Is faith (or belief in God) incompatible with reason/science/critical thinking? Why or why not? How do you think people might try to reconcile these two very different ways of "knowing" the world?
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Blog#6
D’Onna Cooper
Faith or a belief in God is compatible with reason, science and critical thinking. There is always the unexplainable, the unknown variable, that logic, science or reason can’t explain.
Faith explains certain things that happen and gives immeasurable strength to people. It allows a person to rise above their circumstances and get through horrible conditions. The Medical Profession have come to account “Faith” in the healing process. Now there is Holistic healing in medical practices.
I have faith in God and it is this faith that I attribute to my ability to overcome adversity, trial and tribulations and live the life I have today.
Yoseline Castillo
PHI-101
Science and faith are incompatible. The issue with religion (or faith) as far as it relates to this argument is that you introduce the element of the supernatural, which means that the rules of science don't apply. Strictly scientifically speaking, religion doesn't make sense. It is when we introduce the idea of a "God" that is able to manipulate the natural laws of our universe--laws that science depends on--that the argument deteriorates. And since there is no scientific means to prove the supernatural (since it cannot be measured, etc.) you are both ultimately left standing on your mutual faiths in your beliefs.
I believe that these are two separate things that cannot be intertwined. Science deals with the senses and using results to predict future outcomes, while religion is about existence of things (sorry for such a broad term) outside of the five senses.
Katherine D PHI 101
Faith, as we all know, is something very hard to prove/defend/have. It is even harder to try to compare these things with science and logic. As to say they are compatible, that would be a false statement. These two things walk two different paths with opposite beliefs. These two things seem incompatible because science is based upon trial and error and what we learn from doing. There isn’t much guessing. Logic and critical thinking use science to think things through and you make inferences, educated guesses. This differs from faith because, faith is when you are asked to believe something with absolutely no evidence. Just word of mouth. If someone gave you a jar and you couldn’t see through and told you that there were 100 marbles in it. You would have to have faith in them because you know there is a jar and you know there is something in it…you just don’t know what. That’s my perception on faith.
On the other hand, however, the idea of God makes perfect sense. What happens when we cannot explain something? We make some sort of excuse. It makes sense for us as humans to solve everything. Take ancient Greeks, they believed in a god that pulled the sun across the sky, a god of the sea, sky, underworld, season, love, war, etc…And they did this so they could explain WHY things happen. And as our cultures grew with science, we discovered so we have few questions left to be asked. God is a way of explaining what science, critical thinking, and logic haven’t been able to. I think the biggest question is “where do we come from?” or “what was the beginning?” Since science doesn’t have the ability to go back in time, we must ponder other explanations such as God.
As far as a “reconciliation of these two views of the world” they pretty much do go hand in hand. Like the last paragraph, they complete each other . Also, some people take religion and bend and twist certain beliefs to make it fit their life. Religion is a malleable thing while science is not, and religion grows around science and what it cannot prove. They live together.
Faith is compatible with science and critical thinking. Just because it cannot be found by doing math problems, individuals are always asking for some kind of external force to help find the right answers. The meaning of “God’ being called into any situation is either an excuse to counteract ones inabilities, or they truly believe some omnibenevolent being will help them overcome a difficult trial or problem. For as we know, God is not simply going to reach down from his cloud and give us the easiest way! If that were so, would we not be just like the angels on high?
Faith is not like religion which has boundaries and guidelines, faith is what an individual views to be the universal powers, or “the powers that be.” If individuals can think separately from each other to solve problems, the question of faith should be irrelevant. A person can hold true to any idea that they want to hold on to, and if a person wants to say that God helped them, then it is ok. That person is just one human that should not have a detrimental impact on the question of science or critical thinking. If a negative result occurs from situation because of an issue of faith, then maybe the experimenters should eliminate faith from the equation.
I think that faith and belief in god depends on the person and how where raised. We can put anything in to reason as a person. I dont thinks it has anythingto do with science, but critical thinking i think it does has something to do with. Why or why not like is said it depends on the person. If they believe in faith and god it may work if not its just the way they think and is should not be wrong.
