I think Psych counts, but then I wanted to major in Archaeology. :)
So. The question you asked, to wit: Why do so many scientists, as well as many religious figures, see science and religion as diametrically opposed to one another? I'm still working out my answer to this, but it goes like this at the moment:
Religion and science, though I think they have mostly different jobs, have both worked at answering some of the same questions ("how is the world structured?" "where did the Universe come from?" "why do we get sick and what do we do about it?" etc). In some branches of some religions (such as the fundie Christianity I was raised in) there's an "all or nothing" kind of idea, that one must belive as strongly that God made the world in 144 hours as that Jesus Christ is one's Savior and Lord. Such an impulse put Galileo under house arrest. So, an idea like that can lead the minds that hold it to think that religion is at odds with science and its different, sometimes conflicting, answers to these questions and its different philosophies and pathways underneath. I think much of scientists thinking religion is their enemy is a reaction to that.
As someone who has studied a bit of archaeology sometimes I share your anonymous friend's cynical view that religion is merely a form of social control. It's impressive what big pyramids you can get people to build for you if you've convinced them you're God. However, I usually don't think that way. I haven't settled on a religious path yet, but I do believe in the Divine, in something more to us and the world than the physical reality. My mother was trained as a biochemist, and like many scientists, what she learned in science fueled her religious faith (although how she still believed in straight-up six-24-hour-day Creationism is beyond me).
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Re: seems pretty obvious to me
Date: 2002-06-30 05:42 pm (UTC)So. The question you asked, to wit: Why do so many scientists, as well as many religious figures, see science and religion as diametrically opposed to one another? I'm still working out my answer to this, but it goes like this at the moment:
Religion and science, though I think they have mostly different jobs, have both worked at answering some of the same questions ("how is the world structured?" "where did the Universe come from?" "why do we get sick and what do we do about it?" etc). In some branches of some religions (such as the fundie Christianity I was raised in) there's an "all or nothing" kind of idea, that one must belive as strongly that God made the world in 144 hours as that Jesus Christ is one's Savior and Lord. Such an impulse put Galileo under house arrest. So, an idea like that can lead the minds that hold it to think that religion is at odds with science and its different, sometimes conflicting, answers to these questions and its different philosophies and pathways underneath. I think much of scientists thinking religion is their enemy is a reaction to that.
As someone who has studied a bit of archaeology sometimes I share your anonymous friend's cynical view that religion is merely a form of social control. It's impressive what big pyramids you can get people to build for you if you've convinced them you're God. However, I usually don't think that way. I haven't settled on a religious path yet, but I do believe in the Divine, in something more to us and the world than the physical reality. My mother was trained as a biochemist, and like many scientists, what she learned in science fueled her religious faith (although how she still believed in straight-up six-24-hour-day Creationism is beyond me).
A.
at length.