Can Science and Religion Peacefully Co-exist?

 

Not if the Fundamentalist Are Calling the Shots!

Science is not an enemy. Science provides a understanding of the world that spiritual literature doesn't concern with. Dealing with a Creationist can be problematic though. Many believe in a literal, word-by-word, interpretation of the Bible. That alone is not the issue though. People can believe what they want to believe. 

With that said, the issue occurs when they pass their interpretation as validated fact. They believe that their translation is the ONLY one. Their is no room for discussion. Since everything happened literally, fact and faith are treated as the same concept. Outside the literal interpretation, fact and faith are two separate entities. Faith is believing in something when their is no fact. You believe out of your heart and feelings. Fact, on the other hand, is information that can validated. Once faith can be proven, then its no longer faith. The same idea can be applied to miracles. A miracle is a miracle because it can't be explained. Once a miracle has an explanation, then its no longer a miracle, but scientific validation. There is no opposing forces between fact and faith. Their just two separate entities.

Since the literal analysis is the only one from their viewpoint, any other interpretation that contradicts their views as a threat to them. That explains their reject of the Theistic Evolution, which is able to explain Genesis through the biological and geographical timescales. Under Theistic Evolution, their is no literal interpretation of Genesis. The word of Genesis is still very much true. It's true because Genesis doesn't deal with the topic of evolution. Evolution is not mentioned in the Bible. 

The reason why Evolution isn't in the Bible is because it's a spiritually irrelevant topic. The Bible was written for spiritual guidance, and where people descended from biologically is ill-relevant to a person's spiritual needs. From the Biblical perspective, the person's walk with God is important. Where they descended from biological is of no concern from a spiritual perspective. If you want to know where you descended from biologically, pick a science book. Evolution doesn't contradict the Bible under Theistic Evolution. The scientific theories are still explainable, and yet, Genesis is still true and valid under this interpretation. It's a part of God's plan. The conflict comes from those looking for it.

Many could argue that science and Christianity complement each other beautifully under Theistic Evolution. It displays God's work in full, explains past creatures, and illustrates how he is the creator of all things. Not only that, Theistic Evolution actually gives it creator far more credit then the Creationist do. Not only does God creates things, he evolves them too. That displays intelligence. When your dealing with an interpretation things were just randomly created without thought, their is not much room for intelligence or imagination. 

The harsh part of me would even go as far as calling Creationist lazy for accepting things at face value without thought. Just except whatever without explanation or thought. This demonstrates a lack of appreciation for God's work.  A lot more appreciation is shown when you realize that intelligence actually went into the design. The fact that creatures are randomly created means that they could just be taken for granted without much thought. The fact that so much detail went into one (God) day illustrates patient and experimentation with his designs. He is the great designer and thinker under Theistic Evolution.

As mentioned in the previous article, what is a day to God? This is where the Creationist place little thought. It had to be six, 24 hour periods, because that's how long the day is. Never mind that God's concept of time is different from that of mere mortals. I believe that he invented time. With that said, the measurement of time was conceived by men. When we say that a Earth-day has 24 hours in it; that was a measurement created by men. And that's an Earth-day to. Let's blow some minds. What would be the measurement of a day on the galaxy level. The universal scale. The concept of time is different on a universal scale, as objects are much more distant, and light years have to be used as a form of measurement. Our rules of time do not apply on this scale. So who are to say what a day is to God. One could declare that assuming that a God-day is 24 human hours on the Earth scale is kinda arrogant. Wouldn't you think so too?

Personally, I reject the idea of the literal interpretation of the Genesis account. In order for me to embrace the literal interpretation of Genesis, it has to make sense from a logical standpoint. Genesis doesn't make sense at all from a literal interpretation though. In order for it to make sense, you have to discard the fossil record, or assume that the fossils were created within a 6,000 year time-frame. Radiocarbon-dating blasted away the notion that the Earth has only been around for 6,000 years. Radiocarbon-dating, a not perfect, but yet, very accurate method of dating objects, has blasted away this notion as well. The science of measuring the decay of atoms by their half-life is a interesting study.  What I find funny is that many in religious circles vouch for the accuracy of radiocarbon-dating when it comes to dating the age of the Dead Sea and other Biblical artifacts. Yet when it comes to evolution, all of a sudden, it not accurate at all now!

