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Why are some religious people "afraid" of science?

exchemist

Veteran Member
Maybe this question comes as a "shock" to someone that i ask since i am known for not trusting science :)
(meaning i am not afraid of science, just not see it as a valid way to answer certain questions)

But here we go...
1: Why are some religious people "afraid" of science?
2: Is there truly a way for science to disprove God or deities?
3: IF there is no "verifiable" proof of God, does that means God can not exist?
4: If science one day did discover Gods existence, does all religions fall away then? or does this part of science fall away?
1. As others have said, a lot is due to them having a naive, literalist, interpretation of scripture, a view not shared by the main Christian churches. But also, there is a wider view, which one does sometimes encounter in the main churches, that science in some ways lies behind the secularisation of society. The advance of science makes the space for mystery smaller, over time. Also the social sciences explore, compare and contrast features of societies, including religious beliefs and traditions, ascribing human motives and drives to them which diminish and complicate the traditional ideas of divine inspiration and authority.

2. Not at all. Science is concerned with the study of nature by means of empirical observation.

3. No. Fairly plainly, as a matter of logic, entities can exist for which there is no proof. But as far as science goes, it does not deal in proof anyway, only in evidence. Lack of evidence means no place in science for it, that's all.

4. If science were to discover God's existence (it is hard to envisage what that could entail), that would have to involve reproducible evidence from nature. At that point God would cease to be supernatural and would become a natural phenomenon, open to scientific investigation. So God would become part of science. I suspect religions would continue much as now though, since whatever the evidence, it almost certainly would not fit traditional religion and would be violently opposed.;)
 

pearl

Well-Known Member
Hawking, though an atheist wrote "
However, if we discover a complete theory, it should in time be understandable by everyone, not just by a few scientists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason -- for then we should know the mind of God. 'A Brief History of Time'
 

osgart

Nothing my eye, Something for sure
Consciousness doesn't have objective existence. Science will never able discover it. The only way we know of consciousness is subjective experience. So religion will always have that fact.

Science has no ability to disprove, or prove anything about intelligence in nature.

Science is very much food for independently religious people.

Myths can be disproven. So all the stories of all those major religions are reduced to metaphor.
 

Colt

Well-Known Member
Maybe this question comes as a "shock" to someone that i ask since i am known for not trusting science :)
(meaning i am not afraid of science, just not see it as a valid way to answer certain questions)

But here we go...
1: Why are some religious people "afraid" of science?
2: Is there truly a way for science to disprove God or deities?
3: IF there is no "verifiable" proof of God, does that means God can not exist?
4: If science one day did discover Gods existence, does all religions fall away then? or does this part of science fall away?
We can only speculate but some religious people fear the debunking of the superstitious component of their "belief". Also their can be a kind of anti-religious ideology behind pseudo science. Atheist often use science as a battering ram when trying to undermine "faith". If a religious person isn't well versed in so called science then they get tangled up in the weeds.
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
Maybe the word God can not be used in discussion of science vs religious belief?

It's not the word that's the problem but the definition. A creator creates, so that's simple. But assigning an agent to the existence of the world is like my assigning a name to a child as if using that name somehow defines the child. Since we weren't born with names, it's just a term. Its useful for discussion, but that's about it.

The thing is, not many nonbelievers will understand what you and others mean by creator if the answer wasn't avoided with: you must be a believer, there's no tangible evidence, science is separate, from 'my' understanding, etc.

It makes talk about god useless when the NB tries to understand to be on the same page. Believers say you just have to know or just have to practice (have faith, mystic experience, so have you).

1. I'm sure science can describe the experience. But if it did, why won't believers accept it?

2. What about your physical and psychological experience that's so different than NB given we are both human?

Are believers special; are they aliens?
 

Nimos

Well-Known Member
1: Why are some religious people "afraid" of science?
I think it depends a lot about who you ask, probably more than one would think. Some people have no issue being religious and believing in God, while still accepting science at large. So for instance most stories in the bible (just using that as an example), like the story about Adam and Eve is not a real story, but that it was most likely written due to some other reasons, and that this doesn't change their faith at all. On the other side you have people that believe that every single word or account in the bible is absolutely true.

If one is in the latter group or leaning that way, obviously science causes some issue, as it doesn't support the account that the bible is giving. Evolution and how the universe began and work, is simply not telling the same story. So if you are convinced that the bible is true, obviously anything that claim differently is potentially a "threat" as it would show that the bible is wrong, at least in these parts. People rarely like to have their beliefs questioned for one reason or another, especially not when it comes to religion and it does actually requires a lot of work personally to being able to deal with it.

However there is a difference, between me telling you, that I think you are wrong about Islam for whatever reason I might have for wanting to do that, compared to me for instance saying that I can scientifically prove to you that parts of the Quran is wrong. Which is most likely because everyone knows that science works, whether you are a fan of it or not or simply think that only some of it is correct. One have to live on another planet to not accept that we have computers, mobiles phones, planes, cars, medicine etc. and that these are the result of science one way or another.

So you can easily disregard my opinion, whereas its a whole lot harder to disregard science, when it can be demonstrated to work or be correct. Especially because religions have no counter argument to it. Science is a method or process about learning what is true and more importantly what is definitely not true. Religions have no explanatory power, no method for achieving truth, you either believe or you don't. So honestly I think its more in frustration that people are "afraid" of science, because I think they know that their religion doesn't have the ability to argue with science, if one can put it like that. So science becomes a threat and the best defense against it, is to deny it or point out where it did wrong etc.

The problem for religious people that do this or support it, is that science doesn't care, in fact it encourage people to point out where it went wrong, so we can get closer to figuring out what is more likely to be true. Again as I said above, the most important thing in science, in my opinion, is to figure out what is definitely not true.

