Science and Religion

Can we please establish something once and for all:

Science ∩ Religion = ∅

I might be one of the very few people who think this way, but I believe this to be true. Religion and Science are mutually exclusive. One is concerned with hard logic, and furthering understanding this physical universe we inhabit. The other deals with spiritual growth, and the metaphysical.

I don't get the whole creationist and Intelligent Design movement. Can someone explain to these people that the book of Genesis is an allegory? The biblical story of creation is like a PG-13 version of the history of the universe - with all the mind boggling physics, chemistry and biology details replaced by fluff. Kinda like the "birds and the bees" story you would give to kindergarten kids if they asked.

Before I moved to US I have never encountered this kind of rabidly literal interpretation of the Bible. We already had this dispute a while ago, when Charles Darwin was proving his theory. At some point the Church backed off, and accepted evolution. We all agreed this was a moot point and that there is no need to argue about this anymore.

Somehow we all understood that in religion class (yes, in Poland there is no strong separation of Church and State so religion is part of the public school curriculum) we talk about Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden and the Great Flood, while in a science class we talk about the Big Bang theory, dinosaurs and evolution. We allways thought about them as separate, and mutually exclusive. It would have never occurred to me that both can't coexist until I came to US.

Sigh... Don't the creationists, and intelligent design people realize they are the laughing stock of the world?

When a creationist approaches me, I usually don't even bother talking about science. Intelligent arguments do not work well against blind zealotry. So I talk about pastafarianism, which is about as scientific as the "inteligent design theory".

Tags: intelligent design, creationism, religion, science, evolution