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Does religion work? It brings some of us solace, impels some to do good (and others to fly planes into buildings), and buttresses the same moral truths embraced by atheists, but does it help us better understand our world or our universe? Hardly. Note that almost all religions make specific claims about the world involving matters such as the existence of miracles, answered prayers wonder-working saints and divine cures, virgin births, annunciations and resurrections. These factual claims, whose truth is a bedrock of belief, bring religion within the realm of scientific study. But rather than relying on reason and evidence to support them, faith relies on revelation, dogma and authority. Hebrews 11:1 states, with complete accuracy, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Indeed, a doubting-Thomas demand for evidence is often considered rude.
Well, I'm astonished. Religion at basis is founded on Faith rather than Fact.
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And any progress — not just scientific progress — is easier when we're not yoked to religious dogma. Of course, using reason and evidence won't magically make us all agree, but how much clearer our spectacles would be without the fog of superstition!
Which is why anyone with any brain cells ignore it.
I think this is over-stated. I love science and rational argumentation. I have basically no use for "religion" as such. But nevertheless I see an important role for faith, and I think it is important that science-lovers realize the unavoidable role of faith in their own lives.
Reason actually requires "faith" in the sense of non-rational or pre-rational "givens". At the very least you have to have "faith" in the process of reason, faith in your own ability to reason, etc. This is not the sort of stuff that people typically think of as "faith" but ultimately it is a sort of faith - it is a form of faith that some religious people don't have, and thus they get sucked in to the (as I see it) dangerously irrational realms of religion.
Existence itself is fundamentally mysterious, and I think that reason itself requires us to be "mystics" to some extent. I just think that putting some faith in science and the laws of logic is better than putting any faith in ancient manuscripts.
I would be surprised though, if ALL scientists were atheists, or even agnostics.
So would I, given the dominance of religious faith over the past 5,000 years.
Nevertheless, though science was for the last 200 - 300 years intended to glorify God's works, it had the unforseen effect of finding that it did not do that so much as finding that it worked perfectly well without.
Yes, many scientists can function perfectly well while also having religious Faith, though I have their mental processes badly compromised when they allow faith to enter into it.
I fully expect to see more and more scientists find less and less reason to have any kind of god - belief, let alone belief in any particular religion and its scriptures.
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Shocker: Religion and Science aren't friends.