Unfortunately, many will  dismiss scientific concepts because they don't understand it. Combine this is the current trend of embracing opinions as fact, that means that a scientific concept is false because a persons dismisses the idea because they don't understand it. Now evolution on a geological scale is a theory. However, their is a lot of substantial evidence behind it. Also, their is evidence of evolution on a much smaller time-scale. Dog-breeding is a form of evolution. The creation of new species from those that already exist. This is selective breeding at work. 

This has been done with pigeons as well. Different breeds of pigeons have been created because pigeon breeders got their birds to mate together. This has either been for sport (pigeon racing) or for pigeon shows, which are similar to their canine equivalent. 

Jurassic Park Is Frightening In The Dark....
The idea of the dinosaurs being killed by an asteroid is a theory. It can't be proven. With that said, their is very strong evidence to support the theory. As mentioned from the previous article, radiocarbon-dating has shown that the last Dino fossils were dated to 65-million years. The asteroid that hit the planet 65-million years ago has been found at the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The a burnt ash material that was formed due to extreme heat that contains small fragments of space rock have been dated to 65-million years. This ash has been found all over the world. It's been dated to 65-million years. 

Again, the asteroid theory is a theory. It haven't been proven. But their is very strong evidence to support it. This is the reason why it's taught in science class. As the geological history of Earth is taught in class. It's a theory that can't be proven, but their is very strong evidence though and can still be confirmed as fact though due to that evidence.  

 Genesis can't be validated as confirmed fact  through scientific eyes when interpreted literally though. Their is no problem if a person wants to embrace the literal interpretation though. I just believe that their is a huge disservice done when its taught within public educational. As their is strong evidence to support the theories mentioned above, their is no scientific evidence to support the claims of those who embrace the literal interpretation. They can still believe that it's still true to them in faith. It's just that as mentioned earlier in this article, fact and faith are not the same thing. 

Among Christian Fundamentalist, if you acknowledge evolution, then you're not a true Christian. The embracing of any other interpretation outside of fundamentalist thought means that you compromised and sold out your beliefs. You entered a pact with Satan in their eyes. You caved into the world. There is no fun in fundamentalism.

Theistic Evolution is able to explain the shortcomings of the literal interpretation. It still confirms the scientific findings, as well as acknowledging that whatever happens is God's will and he had a hand in it. This interpretation still acknowledges Genesis as true, but yet makes sense of material that, well, face it: it makes no sense at all when seen through literal eyes. It's a interpretation where one has to look at the deeper meaning and "read in between the lines". It also validates that the Bible isn't a science book. 

The Bible concerns itself from things of the spiritual level, so as a result, their is no burden imposed on the Bible as to try to explain the science of how things work. Leave it to the Scientist and the Scientific apologetic. The interesting thing is that for some reason, the literal interpretation of Genesis is making a strong comeback. Personally, I feel that Theistic Evolution/Scientific apologetic  is needed more than ever to counter-point to the literal interpretation of Genesis.

Their is a lot of contempt though.  Many preachers will dismiss science as a result, declaring that scientific knowledge is wrong. It's not, it's just incomplete. These preachers won't see science as a complement to Christianity, but a rival. Many view the science vs. religion battle as another proxy war in the us-vs.-them conflict that have been waging since the middle 90's. 

For a huge chunk of the 20th century, especially from the 30's through the 80's, science and religion was able to peacefully able to co-exist. Their was no conflict with the topic of evolution, because religion didn't delve into that topic. Leave it to science to explain what religion doesn't deal time with. When we got to the middle 90's, and the perceived war of culture, then that's when problems arose. That was when the topic of evolution became a hot issue. 

It was very depressing because this wedge topic got much more attention than it deserved  It took attention away from topic that actually were of merit. Like how to deal with community outreach with helping the poor, disadvantage, and those marginalized by society. Helping those who need spiritual guidance. Yet, THIS was THE topic that got the attention. What a waste. 

One would argue that if you want to embrace creationism, then go to a religious school. To paraphrase Lisa Simpson, you don't go to church to hear a scientist preach. Does one goes to science class to hear a fundamentalist preacher teaching Flat-Earth Doctrine. Actual validated facts are thrown out the window. Their is a war on science. This war is going to take us back to the Middle Ages. Is this a worthy reward? I think not!