Science and Religion! Where is the fiction?

In my opinion, religion is complete irrational fiction...The truth is in science that has been proven!

I can say from my personal experiences that while I hold no true love for religion, science to me doesn't seem to bring a ton of good either. Think about it.. You are diagnosed with an illness.. So they give you a pill. Then they give you another pill to counteract the side effects of the first pill. Then another pill to counteract the side effects of the second pill. And so on and so forth until you have an at home pharmacy. I'm not saying all science is bad by any means but I don't think either should be regarded as highly as they are. Yes, I will agree with you that religion is the cause of many wars. Rather, differences in religion are the causes of many wars. But unfortunately even if we all looked alike and all had the same wages, same houses, same everything... People would still find something to disagree over. Its just human nature. So while I am not a religious person personally... I don't discredit those who are. People as a whole need something to turn to or cling to.. That is their nature. I personally like to stand on my own and see the fruits of my personal labor. As that is my nature. If you think about it science and religion are just different crutches to be leaned on by people. Explanations for common occurances and such.

You seem to have a rather narrow focus here. Religion does not necessarily revolve around Jesus or the Bible. I consider myself a fairly religious person and really I'm at bit of a loss to see the fiction in my religion. Of course, my religion is not Christianity it is Buddhism, about 500 years older than Christianity, but it has seemed to stand the test of time. The teachings of the Buddha seem to be as relevant today as they were 2500 years ago I do not really see any conflict between the teachings of my religion and the findings of science. Perhaps you can point out the error in my ways.

I read somewhere the other day that those who believe, need to. They need to believe in order for what they believe in to exist. Pretty weird huh? I look at all the Christian traditions, the pomp and ceremony, he robes the processions the use of incense and it all seems so silly and those who follow do so without question or thought because they have the gift of "Faith". I'd like to know who made that idea up and why didn't everyone receive that gift??? The beauty of religion is that it can mean to the individual whatever they want it to mean. An individual can feel blessed because they prayed and their headache went away. Or they prayed and their son came home from war. What of those who prayed and their cancer did not go away, or their son came home in a coffin...is the first one more worthy? There are those who will cling steadfastly to their belief because they simply want to, they have an incredible ability to refuse to listen to the facts...the fiction gives them comfort. Amen.

If we really want to believe that something is real; it's virtually impossible to make us see otherwise regardless of what evidence may be presented against our view; simply for the fact that we will more than likely discard any and all information contradictory to our beliefs. If our minds are not open to the idea that our beliefs could be wrong, then our stubbornness creates a bias that will block out that possibility in our minds. Fear is also a strong motivator in our belief-system and ties into this.

Christianity started about 2000 years ago, Religion was around long before that. Conflicting believes cause wars and mass murders, religion was just the excuse...you do things different then I do, so you are dumb and since I am bigger then you I will hurt you for being different... If religion was never created, there would still be wars, they would just be over something other kind of conflicting believe. At least that is how I see it. Sincerely and With Appreciation.

How do you get the idea that religion is only 2000 years old? There is clear evidence of some sort of religious belief from 35,000 years ago in the form of the "venus" figurines which may represent some sort of mother goddess figure and more certainly, burials of individuals accompanied by offerings of food and tools. This implies a belief in an afterlive and by implication, religious belief. Regardless of this, you only need to go to Egypt to see temples - the physical embodiment of religious belief, built 3000 years before the beginning of the Christian era. Having said that however, I'm in entire agreement with your statement though it's specifically Christianity and it's later offshoot Islam that has been responsible for all the religious wars that have plauged mankind for the last 2000 years. Before then, people of different religious beliefs lived in harmony and differences of religious belief were never a reason for waging war.

As a matter of fact, science is closer to God than, for example, Christian religion has ever been. Because God is Everything, and science is about everything...most religions are about Nothing...

I guess it just goes to show that there are a million lessons to learn around religion. None of them are about God!!!! I can not understand why people choose to believe in stories rather than see the truth that surrounds them everyday. God is not hiding anything. I guess stories have always been easier than getting out and discovering the real answers. But then what do you really have with mere stories??? Not much!! If religion really cared for the truth, wouldn't they correct their mistakes???? Oh, they will tell you they haven't made any. If people will believe stories, I guess they will believe that as well.

Science & religion should go hand in hand. Many notable scientists throughout history were also devout Catholics & aimed repeatedly to merge the two or at least, through weight of reason & logic, show the Catholic Church that they should accept certain things that we know today as truths & open the doors to science & learning. Copernicus, Da Vinci, Galileo, Newton, etc, etc all worked tirelessly with the church to accept their works. The Church, in return, excommunicated them & hunted them all their lives. I take your point about science being in existence before religion, but the dates are arguable, as others have pointed out, but unnecessarily so. It seems that throughout history, the Church (in many cases) has used science as a tool & a means to their own end. There have been (& still are!) far too many "holy wars" in history that want to "send a clear message" to the people. If the Masters would be alive today, none of these wars would have taken place. There is nothing to justify bloodshed for any cause, however "noble". Nothing. The irony is that this issue has been central to all of these great people's teachings & then religions get hold of it after they're gone & twist things all around.

Hi barehugs, what I acknowledged is, Science and Religion are always be a contradictive issue. However, personally I see that none of Science and Religion are fiction, they are real. Maybe we should see and think that Science and Religion are actually in one conjunction. Science is the concrete form, and religion is the abstract form. As in the form of human, maybe we can similarise it with the tears and sad feelings. The sad feelings is the abstract, but it becomes concrete with the tears come out from our eyes. Or vice versa, maybe without realise it sometimes we just hold our pains or hurts and suddenly we cried out those tears, by then we just realised it how much sad feelings that we actually have in our hearts and the tears is actually the cure to relieve the sad feelings. So if it's coming a new question about which one comes first Science or Religion, above could be the example.

I guess there are times when science and religion does clash in certain topics such as the creation/evolution issue. However in response to your last statement/inquiry, I think and believe that religion and science fill each other and cover's each other's bases. You meant by religion in your post as the institutional or the organized religion that have specific methods of lifestyle (which also include worship, teachings, the whole package) but there is also a kind of belief or faith that not exactly rooted in these organizations. It is the kind of belief where religion and science can find a compromise - for example, it is my belief that there is no exact God but there is a powerful Being that created all things we see and had. It's not exactly religious and it borders on science. So there is a compromise between the two. To further answer your question, it is only in extreme cases when people truly affiliate themselves with either science or religion. The same way why priests are devoted to God and scientist do not entertain ideas without subjecting the said topic under a microscope, logical thinking or experiments. Most people, especially people living in the modern age, prefer a small dosage of both in their lives. By doing this, a person can have the best of both worlds - having the best of science while living in this plane of reality while making sure that they have something for the afterlife, if the said place really exists at all.

I agree with you- even though I'm not really religious. i just think that religion is unreasonable. As you said, people are killed over religion and it seems to have brought more trouble than good. Science on the other hand is extremely helpful and we can see its benefits with our own eyes. Luckily, nowadays people aren't too strict on religion as in the past.