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In Prof. Dalke's Thursday section we had a lengthy conversation on why science and religion are so divided in the United States and eventually came to the idea that science and religion answer two different questions. Science is the how and religion is the why. Science explains how we came to exist and how we ended up the way we are, but it never clearly describes how all the events were set off- is this where religion comes in? Religion can be used to explain how everything was set into motion by a supreme being. I can't help but be reminded of deism which emerged during the scientific revolution and stated that the world was like a clock in that a higher power sets it in motion and does not intervene afterwords, but instead allows it to run according to the laws of nature. Deism is an interesting fusion of both science and religion as it requires the existence of some kind of higher power to set the world in motion while also claiming that the world acts in accordance to laws of nature and scientific observation.

Another interesting topic we came across in this discussion was faith. Many felt that the difference between science and religion was the concept of faith. In science, we have observations and experiments to prove something exists while in religion all we have is our own personal faith. I say our own because an individuals faith cannot be duplicated like an experiment could be duplicated in a scientific setting. However, Professor Dalke pointed out something that I had never considered before- science too demands a fair amount of faith. An interesting example brought up in discussion was how we know the earth is round. Many of us were taught this in school and took it as fact which requires a great deal of faith because I'm sure none of us had the opportunity to hop on a spaceship and see for ourselves.

I also just want to mention how thought provoking Professor Grobstein's lecture was on Tuesday. I was a bit taken aback at how ignorant I was as to how large the universe really is. The picture illustrating multiple galaxies really put the infinite size of the universe into perspective for me. I did not realize how small we really are until seeing that picture. It's almost unsettling, but fascinating at the same time.