Religion and Science: No Fight Club Here

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I am myself profoundly unsettled on the questions surrounding the Bible/evolution debate.

On the one hand, there is what appears to be abundant evidence for the Bible. First, the Apostles carrying the message of Jesus would have had the opportunity to maintain esteem in their communities by complying with the orders of rulers not to evangelize, but instead chose the opposite course when they knew it would bring certain persecution and death; unlike religious charlatans today, they could not reasonably have been embarking on such a course as a "get-rich-quick" scheme or for any other selfish reason. They must have been certain, from direct eyewitness experience, that their message was true.

Similarly, the Bible states that God totally forbids any attempt to communicate with the dead or with any entity of the spirit world, or to obtain for oneself supernatural powers of any kind. Such an injunction is unprecedented in the history of world religions; I am not aware of any other religious text, in any other place or time, containing such a law; in fact, the tendency throughout human history, from the remotest antiquity to the present, and across all demographic lines, from tribal "healers" to multimillionaire "psychics," from Victorian-era "Spiritualists" to skateboard-riding, occult-video-game-playing Gen-Y kids, has been for the prospect of having magical powers to hold ubiquitous and perpetual allure, and even for those believed to have obtained them to be, if anything, adulated and exalted, not condemned, by society. This implies to me that the injunction against occultism could not have arisen organically, in the usual course of human events, and thus its inclusion in the Bible could not be a mere human fabrication.

To this evidence must be added the huge number of people who have overcome addictions or criminality through conversion; the fulfilled prophecies; the many remarkable archaeological finds corroborating the Bible's historical data.

And yet, on the other side, I find so much to convince me that the scientists can't be fabricating evidence either. For example, when they first started, about a decade ago, to claim that the extinction of the dinosaurs resulted from an asteroid colliding with the Earth, that sounded far-fetched to me at first, until I saw magazine articles and TV documentaries explaining this scenario: In geological digs at not one but many sites around the world, scientists have found strata containing iridium, an element rare on Earth but common in meteorites, consistently located, at every site, above, but never below, strata containing dinosaur fossils.

Similarly, they have found fossils of "transitional species," suggesting an evolutionary succession.

I further puzzle over how we could see objects in space more than 6000 light-years away if the universe were only 6000 years old.

I fervently hope that society can move beyond the bickering to a phase of united, unbiased inquiry.

Robert Venverloh of CA 3:01PM January 09, 2010

Science and religion are inherently incompatible. Any attempt to reconcile the two is a sad attempt at self-deception. Science is constantly looking for answers, based upon the best evidence available -- while religion assumes that it already has the answers (provided by ancient prophets who somehow knew God's mind, while being perfectly ignorant on virtually every other subject). This is not to say that science will never prove the existence of some sort of God (who knows?). But science will never prove the Christian or Muslim or Jewish religion to be true, because these faiths were (very obviously) cobbled together by ignorant, superstitious men who knew nothing about the true nature of the universe. Science will never prove that Jesus was the son of God (because he wasn't), or that Mohammed was a messenger of God (because he wasn't), or that the Jews are God's chosen people (because they aren't). It's time for mankind to outgrow these childish myths and embrace science and reason (and a more enlightened moral code) without the crutch of religion.

Monkeywrench of VA 8:15PM August 11, 2009

If you want to believe in a REAL GOD then don't you have to believe in REALITY, as well? The morality in the Bible such as loving your neighbor as yourself is logical. Adam and Eve and Noah's Ark are totally illogical.There is no such thing as magic. Can God make 2+2=5? No, that is nonsensical. Magic is nonsensical as well, so therefore God does not employ magic since magic does not exist. If God created the Universe, God did it with physics, not magic. In turn, the Universe created us through evolution.

James McCarthy of DC 1:46PM July 31, 2009

If the theory of evolution is true and factual, why are there still apes? Shouln't they have ALL evolved by now?

