Is it okay to compare and contrast science and religion?

Use this forum to discuss the December 2020 Book of the month, "Wilderness Cry: A Scientific and Philosophical Approach to Understanding God and the Universe" by Hilary L Hunt M.D.
MissM94
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Re: Is it okay to compare and contrast science and religion?

Post by MissM94 »

I think it is okay for the author to compare religion with science because some of the events that took place in the Bible cannot be proved scientifically. Some people tend to lose faith because of that. They tend to question the Bible. I believe God gave us a mind to be able to depict the deeper meaning of the Bible. It was written by human beings and they do make mistakes or add on some events, but still the prosperity wording is still the same. I think the author has a right to compare it. I personally love reading the Bible and I feel some of the events were actually true, I believe they were the true works of God. Showing his power and that he exists.
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Post by Oyedeji Okikioluwa »

I think the place of comparison is inevitable but there should be a limit to it. Concerning the author's use of science to challenge religious belief, I think it might be right that science has over-time confirm the existence of some religious events, doctrines, and ideas. However, the limit is that there is some information about the Creator and His deeds that human knows and understands in part. Hence my stand.
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Post by Isabellah Cave »

The fact of the matter still stands that Religion and Science being on opposing ends of the spectrum they will forever be compared. The more science grows with its backing of irrefutable facts,the more it either cements or disputes religious thinking. Avoiding comparisons would not help either field of interest because growth is needed to better understand our belief systems and this could be found in the discoveries of the scientific community.
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easy75
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Post by easy75 »

I think it is "okay" to do anything and to ask questions, but I don't think comparing and contrasting science and religion serves much purpose. I personally believe that God is, in part, science that we don't yet fully understand or comprehend. Science is us, with our limited intellect and capability, trying to explain the universe we live in. I always smile when I hear someone speak so assuredly about the origins of the universe, when we haven't even fully mapped our own planet yet. Or, listening to virologists talk with authority about effective plans to protect the population, when we didn't even know viruses existed until about 120 years ago. On the flip side, I hear religious people condemn other people to eternal torment because of disagreements over what type of food they eat, or what age it is acceptable to baptize a child, or.... you get it. I think religion and science can co-exist peacefully if both sides are willing to acknowledge that they don't know all the answers. There are many, many esteemed, prominent, world recognized scientists working in biology, physics, mathematics, etc who also believe in God, and there are likewise many religious leaders who accept scientific assertions wholeheartedly. I do think there are a lot of similarities. At some point, with our limited understanding of the "big" questions, many in the scientific community have to make a "faith decision", similar to what religious people do. They will never admit that is what they are doing, but at the end of the day it has to be acknowledged that it is very similar.
That said, if the purpose is to achieve an argument, it is definitely okay to compare and contrast science and religion!
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Post by Isa_cardenasc »

Luluwa79 wrote: 01 Dec 2020, 03:43 To me, religion is a belief while science is a theory. so it wouldn't be fair to compare to different things that does not relate.
That is an incorrect view of science, science is the search for objective and verifiable knowledge, through systematically observation and experimentation; from those investigations are generated theories, if the theories are verifiable by the scientific method, can be converted into laws. But science isn't a theory by itself, theories are only part of the search for knowledge that it generates.
Religion on the other hand, I would define it more as an ideology composed of beliefs; theories generate hypotheses in the face of events investigated by science; beliefs generate explanations that cannot be observed and measured in a scientific extent.
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Post by Yassersultan »

This is better and I advise you to do so, we do not have to believe everything written in religions, we must use our mind to determine what is logical and illogical.
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Post by Goral »

I think a little comparison between science and religion is fine. It helps to discard old religious practices which do not have any scientific base. But I also feel that this comparison might not be approved by some religiously inclined people.
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Post by Michael Jerry_ »

Yes, it’s more than okay to compare religion and science however I think that the more you compare both religion and science the more you begin to see why they are more similar than most people think. They say the same thing just that religion, especially the Quran and The Bible always make references to scientific facts and do indeed get them correctly however these facts have been shown to the illiterates and or not well-educated people who wrote these holy books and couldn’t scientifically explain what they experienced or saw and so simple wrote based on what they believed they knew...in conclusion, it’s important to compare science and religion.
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Post by Joy C »

I think that they can be compared but only to an extent. This is because there would still be aspects of religion that don't add up using scientific explanations and might leave one even more confused.
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Post by britcott30 »

Well, sometimes science cannot goes along with religion. They can contradict for some things (or maybe many many things), so it's not really right to compare them, as those are not apple to apple.
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Post by Hops2 »

I think it is okay to compare and contrast the two. Because proven science not hypothesis has indeed proved that there is a creator.
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Post by Shirley-Tome »

I always though religion and science comparison was more of an "apples to oranges'' comparison but there is a huge overlap in the two worlds and in many ways they support each other's existence
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Post by Kulzum »

I believe religion should be backed by science and they go hand in hand, for didn't God give us the very brain we think with?
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Post by ElizaBeth Adams »

I think it is okay to compare science with religion. As a Chrisitan, personally I believe that when Scripture is handled correctly and scientific information is handled correctly, they complement one another.
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Post by Unique Ego »

Sushan wrote: 01 Dec 2020, 00:40 The author uses her knowledge regarding quantum physics and other philosophical studies to challenge and see the true meaning of the religious teachings that the world has known and believed for decades.

But as far as we know, religious teachings are a set of beliefs that are based on various historical events, cultural values and even mythical stories. Some of these things cannot be either proved or neglected by either science or philosophy.

Considering that argument, is this okay to compare religions with science as the author has done via this book?
Well, I don't think it's a matter of whether it is "right" to compare science and religion; I think the better focus should be the "why." I'm personally fine with anyone comparing any religion to science and vice versa because I believe that any religion that is true will stand up to the test of science. I'm a Christian so I have this belief about my faith. I don't have all the answers and I'm still learning everyday, but so far I've seen no reasons to be afraid of science poking infallible holes in my belief.
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