Will science and education render religion obsolete?

[phk]

Debate

[dazzleman]

No.  There are certain things that will never be explained by science and religion, and certain human needs that science and religion can never meet.

[phk]

Of course it will.

Reason will always outdo blind faith.

[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.

[dazzleman]

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.

That's right.  They're not inherently in conflict.  I also believe in both.

[John Dibble]

No, because no matter how advanced science gets, it will probably always leave something unexplained. Also, one must realize that modern science tries to prove how things happen, not why they happen - science and religion are not mutually exclusive.

However, religion will inevitably evolve as science does - we have more religious people now than ever that believe in a form of evolution, for instance. Intelligent design gives people a 'why' that science can't provide.

[angus]

No, marxism-lenistism, I don't think so.  They do not deal in the same realm, necessarily, and certainly don't need to be in conflict.  One deals with the corporeal, as I understand it, and the other deals with the ethereal, as I understand it.  No reason at all one cannot be a practicing Jew, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Zoroastrian, Maya, or Buddhist, and also be an active member of the scientific community.  In fact, I know several serious academic scientists who are also observant in their religion traditions.  If you're suggesting that the fact that the "mind" is being better and better understood in physiological and anatomic and chemical terms somehow implies that the domain of religion is diminishing, I'd say that the "mind" isn't the primary "organ" of focus in religion anyway.  It is the soul.

[John Dibble]

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.

[dazzleman]

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.

Science also can't tell us the real origins of life.  They can tell us how it developed after a certain point, but how was the first life formed?  There's no answer to that from science.

[PBrunsel]

No, they're are enough people who can beleive what they do not see. It is simple faith, the faith a little child can have. You know, in faith in a God a little child has more knowledge than all those college educated professors that have spent their whole life trying to disprove God.

But that's just my opinion.

[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.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

No.
If all we are is a collection of biochemicals striving to self-replicate, what's the point?
Religion gives people that point and thus gives them a competitive advantage.  Regardless of whether religion is valid in the objective sense it will always survive.

[John Dibble]

You know, in faith in a God a little child has more knowledge than all those college educated professors that have spent their whole life trying to disprove God.

No college professor worth his salt bothers trying to disprove God - heck, my earth and atmospheric science professor outright said so(says his colleagues are of the same opinion). As I said, science tries to prove the 'how' not the 'why'.

[John Dibble]

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.

[Akno21]

No, they're are enough people who can beleive what they do not see. It is simple faith, the faith a little child can have. You know, in faith in a God a little child has more knowledge than all those college educated professors that have spent their whole life trying to disprove God.

But that's just my opinion.

There is really no way to prove or disprove God. Either you believe or you don't, but neither side is smarter than the other.

[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.

[J.R. Brown]

No, faith is more powerful than science. A lot of people use their religion to explain why science exists.

[Ebowed]

No.
If all we are is a collection of biochemicals striving to self-replicate, what's the point?
Religion gives people that point and thus gives them a competitive advantage.  Regardless of whether religion is valid in the objective sense it will always survive.

Agree 100%.

[opebo]

No, because most people are weak and stupid.  I'm more afraid that pretty soon science and education will be destroyed by religion rather than the other way around.  A New Dark Age.

[David S]

No I don't think so. Science is based on observable facts as we know them. Religion is based on faith. I keep the two separate.

[Hitchabrut]

In France and Germany.

[dazzleman]

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.

[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.

[phk]

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?

[Jake]

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?

Better question, will science ever prove what created the universe.  My guess is no, but it's certainly possible.