Science Vs. Religion

Religion vs. Science

David Schaefferkoetter

PHI 200

Prof. Michael Larson

November 12. 2012

Religion vs. Science

The relationship between religion and science has always one of conflicting views. So often the line between believers and non-believers creates a barrier in which the option of coexistence seems impossible. Religion is the attempt by man to reconcile his relationship with his God and often seen as merely a faith based belief system. While, science is associated with intellect and based on logic. However, many "great minds" have claimed to be believers. Einstein stated, "science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind" (Avshalom, 2000). Now this statement alone does not claim he, himself a believer but does state and show a perceivable relationship between the two. Science does more to prove the validity of the religious belief in creationism than it does to discredit its possibility. First a background is needed on creationism to understand the viewpoint of the argument.

Creationism is the belief that an outside supernatural force example God, created everything from space, the earth, and mankind. Through the intelligent design of the creator of everything we have the world we know today (Mosser, 2010). Different societies throughout time have believed in many different sources of the supernatural creator. These beliefs have ranged from nature, to multiple gods, and into the monotheist religions that are followed today. Regardless of the type of religion the belief of creationism can be found in some relation to supernatural power and creation of our surroundings by this power. Many believe that this is merely a case of faith and there isn't any scientific evidence to support the possibility. With proper research, creationism can help explain some misunderstandings in science. To better understand this claim, proper research of modern science must be completed.

The very laws of Science many claim disprove the existence of a divinity can be the best proof for it. A scientific law is a known state that can be observable, measurable and constant. Webster's Dictionary defines scientific law as " a phenomenon of nature that has been proven to invariably occur wherever certain conditions exist or are met" (Simpson, 1989). Through extensive research and experimentation scientific laws are created to give us a stable and reliable understanding of our surroundings. These scientific laws are understood as truth and without exception, though they have changed over time with the discovery of new science. A great example of this is the properties of the universe.

Many scientists believe the universe to be what they would call a closed system. A closed system is defined as "a region that is isolated form its surroundings by a boundary that admits no transfer of matter or energy across it" (Simpson, 1989). This simply means that certain areas in this case the universe, have no outside influence. This believe in science is where the theory of the big bang and uniformities come from. That means that either the universe has always existed in the same exact form it is now or a catastrophic event changes its properties. If this is in fact a true state of the universe than by first Law of Thermodynamics whatever is contained in the universe now has always been. Based on this law of science new matter and/or energy cannot be created within a closed system. Meaning new life could not have been formed within the boundaries of Earth. Therefor if the universe is a closed system, everything ever came from nothing or it has always been here. However, we just learned by creation of new energy would be in contradiction with the first Law of Thermodynamics (Clark, 1996). So based on this logic everything you see around you would be a lie or it was created by an unexplained source of creation. Could the unexplained source of creation be a divine supernatural source?

Another interesting fact is within our own bodies. I don't believe anyone would debate the fact that our human bodies are made up of amazing complex systems that is hard to grasp as a whole. Even if you break it down to a cellular level it shows the vast complexity of each and every molecule within the human body. The basic structure of molecules that makes man is DNA. Anyone who has studied about DNA knows how amazingly and technically precise the information is coded within each individual DNA molecule. This means that in scientific terms, man at is core level is in fact information coded and linked together to create man.

The third and forth scientific laws of information state, "Universal information cannot be created by statistical process and/or can only be produced by an intelligent sender" (Luengerger, 2006). Simply stating that information cannot be created out of nothing. It must have a creator and the creator must be purposeful, creative, and conscious of his creation. So if DNA is known as an information code for the human body than how was this information created? Was it created by accident or did an intelligent designer create it? Though that is a fairly convincing argument other points can be brought up the show the other side of the story.

The vast lack of tangible proof is a point that deserves a look. Many will point out that God as never been seen on a mass scale and argue that if he were the creator why not make himself seen? Seeing the world through science man has five senses in which to understanding and observe his surroundings (Mosser, 2010). The lack of physical evidence disproves the existence of a creator and therefore discredits the belief of creationism. Even a majority of believers would state that they have not seen, heard, felt, smelt or tasted a divinity of any kind. This may seem as a strange argument but contains a valid