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I often get posts and messages telling me that science and religion can walk together hand in hand – “See, I believe in science and I believe in God and my uncle is a scientist and believes in God!”.This shows a deep lack of understanding of the basic principles underlying science and religion. So, for all of you who think that science and religion are compatible, I would like to shortly explain some of the differences. Please note that this post will be short and lacking many other aspects, but I hope that the following 4 points will still make the differences very clear.
1. Doubt:
This is the most basic principle in science, for every scientist. Always doubt your results, doubt what you see, doubt what you get, and try to refute your own results. For believers, doubt is forbidden. There is no doubt in God.
2. Evidence:
In science, theory requires evidence, lots of it. A theory can be refuted and replaced by another theory, given the evidence suggest it. In religion, no evidence is needed and there is only one theory that cannot be refuted nor replaced.
3. Study:
Science requires making an assumption and trying to prove or refute it by a study – a design of experiments and observations that will allow reaching a conclusion. Studying in science is always encouraged, the more you study, the better. In religion, exactly the opposite, you are encouraged to know as less as possible, so that you will not lose your faith. No study is necessary to prove god, it is a given.
4. Change:
Science is flexible, undergoing changes and paradigm shifts all the time. One day you think you are right, you think that you know something, and the next day you learn that you were wrong. In religion, there is no change, and never will be. There is no room for paradigm shifts, because it means loss of faith.
These very basic four points (there are hundreds of others) explain why science and religion don’t work together, and never will be. They are based on completely different and mostly opposite principles. Looking back at our history, we can see that religion always objected to the most important scientific discoveries and developments, from the heliocentric system to stem cells. Religion should not have any place or say in science. Sapere aude? Science and religion – they don’t work together!
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