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Compatible or Not?

Entry 598, on 2007-08-30 at 17:26:21 (Rating 3, Philosophy)

Many people are very uncomfortable when criticising religion, either directly or by implication. They have often been brought up in an environment which encourages tolerance of other beliefs and that seems perfectly reasonable, doesn't it? In some ways it is, but I still think that it should be acceptable to use robust criticism on any belief, whether it has a religious basis or not.

After all, we all want to know the truth don't we? If something is true it should be able to stand up to criticism, and science certainly works very successfully with that model. Any scientist who is upset when his theory is criticised should go and do something else. So why do religious people get really upset when their beliefs are questioned, and why do so many people - even those who aren't religious - hesitate to engage in criticism?

The idea for this topic originated in a podcast I listened to today where a scientist thought that science and faith were compatible. I don't agree with this. The two represent fundamental opposites in their philosophy. In science there is total open criticism of everything and constant striving to perfect every theory. In faith there is confident belief in a dogma without the need for evidence, and criticism is not accepted.

So why do some people say the two are compatible? In many cases they believe there are two separate domains that science and faith examine. Science examines the real physical world and faith deals with the world of spirituality and the supernatural. But this doesn't really work because there are two main explanations of the spiritual/supernatural world: either it exists and interacts with the real world in some way, or its purely fiction. If its real, science is a valid tool to examine it. If its fiction why have faith that it is true?

I think a better approach to questions such as "does science make faith obsolete?" would be "yes, but people can still indulge in the comfort of their faith privately if they wish to, but if they ever bring it into the areas of science, politics, and the real world, they should expect to be attacked without any special considerations".

If religion has its special protected status removed we can start reducing the illogical nonsense many people believe (especially in the US) and prevent those ideas from affecting the lives of everyone else.

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