Science + Religion

2006 November 22

by thudfactor

I don’t have much time this morning, but jbruno wants to know what we get out of combining science and religion. I tend to think religion and science are complimentary, not competing, ways of viewing the world. Religion gives us an approximate framework responding to the world around us. Science gives us a detailed but very incomplete vision of the world around us.

I’ve tried to illustrate this in the following three images:

Religion:

Science:

Both:

Does that help get the idea across?

Comments leave one →

2006 November 22

gls permalink

Combining science and religion makes about as much sense as combining vinegar and sweet tea.

The “religion and science are complimentary, not competing, ways of viewing the world” thing is great, but oh so delicate. It’s easy to end up paying lip service to one while in reality disregarding it. Gould’s “Rocks of Ages” is an example of one extreme; Houston Smith’s “Why Religion Matters” is an example of the other.

And Chet Raymoâ€™s “Skeptics and True Believers: The Exhilarating Connection Between Science and Religion” is what you get when you try to combine the two (without ever really admitting that you’re combining the two, nor admitting that you’re only paying giving religion a nod because it’s “deep”).

2006 November 22

thudfactor permalink

bq. Combining science and religion makes about as much sense as combining vinegar and sweet tea.

In what context? I’m speaking in terms of living, where having both perspectives gives a more detailed picture. The only place it doesn’t make sense is when you’re mixing religion into scientific research.

bq. The â€œreligion and science are complimentary, not competing, ways of viewing the worldâ€? thing is great, but oh so delicate.

Just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean there’s not value in the exercise. Most processes requiring thought _are_ delicate.

2006 November 22

M E-L permalink

One thing upon which both religion and science can agree:

Those penguins sure are cute!

2006 November 26

Diesel permalink

There’s something about this that verges on genius.

2006 November 27

Thudfactor » Science + Religion: A closer look at penguins permalink

[...] It’s Monday and everyone’s hung over from the long Thanksgiving weekend, so it seems suitable time to revisit this clumsy illustration on the relationship between science and religion. More after the jump: [...]

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Move aside, and let the man go through.

Science + Religion

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