2: Is there truly a way for science to disprove God or deities?
As above, it depends :D

If you are going for science providing 100% clear evidence that God does not exist, then it won't. But then again, science doesn't really work in absolutes, but rather to the best of our knowledge. So for instance evolution, is it 100% certain? No, but to the best of our knowledge it is true, but we can't know for sure, whether evolution magically appeared yesterday, because God thought it should be like that, and simply made it appear as if it took billion of years. That is the limitation of science, and why it disregard the supernatural, because in theory it can do anything.

But if one can accept this limitation, then science can probably get to the place, where it offers a better explanation for the beginning of everything than that of a God. But the process can and will be very long, because its obviously not easy. But where science at least makes process, religions makes no effort in explaining anything. God did it and you just accept that!! But for a lot people, we don't buy that, especially when again, science seem to suggest that it didn't happen like the scriptures say, and whenever you ask a religious person, how do they know, you get nothing, because they can't give any answer or even remotely come closer to fitting, what we observe with the idea of God as it is written in the stories.

So for me personally, since you know im an atheist. Science simply seem to offer a better explanation, or at least the possibility of getting closer to the truth than the religions can. I have nothing against God, but then again, I have nothing against unicorns either, but I don't believe they exist either. :)

To go back to the beginning, science doesn't disprove God, but when something becomes so unlikely to be true, is that then disproven? And for me, it is enough that I am willing to refer to myself as an atheist.

3: IF there is no "verifiable" proof of God, does that means God can not exist?
Believe I answered that just above :)

4: If science one day did discover Gods existence, does all religions fall away then? or does this part of science fall away?
Good question :D

I would probably think it would go the other way around. Science would most likely fall apart as we know it. Because pretty much the whole method would be unreliable, we couldn't count on anything being as old as they appeared, so what we might think took billion of years, again could have happened just 3 minutes ago. We would probably do things the same way, like making medicines etc. simply because how should we do it otherwise, but in general I think the whole scientific community would collapse. I think you would have a huge increase in whatever religion the God(s) belong to, so all current religions might collapse and we would all praise Odin :D

(This obviously assumes, that we as humans could tell the difference between something being highly technologically advanced and that of a God. So for the sake of argument let's say that it was in fact God(s) :))
 
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halbhh

The wonder and awe of "all things".
Maybe this question comes as a "shock" to someone that i ask since i am known for not trusting science :)
(meaning i am not afraid of science, just not see it as a valid way to answer certain questions)

But here we go...
1: Why are some religious people "afraid" of science?
2: Is there truly a way for science to disprove God or deities?
3: IF there is no "verifiable" proof of God, does that means God can not exist?
4: If science one day did discover Gods existence, does all religions fall away then? or does this part of science fall away?
Many people that haven't read the common bible (and some that have but not with a truly listening hearing) have been told falsely that the bible claims or shows the Earth is under 10,000 (or near 6,000) years old, or similar kinds of young ages.

Which isn't anywhere in the text, nor anything that would lead to that really once read very carefully and fully. Such derivations of a 'young earth' can only be arrived by bringing in extra, alien, added assumptions and ideas that are not in the text.

And even though the precise age of the Earth has nothing to do with our salvation or reconciliation with God (which are the real subject of the bible), and the age of the Earth isn't ever the subject of any verse anywhere in the bible, not even once.

But, not having read carefully the full texts, and hearing these false claims, many have believed them, and so have brought hook, line, and sinker the false idea that somehow science is against God.

Which isn't even rational, but that's where some are at.

So, therefore, they feel they have to oppose science (or some do), on the basis of those false doctrines.
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
My sympathies. Where exactly was that btw?

I thought going to a Catholic school in London in the 1960s was weird enough; but even the Irish Nuns didn't threaten us with hell, and that was decades ago.
Rural Indiana, the MidWest, the so-called "Heartland of America."
Belief in Hell is very common there. It's such a conservative, religious ****hole of a state you can't even by alcohol at the store to cook with (or any other reason) on a Sunday. It's so bad that many companies there require men to have short hair.
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
Maybe the word God can not be used in discussion of science vs religious belief?

I was thinking reading replies. Science involves many fields. If you go into mental health and psychology with historical sciences and studies you'd probably have better chance disproving gods than you would in a lab. Maybe expand the topic of science.

Gods have been placeholders for what we don't understand in any faiths but if you tried finding criteria for hypothesis to derive at anything concrete, you'd have no luck.
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
In my experience, those who claim science can be used to invalidate the existence of God, and those who claim scripture can be used to reject science, have a fairly limited, two dimensional conception of both, and are probably best left to their own agenda.
Is this because you don't see the existence of God as a factual claim?
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Maybe the word God can not be used in discussion of science vs religious belief?
But that would mean it would be impossible to discuss the topic at all, which would be ridiculous. The term God can be used, but it helps to have some kind of definition of what the speaker means by God, as it can mean different things to different people.
 

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
But that would mean it would be impossible to discuss the topic at all, which would be ridiculous. The term God can be used, but it helps to have some kind of definition of what the speaker means by God, as it can mean different things to different people.
Would it be better to say, christian God, islam God, hindu God and so on?
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
But that would mean it would be impossible to discuss the topic at all, which would be ridiculous. The term God can be used, but it helps to have some kind of definition of what the speaker means by God, as it can mean different things to different people.
There are a few terms that I wish people would be clearer about.

A lot of the time, when people say that science has no bearing on their belief in God, I hear "I treat God as an aesthetic preference instead of an empirical fact; effectively, I'm an atheist who's just really invested in my cosplay."
 
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