, it's pretty much been religion's role to give ground over the course of the history of civilization, with a few notable exceptions, one of which was called the Dark Ages for a reason. Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00 |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, October 9 2007 23:38
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The apparent long retreat of religion from science is really just the long advance of science into a knowledge vacuum. That vacuum was previously filled with all sorts of superstition and speculation, which was as much an obstacle to religion as to science. It might be worth interpreting Einstein's much-abused remark about blindness and lameness, since I think it does indicate how religion and science can co-operate instead of merely co-existing. Albert Einstein was not a religious man in the sense of going regularly to synagogue or observing ritual rules. He was obsessively dedicated to finding out how the universe worked, and he doesn't appear to have cared all that much about much else. Even his interest in peace seems to have had a large element in it of simply wanting to make the world safe for scientific inquiry. One might reasonably say that science, as he practiced it, was Einstein's religion. But conversely Einstein's science was religious. I don't think his frequent invocations of God in scientific contexts were merely a figure of speech. Einstein was in the first rank at crunching formidable mathematical problems and grasping intricate abstract ideas; but that brilliance only put him into the inner circle of great 20th century minds. Something else lifted him onto a pinnacle above all the rest, with at least six major contributions to physics on the scale that by current standards can win a Nobel prize, including in general relativity a single-handed achievement of millennial proportion. Einstein's scientific quest was strongly guided by some basic beliefs: he felt he knew something of what the universe's designer would or would not have done. This intuitive aesthetic sense led him, by his own account, to his great successes; it also led him in the long failure that occupied most of his life. In good times and in bad, he kept his faith. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 4248
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written Tuesday, October 9 2007 23:51
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I firmly believe the answer is 'yes', and I hold myself as a living example of it. Those who claim otherwise I see as singleminded, or even sort of war-mongerers. Then again, I also feel that the question is a bit flawed, mainly because I never quite understand what the asker mean by religion. I tend to make a big distinction between religion and faith; you can be religious without ever believing in heavenly tooth-fairies, or you can hate the church from the bottom of your heart and still believe in supernatural. But then again, this might be a bit beside the point... -------------------- Life is a neverending carneval where everyone has multiple costumes. I just hope mine are pleasing to the eye. Posts: 617 | Registered: Tuesday, April 13 2004 07:00 |