Interesting Comparison Between Religion and Science
I though this was interesting, despite the fact that I think comparing religion and science is not really fundamentally possible, because religion is a belief system and science is a method of understanding the world around us. I saw this comment here attached to a talk by Michael Shermer on why people believe strange things:
“The problem with science, as far as religion sees it, is that it can’t instantly explain everything. The problem with religion as science sees it, is that it can’t definitely explain anything whatsoever.”
Religious apologists think that since science can’t explain everything then there is something wrong with it. They miss the point of science entirely. It’s point is to find something we don’t understand, formulate ideas about what could explain it, and then try to disprove the ideas, until an idea comes along that explains things sufficiently to predict the behavior of those things. The point of science is that it is always looking to improve it’s explanations of everything. The point of religion is to continue to believe the same things, regardless of evidence to the contrary.
If you believe in any religion, you trust you God, and you believe He arranged everything perfectly, so what you are doing is to accept the arrangement.
Otherwise, you trust yourself and you are exploring the unknown.
Read this quote from Albert Einstein.
“Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind”.
Yep, Einstein was a great physicist. He also didn’t believe in god, at least in the sense of a man in the sky who listens to people murmur and grants their wishes.
See http://www.skeptically.org/thinkersonreligion/id8.html
Religion is like a child’s security blanket. Adults don’t need it.