Created Being of NY 10:10AM March 30, 2009

I don't want to write a long story of my beliefs. The only thing I can't seem to understand with science and religion is how can they not go hand in hand. A doctor, learning the complexity of our bodies and how they work. A baby being born and grown inside of our body. A plant growing in the ground from a seed. how the entire world is made up and how perfect our living conditions are. There is no definite explanation of how the world was created. i do believe there is a higher power. If you are a person of science how could you not. I believe there has to be at least a link between the two. As far as what is taught in school, I don't think anyone should say "this is what happened, and this is how you came about" because we don't know that for a fact, but teach all that we do know. I guess religion and my beliefs is what caught my eye in science and the creation of everything. How is it so uncomprehensible??

Amy Reed of GA 8:32PM February 28, 2009

I have never ever seen a fundamentalist Christian oppose the teaching of Physics or Chemistry or Biology or Horticulture or Medicine or Histology or Mathematics or Astronomy nor object to the curriculum of the Social Sciences--SO WHY ARE YOU MORONS FRAMING THIS ARGUMENT AS INTELLIGENT DESIGN Vs.SCIENCE?

ID is simply an objection to the pseudo-scientific theories of the Evolutionists who believe, yes believe without any positive proof, that there was but ONE origin to ALL species.

That is your mother and your dog and that ape neighbour of yours share, physically speaking, the same origin.

Notice I say YOUR MOTHER, not MY MOTHER. That's because YOUR MOTHER could have been a dog, whereas mine was always an angel!

elixelx of AK 2:53PM February 23, 2009

Dear Richard, All I could suggest to you is to read more about evolution. You do not seem to understand the concept of the issue. The more you study, the more you realize that how evolution works.

Arsah 4:15PM February 18, 2009

Dear Joel Humphrey:

My friend Ken Miller was the lead witness for the plaintiffs during the 2005 Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District trial, and received his recent AAAS award partly in recognition of that fact. I also forgot to mention that 54% of all evolutionary biologists believe in GOD.

I have a relative who is an Evangelical Protestant Christian who sees no contradiction whatsoever between what the Bible teaches and recognizing the fact that evolution is sound science. Maybe you should follow her advice too. I am sure Christ would encourage that if he was alive today. Why? I think he would condemn with the same ferocity he aimed at the Pharisees, the rampant hypocrisy of those "Christians" like IDiots (Intelligent Design advocates) unable to reconcile their religious beliefs with what should be regarded as sound mainstream science, which, I can assure you, modern evolutionary theory most certainly is.

John Kwok of NY 2:46PM February 18, 2009

Dear Joel Humphrey:

My friend cell biologist Kenneth R. Miller - who, this past weekend, received this year's American Association for the Advancement of Science Public Understanding of Science and Technology Award - thinks mankind was "created" via evolution as a result of "natural law", acting according to GOD's intentions. In a similar vein, former Franciscan monk - and eminent evolutionary geneticist - Francisco J. Ayala sees no contradiction whatsoever between his Roman Catholic Christianity and recognizing that sound mainstream science not only has demonstrated the fact of evolution, but also the fact that mankind has evolved from ape-like ancestors, sharing this planet now, with our closest cousins, the Great Apes, especially our closest relatives, the chimpanzees and bonobos. So do 54% of all evolutionary biologists, according to recent polling.

I am a Deist who recognizes that GOD brought me into existence via "natural law". Shouldn't that be far more wonderful and exciting to behold than all of the risible pseudoscientific nonsense - which I believe should be referred aptly as mendacious intellectual pornography - uttered by Intelligent Design creationists like Luskin, and other creationists as well?

John Kwok of NY 2:20PM February 18, 2009

"The fool says there is no God". Some humans may agree to have evolved from apes, I know that I am wonderfully made by God.

the cells in my body,the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, the skull covering the soft tissue of the brain and the ribs covering the delicate pump called heart. All this came about by evolution or chance? Good Luck if you believe that!

The sea keeping to its borders and the force of gravitation ensuring you and i can live here were designed by GOD.

Don't believe me? Read the Bible prayerfully and Jesus will manifest himself to you.

God bless you.

Joel Humphrey of TX 11:29AM February 18, 2009

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