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Dec. 21st, 2004 02:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellyssianScience and religion aren't opposites or natural combatants. They only get into a fight when their proponents try to prove or disprove one through means of the other.
Religion is based on faith - something you can't see. Science is based on observation - you must see it, measure it, and repeat it.
You can't prove a religious idea is true with test tubes and burners, and you can't state scientific theory by believing it is so.
The clash comes about when someone wants to believe a religious idea more than they actually do, and they need to find proof - they need to know this guy actually walked here and there, and this boat got stuck in that mountain, and they need to see it, measure it, and - where applicable - repeat it. They drag science over the coals, misunderstand it, vilify it, because they lack faith.
If they had faith, why would they worry?
They may want to preach their faith to others - or remain quiet and let others come to them - but they have faith, and they know that for others to follow the same path they must find their own faith.
They learn this faith through explanation of what their faith is - not through attacking something else. Popular opinion these days seems to favor attacks - this politician slandering that one, this religion undermining that scientific theory. Faith shouldn't be built by ripping down the walls of something else, it should be built on its own merits and strengths.
Religion is based on faith - something you can't see. Science is based on observation - you must see it, measure it, and repeat it.
You can't prove a religious idea is true with test tubes and burners, and you can't state scientific theory by believing it is so.
The clash comes about when someone wants to believe a religious idea more than they actually do, and they need to find proof - they need to know this guy actually walked here and there, and this boat got stuck in that mountain, and they need to see it, measure it, and - where applicable - repeat it. They drag science over the coals, misunderstand it, vilify it, because they lack faith.
If they had faith, why would they worry?
They may want to preach their faith to others - or remain quiet and let others come to them - but they have faith, and they know that for others to follow the same path they must find their own faith.
They learn this faith through explanation of what their faith is - not through attacking something else. Popular opinion these days seems to favor attacks - this politician slandering that one, this religion undermining that scientific theory. Faith shouldn't be built by ripping down the walls of something else, it should be built on its own merits and strengths.