It doesn't matter if you win or lose
As long as you're in there swingin'
- Tarzan
I have been perusing several different blog sites lately and it occurred to me that there are a lot of folks that can't seem to separate science from religion. Worse is that they cannot seem to comfortably live with two separate disciplines. Of course, I don't think anyone can explain it better than Stephen Jay Gould in his essay on Nonoverlapping Magesteria, I guess I'm just perplexed that so many folks are still arguing about religion and science. I am fascinated by the number of folks trying to prove there is a God to folks that believe there is not a god and vice-versa. Proving there is or is not a God is not something science is capable of nor does it have the ability to do nor does it want to. But for some reason there are those who want to prove that God does exist. Believing there is a God is just that, believing. Science is about facts. These facts provide the basis of theories about how they work. It is an old cliche, from a great play, Inherit the Wind, but it still holds true today, "science is more interested in the age of rocks, while religion is interested in the rock of ages. " When Pope Pius announced in 1950 that the Church recognized evolution as a science and then again in 1996, Pope John Paul recognized evolution as a science supported by data, you would think the religious right would give up its endeavors to have Genesis interpreted as facts in the form of 'creationism'. Not so, they just had the name of their 'science' changed to 'intelligent design'.
Stephen Gould had it right, Science and Religion are separate magesteria, neither of which should infringe on the others domain. In this way they can learn from each other and share a path that seeks truth, loves mercy, walks humbly and desires justice. Personally, on the Dr Atomix scale of believing, a scale that goes from 1 to 10, 1 being a true believer and 10 being totally atheistic, I'm sure most folks will find themselves on one end or the other. Not a lot of 5's or 6's. If you ask them to write down or share their values with you, you might be surprised about how many are identical. It's not science that divides us, its beliefs. I believe it's time for a drink...
Until next time I remain just another Zoroastrian Cowboy at the Rodeo of the Absurd.
As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so
is good news from a far country.
- Proverbs 25:25
