Many times in contemporary culture and media, science is pitted against religion in a effort to prove the superiority of science and undermine the influence and hold of religion over society. Many popular programs in Discovery Science and National Geographic produce programs like 'Cosmos', where scientists like Neil deGrasse Tyson, present programs which explain the history of science and the influence of science as something which has nothing to do with religion and religion to have nothing to do with reality. Though these pronouncements are made subtly as part of a greater argument, yet it is clearly made in a way which you will not miss out.
But the fact of the matter is that Science has it's foundation firmly on Christian ideas like the operation of laws in the universe, the reality of the external world, the consistency of the laws of the universe, the comprehensibility of these laws by man and the beauty in the laws and equations describing the universe. Rationality used in any scientific endeavor cannot be explained by science. Science can explain the rationality in humans but not the rationality out there, including the laws of mathematics and laws of logic. Science which explains 'How' things work in the universe does not explain itself. The scientific method is a philosophical idea, which when applied becomes the method for scientific investigation to detect the 'truth'. The idea of 'truth' itself is a theo-philosophical idea and not a scientific one.
Religion, especially Christianity deals with the 'Why' of reality. It explains the following: Why we are able to do science? Because there is truth which God has put out in nature and we are rational beings created in the image of God who are endowed with the ability to think, experiment and detect the laws of nature. Why we should do science? To detect the thoughts of God hidden in the created universe which he has engineered and to establish dominion over earth and develop technology for the benefit of the people.Why are the laws of nature reliable? Because the one God has created it and sustains it with his power and wisdom, which makes these laws consistent over time. Christianity explains the concepts of truth, rationality and the laws of nature whose existence science can detect and describe. But science cannot answer the reason or purpose why the universe is the way it is.
So we need God and science, to explain the 'Why' and 'How' of reality, which gives us a more fuller picture of reality than provided by science alone. So the fallacy dilemma created by the secularist and atheist that science makes religion or faith in God redundant is a fallacious claim. They also do not speak about the assumptions and limitations of modern science.
Reference:
John Polkinghorn;Quarks, Chaos and Christianity: Questions to Science and Religion.
But the fact of the matter is that Science has it's foundation firmly on Christian ideas like the operation of laws in the universe, the reality of the external world, the consistency of the laws of the universe, the comprehensibility of these laws by man and the beauty in the laws and equations describing the universe. Rationality used in any scientific endeavor cannot be explained by science. Science can explain the rationality in humans but not the rationality out there, including the laws of mathematics and laws of logic. Science which explains 'How' things work in the universe does not explain itself. The scientific method is a philosophical idea, which when applied becomes the method for scientific investigation to detect the 'truth'. The idea of 'truth' itself is a theo-philosophical idea and not a scientific one.
Religion, especially Christianity deals with the 'Why' of reality. It explains the following: Why we are able to do science? Because there is truth which God has put out in nature and we are rational beings created in the image of God who are endowed with the ability to think, experiment and detect the laws of nature. Why we should do science? To detect the thoughts of God hidden in the created universe which he has engineered and to establish dominion over earth and develop technology for the benefit of the people.Why are the laws of nature reliable? Because the one God has created it and sustains it with his power and wisdom, which makes these laws consistent over time. Christianity explains the concepts of truth, rationality and the laws of nature whose existence science can detect and describe. But science cannot answer the reason or purpose why the universe is the way it is.
So we need God and science, to explain the 'Why' and 'How' of reality, which gives us a more fuller picture of reality than provided by science alone. So the fallacy dilemma created by the secularist and atheist that science makes religion or faith in God redundant is a fallacious claim. They also do not speak about the assumptions and limitations of modern science.
Reference:
John Polkinghorn;Quarks, Chaos and Christianity: Questions to Science and Religion.
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