The Evolution of Science and Its Relationship to Religion

As society continues to grow more secular and less religious, the general public is trying to find in science the benefits from religion that they rejected. Science does not provide a foundation for belief, faith, or any other spiritual or emotional need, because of its objective nature in determining truth. Our society needs to keep science in its realm of relevance and not try to apply scientific principles to religious ideas. My call is to resist the growing dogma of science as a quasi-religion.

I began noticing this ideology while I was serving as a missionary in Mexico City. Most people have strong Catholic roots, but I encountered a few atheists who proclaimed that religion was an invention of mankind and that science held the answers. Those people failed to notice that whereas religion claims to originate from God, science is definitely man-made (though God-inspired). It also struck me that typically the atheists were not always well-educated. These encounters inspired my connection to the famous line "I believe in science!" from Nacho Libre that I used in a previous post (February 24, 2015). Esqueleto lived on the street and had apparently had little knowledge of science yet claimed it as his belief system. Though comical in the movie, the same attitude can be seen in society among people who are generally unsatisfied with religion as a source of truth.

Connecting to 19th and 20th century ideas

• Science became romanticized as a universal problem-solver. People put faith and hope in it as the thing that would progress society.
• Romanticism is not model-based or formulaic but science is.
• Romanticizing -isms led to problems (nationalism)
• Science & industry led to war machines that destroyed people's optimism about science.
• People were disillusioned by scientific discoveries that shifted beliefs; religious-type beliefs should not be part of science.
• Darwin - origin of species, does not necessarily undermine intelligent design but sometimes people think it does.
• Einstein - relativity, does not necessarily apply to moral issues, it's a physical phenomenon
• Freud - irrational and passion-driven humans, does not necessarily give a universal or complete picture of humans

Return to Science of the Enlightenment

Science has changed our society, but we should keep the right perspective on it. Trying to sum this all up with examples in two minutes was difficult, especially while trying to present it in a logical way. Being able to present in your own voice is a good opportunity but it's definitely easier to think carefully and write than it is to speak on the fly.

New Tolerance: Changing the Religious Education in America

      Earlier this week, I wrote a blog post that argued for an important change to be considered within America's education of religious tolerance (if you missed the post, please see the following link: Incurable Religion: Searching For Tolerance). After sharing the post with fellow students, I decided to engage over 1,500 individuals, individuals that I lovingly refer to as "Facebook friends," in this important dialogue. Surprisingly, the responses I received were focused, positive, and provided me with a thought-provoking analysis over the past few days.

      Zack Payne, an acquaintance that resides in North Carolina, brought up a key point.

Taking scientific theories with a grain of salt

I posted that our society needs to change our frame of reference on how we understand and accept scientific findings. During the Enlightenment, science took a forward step when the scientific method was implemented. Models were created to explain observations rather than taking the approach of "seeing only what I want to see because it agrees with my beliefs". Since then much progress has been made and we see the result in today's technology, medicine, and entertainment. So much progress has been made that we have begun to see science as more than it was intended.

The "All-Knowing" Science

"I believe in science!" said Esqueleto in the movie Nacho Libre. In the context of the movie this is a comical statement, because it seems that Esqueleto would have no knowledge of science. However, the idea that science is all-encompassing entity of knowledge underlies the mind-set of many people. In fact, I would argue that from its struggle to separate from religion, people have turned science into a religion. The world-renowned scientists of today are prophets and oracles that declare absolute truths that must not be questioned (except possibly by other authorities).