No, it doesn't have to be one or the other

[kriadydragon]

Okay, so maybe this is simply a matter of me being a lot more aware of certain issues than I used to be but I feel like there's been a steady increase of the attitude that "All religious people are superstitious idiots who think science is evil." I mean, I know the debate of science vs. religion and you either believe in science or you believe in God has been around forever, but I've always considered it one of those incredibly stupid and pointless arguments because while, yes, granted, you do have your religions who totally reject science, as usual it is not the case with every single religion out there.

My faith, for example. We don't see God as some magician who waved his hand and, poof, there was the Earth. We believe he works in natural ways just as much as mysterious ways (as a religious teacher of mine once put it, God has a Ph.d in everything). For us, science doesn't disprove anything, instead it explains a lot. There are scientists out there who believe in God, and instead of their faith being diminished by science, it's increased. Speaking for myself, I adore shows that explore how the Earth might have been made, or the moon, or the galaxy, because it's so fascinating and reminds me just how awesome God's creations are. As for those bits and tiddles of science that I don't agree with... for one, I just don't worry about it. For another, come on, scientists disagree about stuff all the time, and what's fact today may be disproved by tomorrow. Thus why I don't worry about it.

So, yeah, don't give me this crap about it's either science or religion and you can't be a scientist and be religious, or that being religious stifles the need to ask questions and make discoveries. It's sort of like with that Baptist church who protests funerals - they do not represent religion and religious people as a whole. So just because someone says they're Christian don't even assume that means they reject science. And just because someone's a scientist does not automatically mean they don't believe in God.

I've been on this major "don't judge a religion by the fanatics" kick lately. Or, more accurately, "quit it with the religious-shaming" kick. I feel like anti-religious feelings (and I mean really nasty anti-religious feelings) have been sky-rocketing, lately. Then again, I feel there's been a drastic increase of having no respect for other people's opinions and beliefs, period. That it's gone from let's agree to disagree, to you don't agree with me therefore you're stupid, to you don't agree with me therefore you are evil and must be verbally ripped to shreds and shunned (something our family had a personal experience with just last month, thank you very much politics :P I won't go into it except to say that something hurtful and insulting had been said, simply because our political opinions differed from that of someone else).

Comments

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I think it comes down to so much butting heads that it became a matter of all or nothing. In the case with some religions it comes down to taking everything in the Bible literally and forgetting that there's a lot of symbolism involved (For example, I'm reading the Book of Revelations right now, and the trick to reading Revelations is to remember that it's about a guy being shown the future - a guy who lives in a time of camels and horses and no technology what so ever - so he's not going to know what things like tanks and cars are. He's going to try and describe them the best that he can, and it's going to sound weird and kind of fantasy-ish. But when you sit down and really think it over, you come to make connections. I got all excited when I realized those giant fire-spitting metal insects being talked about described tanks and jets to a T. I mean, how else would a guy who knows nothing of technology describe technology? By using what he does know).

While science can be very prove it, prove it, prove it - if you can't see, touch or taste it then it isn't real. But there were people who believed in the atom and that we were all made out of tiny particles waaaay before the microscope was invented.

So it's basically this two way street of... well... pointless arguing, really.

[kristen999.livejournal.com]

*nods*

The only time I butt heads with people over religion is over the literal interpretation of the bible. Anyone who has played the telephone game knows when knowledge is passed down over not only time, but different languages, the sentences and meanings change. The concept, the bases is still intact, but the bias of the 'time' is still thee. How else do you explain the acceptance of slavery and the mention of dragons in the original texts?

It's when people use exact lines in the bible to support very unkind things that I get upset.

Okay, maybe I veered off course, but it's still about taking the subject material and accepting the substance while having an open mind that the source material is very old and written by those of another era.

:)

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Heh, the Bible our church uses has the Greek and Hebrew translations of certain words at the bottom of the pages. Very helpful stuff, but anti-climactic if you're a fantasy buff ;) The word dragon was actually in reference to jackals, and unicorn to I believe it was oxen.

But that's why people need to study and ponder what they read rather than take it at face value. There used to be a lot of things in the Bible that troubled me, but now they make a lot of sense.