The separation between science and theology
| July 16th, 2010In high school astronomy class, Mr. Lund held an open forum one day for students to discuss their thoughts on the big bang and the creation of the universe. I found it both exciting and intriguing – even if some of the students’ ideas were a bit stupid.
As to be expected with such a discussion, references to the possibility of the existence of a god or gods came up. I made a point that science is used simply to explain “what is” and not “what isn’t.” As it stands, using science for the sole purpose of further exploring the possibility of a god or supreme being is impractical. While absolutely no one can say for sure if there exists such a being, the evidence leans further and further toward no. So, while science is great for explaining something that “is”, it currently cannot explain something such as a god, which most likely “isn’t.”
Mr. Lund stated that this is why topics on god belong in the “theological realm”, and not in the “scientific realm.”
It sounds agreeable at first, but after a moment’s thought, it baffles me. Theological and scientific realms? Have you forgotten the fact that for thousands of years, religion was indeed used to explain scientific/natural phenomena? Horus and Ra’s sailing of the sun, Prometheus’s creation of fire, to name a couple.
The problem with this is that as mankind continues to make discoveries regarding the universe and how the world really works, these gods become obsolete. Time and time again, deities used to explain natural processes are ousted and replaced with new-and-improved ones that are in agreement with the evidence that is right in front of our face.
It should be noted that we have now reached somewhat of a threshold. Many scientific discoveries and advancements have been made since then, and many of mankind’s beliefs regarding religion are absolutely different from what they used to be. This is what I mean when I say that in many belief systems, there is a separation between science and theology (a separation between the “scientific realm” and the “theological realm”, as Mr. Lund put it). When I attend church – at least, the one I grew up in – I do not hear the person at the pulpit preaching about how the earth is flat and how the sun revolves around us. We’re past that.
However, sometimes I wonder if our current state is just as bad or even worse than it was hundreds of years ago.
In the LDS church, the teachings are very abstract. People hardly ever try to relate doctrine to real physical science, and even when the topic of a heaven or an otherwise alternate plane of existence is brought up, there is no sort of basis that is set in science or reality. The discussions relate to things that are completely intangible while trying to stay away from the so-called “scientific realm” as far as possible.
So why is this bad?
It’s bad because it creates a huge dissonance in people’s minds. We have millions of otherwise ordinary, intelligent, scientifically educated people who still persist in believing that there is also a magical place you attend after you die and you’ll get special kickbacks if you believe in the invisible man who is supposedly watching you but not showing himself to you.
It is a relief to know that more and more people are becoming skeptical and comfortably dismissing the idea of a supreme being. Human beings are not predisposed to believe in a god, and it is my belief that they should stay this way.
I’ve learned something awesome. Young children just so happen to be some of the most fundamentally logical people in existence. Try convincing a four-year-old that there is an invisible dragon hanging from his or her bedroom ceiling. Their response? “I don’t see an invisible dragon! That’s completely stupid.” Of course it’s stupid. The sad thing is, like many other 4-year-olds of their kind, he or she will most likely be conditioned and brainwashed into thinking that they do have an invisible friend, watching them from the sky, undetectable. Most adults I know are still hanging onto their invisible, imaginary friend, and it’s disturbing.
Churches are forced to use a “get-em while they’re young” tactic in order to condition people this way, as unsavory as it sounds (and by “young”, I mean “as soon as they’re born”). I’m grateful to have been exposed to a much wider view of the world.