Are religion and education innately at odds?

[RIP Robert H Bork]

Science is about the unbiased observation of quantitative data and is not a religion, nor does it compete with religion. There were times when the church has clearly refused to believe proven scientific observation - such as Galileo and Copernicous and the whole "earth revolves around the sun" thing (I've always found that particularly odd because it's not in any way at odds with the Bible), however I think this tends to be the exception rather than the rule and I think most Christians do not disagree with any proven scientific fact (I certainly don't know any who do).

Collectively, however, we still do not know everything - there is a point where scientific fact ends which therefore is the point at which faith begins. Anything that is believed by anyone which has not yet been proven, is therefore faith. If something is scientifically proveable, it is a scientific law. Until it's proven, it is a theory. To believe in a theory is to have faith in it, because it's not proveable - otherwise it would be a law.

Personally, I believe a literal account of Creation, however this is based on faith - I don't have any proof that God created the world in this manner. Others believe that God created the world through the Big Bang and Darwin's theory of evolution. Still others believe in the Big Bang and the theory of evolution, but don't attribute it to God. There are plenty of other beliefs regarding the origin of life and the universe, but the point remains - they are all theories, not a single one has been proven yet and therefore all of them require faith in order to believe in them.

Science is not at odds with the truth, nor is it at odds with something not proven: it is only at odds with something proven to be false. Until such time as someone proves that religion is false, science and education cannot possibly be at odds with them.

[Eraserhead]

officepark, for the love of your God, knock it off.

[Gustaf]

No, they are not innately at odds. I think two things are being confused by a lot of people, namely to be critical (inquiring, sceptical, whatever) on the one hand and not taking an opinion on the other.

I can study, question, think, inquire and at the end of it decide to believe in something. Faith is not blind faith. Questoning faith is not giving it up.

Of course, religion, especially organized, can be dogmatic and work against thinking, etc. But that is true of anything. You could say politics and education are innately at odds, for instance. That is as true (and false) as the thread statement.

Finally, I think it is pretty naive to think education is "innately" critical, inquisitive, etc. Most education in most countries consist to large part of indoctrinating people with the prejudices and paradigms currently in style in the country.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Of course not.  For a very long time, the most educated people were the priests, and even today the clergy is still among the most well educated people.  Judaism, in particular, places emphasis on learning.

Besides, faith and knowledge are very different things.  It is possible to be a very learned man in science, but still have a deep faith in G-d.  Frankly, the more I learn, the more faith I have.  I see all the wonders of the world, and it just reinforces my belief that everything was created by a higher power, and not by some random accident.

[12th Doctor]

Well, religious institutions have traditionally been the strongest proponents of learning, so no from a practical stand point, and I will go with Phil's comments, from a philosophical standpoint.

[nclib]

Judaism, in particular, places emphasis on learning.

Definitely. And it can certainly combine other affairs with scripture. For example, even the most observant of Jews would not be bothered by a vegetarian not eating the meat/fish items at a Passover seder.

As for the topic question, some interpretations of certain religions are, as is unquestioning belief in any religion, but I suppose religion and education aren't always contradictory.

[Earth]

No, religion and education aren't innately at odds. If anything, it's our time period when fundamentalism has become a giant sensationalist story that they're at odds. Monks in the previous centuries allowed information to be retained, and Islamic mathematicians furthered their respective fields before the west. They never saw "secular" education as an opposition to religion.

The idea that fundamentalism represents the entirety of religion overshadows the very real moderate religious who have no bone to pick, for the most part, with science or education.