Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

kbrandall's picture

I've been thinking further

I've been thinking further about the similarities/differences about science and religion and the ways that they are taught/not taught. Something I came up with is something that we did not come up with in our discussion group but that it would be interesting to discuss further. I remember from our discussion in Prof. Dalke's group last week that she drew a diagram showing the scientific process as believing and debating-- first you accept a theory, then debate it, come to accept further conclusions, then debate them, etc. I think that a similarity between science and religion is that they both require this dynamic-- to learn something, to question further, to learn something new, and to continue the process. I also think that they are often taught in a flawed, simplified way-- that children are first taught to believe and not to question, which is bad science and bad religion.

However, I think there also is a difference between science and religion in the process of questioning. Religions are teleological, they assumes there is a Truth out there that you are trying to understand-- even if that truth is ultimately beyond the grasp of human comprehension. In science, though,  there is no one unified truth, but a bunch of smaller discoveries.

Reply

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
2 + 7 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.