Science vs. Religion

At this site, one of the participants asked a question about religion in science fiction.

This is part of my response…

Faith cannot be trumped by science. If anything, religions survive the times by adapting to the sciences as well as the social needs of the believers. Christianity has undergone incredible changes from when it was merely a cult borrowing ideas from Judaism and stoicism and a few more emerging philosophies of the times. Apparently, Christianity also served business purposes in terms of traveling. Believers who indicate their belief and belonging to the group were considered an extended family ( according to The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Truth behind the Mystique–Dr. Lawrence H. Schiffman). The religion, as do some other religions, provided various services: they instruct people in the areas of ethical reasoning, they instruct regarding social and emotional intelligence and skills, they encourage resilience behaviors through congregating, supporting the needy of their communities, as well as a means to network socially as well as in terms of business. Another interesting thing about religion–especially those that involve deities–is the providing of a role model. So there is the macro-approach of having the deity/role model to emulate and follow, but you also have the micro-approach where sermons and lectures and discussion groups explore ethical behavior as well as ways to manage impulses, anger management, compassion, and the appreciation of the world and others (grace). The “faith” component is also there as part of the instruction. The stories reinforce the belief that somehow, in someway, help is coming. In other ways, the stories encourage persistence in that messages regularly remind people that prayer and/or meditation will help you see a problem for what it is or to reframe the problem in a manageable way.

Schiffman proposed that religion’s evolution with the times is developing away from miracles and god interventions and more towards social-emotional supports, role modeling, and instruction.

On the other hand, Christianity and similar Judeo-Christian religions aren’t the only sects though and they aren’t all “progressive”. Some are very conservative and depend on certain levels of insulation against the “World”, the secular. These religions might survive though by rejecting certain highly-supported heavily-evidenced theories while other conservative religions by encourage a complete, reservation style of living. Like with any other society or culture (subculture), there are subgenres, reformations, and variations.

Take a lookee at this Emo Philips joke found here–http://splitframeofreference.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-greatest-religious-joke-of-all-time.html:
Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump.

I said, “Don’t do it!”
He said, “Nobody loves me.”
I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?”
He said, “Yes.”
I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?”
He said, “A Christian.”
I said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?”
He said, “Protestant.”
I said, “Me, too! What franchise?”
He said, “Baptist.”
I said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?”
He said, “Northern Baptist.”
I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.”
I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.”
I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.”

I said, “Die, heretic!” And I pushed him over.

And that’s kind of the human condition. Whether its about materialism expressed in Apple products over Android/PC products or if it’s about music preferences or over comic books–silver age vs golden age. It could be about what we eat with our veggies–there are so many different kinds of vegetarians all of whom greatly dislike bacon enthusiasts. We swear by paleolithic diets and antitoxic shakes. We argue over our water preferences–bottled or tap, lemon or lime wedges?

And don’t forget about the great fantasy wars among the sci fi crew–fandom has its most beloved genres–military, hard, soft, magical, steampunk, etc.

And science fiction genre choices may be a great indicator as to how religion may work in the future (or at least, in sci fi). Because, among us, there are believers that the quantum mechanics is the key to understanding godliness or that quantum mechanics will explain psychic/telekinetic abilities of Jesus or that aliens from other planets were actually the angels and demons in the Bible and still others believe that the pyramids were levitated using radioactive graviton emitters…and whatnot. We humans are still quite wacky and imaginative and highly creative. We can’t help but dim the lights and tell our tall tales and urban legends and pseudo-scientific origin tales as though they were witnessed by a friend of a cousin of a best-friend’s aunt. Because if you ask that friend of a cousin of a best-friend’s aunt you’ll know it’s all true.