Science vs. Religion
Science and religion have pretty much always been in conflict. Both claim to be a means of determining knowledge and yet it is only through science that such a claim can be verified.
It really is amazingly ignorant of fundamentalist religious people to tell us through a computer that science is based on faith or that science is just another religion or that religion is better at determining truth. The fact is that ALL religious people use science EVERYDAY (even the Amish). Religion simply put is not a valid method for determining knowledge or truth. If it were, then religious people would not need to rely on science.
There are some people who claim that both science and religion focus on different types of knowledge (non-overlapping magisteria). This is their way of taking advantage of science while still believing in their ridiculous religious superstitions. This is of course bullshit. When religion makes claims about the world those claims can be tested using science. If they want to simply say “God” then they can escape the scrutiny of science, but the moment they say “God Exists” they are making a claim about the natural world and such claims can be tested through science. If any supernatural being acts or exists even in part in the natural world, then the claim is no longer non-overlapping.
For thousands of years, religion (Christianity) has done everything it could to stop people from using science because they wanted the monopoly on determining truth. This way they can make up any truth they wanted and there would be no way of testing their claims. But religion simply doesn’t have the predictive power and the ability to test and verify claims that science has. So religion realized they could not beat science. If you can’t beat them, claim that there is no conflict and continue to make stuff up.
Recently, Stephen Hawking recently stated, “There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority and science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works.” PZ Myers added to that quote by stating, that “science works, and every charlatan in every church dreams of hitching a ride on its record.”
Religion is losing this culture war.
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, anti-intellectualism, culture war, Decline of Religion, god of the gaps, Religion, science, truth