Will science and education render religion obsolete?

[Gabu]

I don't see why it would.  I believe in both science and religion.  The two can easily be completely compatible; it only depends on whether you want them to be or not.

[Gabu]

Indeed, angus - one more reason some degree of religion will always exist. Science can't tell us if there's an afterlife and what it's like.

Of course, neither can religion, for that matter; religion has always been essentially a form of educated and accepted speculation, regardless of what some adherents will tell you.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.  If it makes you happy and hurts no one else, it is, by definition, a good thing.

[Gabu]

Indeed, angus - one more reason some degree of religion will always exist. Science can't tell us if there's an afterlife and what it's like.

Of course, neither can religion, for that matter; religion has always been essentially a form of educated and accepted speculation, regardless of what some adherents will tell you.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.  If it makes you happy and hurts no one else, it is, by definition, a good thing.

Well, science doesn't have the luxury of faith that religion has.

Well, yes.  All I'm saying is that religion can't really give people answers.  Some people may take answers from religion, but the fact of the matter is that they aren't there in reality; everything in religion is just unproven claims.  For me, it's been more just a source of possibilities, which, to me, is enough to be satisfied.  I've never personally needed to feel like the big questions in life have been answered conclusively.  Indeed, it might be the greatest disappointment of all time if they ever are answered conclusively.

[Gabu]

Because we see it every day, we sometimes forget that life itself is a miracle, one that cannot be adequately explained with all our scientific advances.

With all our technology, we are not able to create an object that thinks for itself, grows, changes, and becomes any more than we made it at the beginning.

The thought that each of us developed from an egg about the size of a pin-head, coupled with a microscopic sperm, is almost mindboggling when you think about it.

Even the idea of food growing right out of the ground is a miracle if you really think about it.

Science can explain these things within certain narrow parameters, but science can't give a full explanation for how these things happen.  The reality is that life is unique, and we can't create it, and neither can we bring it back after it is gone.  Until that changes, religion will be around.

I do actually find it odd even thinking about the idea of science disproving God.  For me, the more I learn about science, the more belief in a higher power becomes inevitable, personally.

Science explains how and what, but it can never explain, at the root of everything, why.  Every time I learn something new about the universe, I immediately ask myself why that's the case, and I can't find any answer other than "because something made it that way".  Even if you accept that, since the Big Bang, nothing but random chance has led us here, why did the Big Bang happen?  Where did the material in the Big Bang come from?  Where did anything come from?

It's these questions that have led me to a belief in a higher power.

[Gabu]

Because we see it every day, we sometimes forget that life itself is a miracle, one that cannot be adequately explained with all our scientific advances.

With all our technology, we are not able to create an object that thinks for itself, grows, changes, and becomes any more than we made it at the beginning.

The thought that each of us developed from an egg about the size of a pin-head, coupled with a microscopic sperm, is almost mindboggling when you think about it.

Even the idea of food growing right out of the ground is a miracle if you really think about it.

Science can explain these things within certain narrow parameters, but science can't give a full explanation for how these things happen.  The reality is that life is unique, and we can't create it, and neither can we bring it back after it is gone.  Until that changes, religion will be around.

It's these questions that have led me to a belief in a higher power.

Where did the higher power come from?

That's a good question, and is one to which I have no answer, but is also one which does not in any way refute any of my argument in favor of its existence.  Not knowing the origin of something does not mean it does not exist.

[Gabu]

Religion has always been able to adapt to a new world view shaped by increased scientific knowledge.  True, it sometimes takes a few centuries for the church to catch up, but the adjustment eventually happens.

Of course, there are those who still have yet to catch up...