Week 1 Post 8

Are science and religion compatible?

I really don't like the way this question is phrased. The best way that I can think to answer this question is another related question. Why aren't science and religion compatible? There is no reason for me to believe that science and religion cannot coexist. However, religion is a very broad term. Dictionary.com defines religion as such, a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects. To me, by this definition science is its own religion. It is a fundamental set of beliefs based on theorems and laws, it has the practices of laboratory studies, and it is followed and believed in by people all over the world. There are even different sects of science. There are people that believe in different aspects of science and therefore to me, science is its own type of religion.

That being said, I believe that there are certain things in specific religions that are not compatible with science. I will take into account my own religion, Christianity. There are certainly parts of the old and new testament which are not necessarily compatible with religion. Take the story of Noah's Ark for example, science tells us that if there had been a forty day flood, there would still be a lot of evidence of that in the fossil record. I respect science, but I do believe that there was a great flood. We often forget that story was passed down for many generations through only oral tradition before it was finally written into the old testament. It's somewhat like a game of telephone, the more the statement goes around the more it gets changed. I believe in science and in religion. But, I believe that in christianity, there are some things that are myths, there to establish certain beliefs.