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| When science tests religion |
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| Written by Scott McKinley / Reflections | |
| Friday, 11 July 2008 | |
 Scott McKinley / Reflections One common answer to this conundrum is to claim that religion answers all the “why?” questions and science answers all the “how?” questions. The problem with this solution is that science is about finding patterns in the world we observe. So religion and science come into conflict whenever religion makes a claim that should be observable. The way religion can bolster its validity is by predicting something new based on past miracles it claims. For example, in Norse mythology, the world started from the dead carcass of the giant Ymir. So, a believer could predict that if we dug down deep enough, we should find bones. However, what usually happens is that evidence is found and the religious priests reinterpret the evidence to support their belief. For example, a Norse priest could claim that rocks are the bones of the giant. This works its way into more modern examples. There are young-Earth Creationists who maintain that God made the universe a few thousand years ago, as the Bible indicates, but God made the universe appear old. They say that any evidence of an old universe is proof that God is perfect at making a young universe look old. For this reason, fossil evidence is not useful in verifying religious claims, unless the religion is going to make predictions before the evidence is known. So, what about modern repeatable claims? While I am focusing on Christianity, this applies to any religion that makes similar claims. One example is the extra powers Christians are supposed to possess, such as immunity to poison, healing others (Mark 16:18) and performing miracles greater than Jesus (John 14:12-14). These are easily shown to be false, which leads to theological arguments about the reason. They range from false entries in the Bible to claims that the people who have the powers belong to some other group, such as the original apostles. Another claim is the ability for Christians to pray for healing. However, studies show that a Christian is just as likely to die or get sick as any non-Christian. That does not prove that God does not heal some people. However, for both the statistics to work out and the claim to hold true, God must harm another Christian or heal an extra non-Christian when he heals a Christian. The odds of surviving a disease are the same whether you worship Thor, Satan or the Christian God. One last claim is that God answers prayers. Or, in other words, God communicates with people. A test on this would be to give a survey to many Christians and ask them to pray to God for answers to these questions. The questions could be very tough: “Is homosexuality worse than gluttony?” “Is the war in Iraq a just war?” “If once saved, are you always saved?” And so on. The reason this scientific test has not been done is obvious: There are more than 30,000 denominations of Christianity in which people claim a personal relationship with God and yet proclaim different answers to these questions. That means either God is inconsistent, or many people are deluded, thinking they hear from him when they really don’t. When science and religion meet, science can never disprove God, since the definition of God can easily change. However, science can reveal disconnects of certain theological beliefs with observed reality.
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I do know religious people that are smart, caring, beautiful people. I love them but they are few. Most religious people that find out I am an atheist make snap judgements and will have nothing to do with me. It doesn't suprise me. Sometimes they do try to save me or tell me I just hate God. (It's not that I don't believe in the tooth fairy it's that I just hate her.)
I care about every person all over this world. I believe I can be good and do good with out an invisible goddly conscience on my shoulder.
Life is about choice, about caring and taking care of humanity right now. I will not worry about my afterlife because it is the choices I make and the things I do right now that matter.
I am loving, honest, truthworthy, happy and an atheist.
Terrie McKinley