originally posted in:Secular Sevens
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Personally, I find the idea of simultaneous support for both religion and science wholly incompatible. Here's my thought process:
- Scientists support the [url=http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/overview_scientific_method2.gif]scientific method[/url].
- Faith-based religion conflicts with the scientific method, as religion skips/ignores steps in the scientific method.
- One cannot support the scientific method while simultaneously supporting faith-based religion.
One cannot truly support both science and religion; you're compromising your support in one or the other.
Thoughts? Explain your position.
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They are wholly compatible. Just because some religions contradict the scientific method does not mean that all do. The forms of christianity that most people seem to practice are pretty incompatible with science, because that form of religion drills into your head that questioning God is wrong. Personally, I think that questioning your faith is really the only way to truly believe it. Never questioning why your beliefs are the way that they are isn't called religion, it's called brainwashing. Faith and science at their base levels don't get in each other's way. Faith is the belief that something is true, even if there is no proof of it being true. Science is the knowledge that something is true because it has been tested and proven, as well as the pursuit of that proof. If no evidence is there to wholeheartedly prove one side of an argument, both sides could be equally as correct or incorrect. Therefore, as we can't really disprove or prove the existence of a God, either side could be correct. Picking a side doesn't contradict the scientific method, it's simply hypothesizing. I believe that a God exists, and that he built the basic building blocks of our universe. However, I believe that was the extent of it. This belief is often referred to as Deism, or the "Great Clockmaker" belief. Deists believe that some divine being exists, that he put the gears in motion, and then let it run. I don't count on a God coming in to help me in my life or in anyone else's life. We will probably never be able to figure out why the universe exists or why certain forces happen, and I simply prescribe to the hypothesis that the universe exists because it was created, and that those natural laws have brought us to the point we are in now, following the slow process that created our stars, galaxies, planets and the evolution that shaped us into the species we are. They don't necessarily contradict each other, but not every religion mixes very well with science.