Science And Religion: The Relationship Between Religion And Science
The Relationship between Religion and Science
Introduction
Religion and science are both significant human thoughts products, with which humans use to cope with the unknowns and unexplainable mysteries in the world. Before the time of Enlightenment, religion served as a nexus among communities and individual’s spiritual world, but when people awoke from the ignorance, more people started to replace their reliance on science. And discussion of the relationship between science and religion came into being, as a controversial topic.
1. Different views on the Issue Different religions in different eras offer various explanation towards the issue. Some of them characterize the relationship as one of the conflicts, some believe each of the …show more content…
A scientist often has a specific mindset that religion does not observe, that is if there is no evidence, it does not exist. This view is advantageous when building something with existing material like a scientist does, but religion is more like designing, with no actual material, thus they are considering different subjects. This type is especially popular among religious people nowadays, as the American National Academy of Sciences has written that “the evidence for evolution can be fully compatible with religious faith” to acknowledge that they are actually independent. However, practically speaking, it is rather hard to draw a precise line between science and religion, scientific works, including stem cell research, animal experiments have moral and religious …show more content…
As the motto of Islamic scientists “Whoever does not know astronomy and anatomy is deficient in the knowledge of God” (Thomas Dixon 2008, 16). And scientific research is guided by the Holy Quran. In Middle Ages, Islamic scholars researched on mathematics and astronomy in order to calculate the correct times of prayer and the direction of Mecca. And in the other way around, “the Holy Quran is not worried that if people will learn the laws of nature its spell will break” (Khalifatul & Hadhrat 2010). Al-Ghazali, a medieval Muslim theologian argues that there are six categories of philosophical sciences: mathematics, logic, the natural sciences, metaphysics, politics and ethics, all of them are with risks to deny religion (Al-Ghazali 2001, 76). He then illustrates the risks and warns people to avoid falling into the fallacy of denying faith. For example, mathematics itself is neutral to religion, while studying mathematics leads to high esteem or ignorant evaluation towards Islam. He contends that Islam and Mathematics are not contradictory, Islam incorporates the wisdom of mathematics, and delivers it in a theological language. Besides, he propounds that heretic philosophers can be divided into three categories: materialists, naturalists and theists (Al-Ghazali 2001, 74). The first as the oldest
Introduction
Religion and science are both significant human thoughts products, with which humans use to cope with the unknowns and unexplainable mysteries in the world. Before the time of Enlightenment, religion served as a nexus among communities and individual’s spiritual world, but when people awoke from the ignorance, more people started to replace their reliance on science. And discussion of the relationship between science and religion came into being, as a controversial topic.
1. Different views on the Issue Different religions in different eras offer various explanation towards the issue. Some of them characterize the relationship as one of the conflicts, some believe each of the …show more content…
A scientist often has a specific mindset that religion does not observe, that is if there is no evidence, it does not exist. This view is advantageous when building something with existing material like a scientist does, but religion is more like designing, with no actual material, thus they are considering different subjects. This type is especially popular among religious people nowadays, as the American National Academy of Sciences has written that “the evidence for evolution can be fully compatible with religious faith” to acknowledge that they are actually independent. However, practically speaking, it is rather hard to draw a precise line between science and religion, scientific works, including stem cell research, animal experiments have moral and religious …show more content…
As the motto of Islamic scientists “Whoever does not know astronomy and anatomy is deficient in the knowledge of God” (Thomas Dixon 2008, 16). And scientific research is guided by the Holy Quran. In Middle Ages, Islamic scholars researched on mathematics and astronomy in order to calculate the correct times of prayer and the direction of Mecca. And in the other way around, “the Holy Quran is not worried that if people will learn the laws of nature its spell will break” (Khalifatul & Hadhrat 2010). Al-Ghazali, a medieval Muslim theologian argues that there are six categories of philosophical sciences: mathematics, logic, the natural sciences, metaphysics, politics and ethics, all of them are with risks to deny religion (Al-Ghazali 2001, 76). He then illustrates the risks and warns people to avoid falling into the fallacy of denying faith. For example, mathematics itself is neutral to religion, while studying mathematics leads to high esteem or ignorant evaluation towards Islam. He contends that Islam and Mathematics are not contradictory, Islam incorporates the wisdom of mathematics, and delivers it in a theological language. Besides, he propounds that heretic philosophers can be divided into three categories: materialists, naturalists and theists (Al-Ghazali 2001, 74). The first as the oldest