Tareney Frank
PHI-101
Faith is not necessarily incompatible with reason/science/critical thinking but when we use our knowledge based on mankind’s way of reasoning/science/critical thinking it seems hard to view these two subjects as compatible. Faith is based on beliefs and the belief in God comes from our upbringing and how each person views the bible or their divine being. God and religion cannot affect our five human senses instead God affects our emotions. Believers view faith and their devotion to God and the heavenly afterlife as a means of spirituality. But that does not coincide with our ability to reason. When speaking of reason and critical thinking it is hard to say that everything in the bible was interpreted correctly and that the scholars whom translated the Hebrew and Arabic text did so in a manner that documented the eternal truths of the bible.
I think people try to reconcile these two different ways of “knowing” the world by viewing their reality through individual thoughts. Each person makes decisions and sees the world through the reality they have created in their own mind which often includes their own personal belief in faith. Faith, I believe is to help mankind deal with the issues that go beyond the realm of rationality or critical thinking.
Faith or belief in God is incompatible with reason/science and critical thinking. Faith is a belief or a matter of opinion. Reason and science are facts that we can point to for information, unlike faith. You can ask 100 people what their opinion is on faith and you will get 100 different answers. I do believe in God and I live with faith every day, but I can’t prove what I can’t see so that makes the argument that much harder.
Trying to reconcile both worlds can be a challenge, but you can’t argue with facts and science. It’s weird because I don’t question God; I just question what the truth is.
Barry Whitfield
Is faith incompatible with science, reason, or critical thinking? To me the obvious answer would be no. In science the only issue the separates the two is evolution. When looking at different religious communities, we might see some lack of reason and critical thinking, but this does not mean that faith and knowledge can’t co-exist. It would be unfair to label all religious groups as ignorant or stupid just because there are a few bad apples.
In today’s society we see all types of advances in science. Every day we do things, and use products that science has given us the ability to do. From the soaps we use when taking a shower, the cars we drive to work, to the medicine we take these are all products of science. To say that these subjects can’t co-exist is to say that if you’re a person of faith you must be Amish.
Now although I do believe science to be great and very beneficial, I do not think it has all the answers. When we look at love we cannot prove why we love one person over another, and I don’t think we should try. In this life there are some things that should remain a mystery. In these mysteries we have the meaning of life and what happens when we die. If we knew these things what would give us reason to go on living.
In conclusion I think people should stop battling over who’s right or wrong. We as a society should be more open minded. In my opinion if people had more faith in their fellow man the world would be a much better place.
Stephen Mangrum
I do not feel that science and faith are compatible for the progression of science. God, in the past, has been used as a catch all explanation for anything that we do not understand currently. If we were to simply attribute anything we do not understand to the will or acts of God, then we would have no reason or motivation to push forward into scientific advances.
Faith has had its place in medicine (which is based on reason, science, and critical thinking), but largely when it comes to patients and their attempts to explain unfair circumstances. Faith does helps patients cope psychologically with what they are dealing with, but does not provide an explanation to their diagnosis.
I do not think that faith and God can co-exist with science, reason, critical thinking simply because both disciplines will never truly agree. Evolution is an excellent example of faith unwilling to budge when science possibly contradicts the teaching of creation. Science will re-evaluate the principles it is established upon based on new evidence, but faith does not. This lack of flexibility severely limits the possibility of faith and science to be compatible.
Faith, the belief in God, and science are incompatible because of the fact that faith is the belief in a superior being, which contradicts science’s laws and theories. Everything science has “proved” is result of reason, evidence, and tests run on the evidence; whereas, faith is based upon historical beliefs and stories. Faith in a superior being has been argued about for thousands of years by many different religions; and who is to say that one is right and the other is wrong? There is no actual proof or evidence that there is in fact a God. On the other hand, reason/ science/ critical thinking are all based upon evidence and strong theories of how the world and life came to be. Although neither one can give us an exact answer, they are still, in my eyes, contradicting beliefs.
People might try to reconcile these two ways of “knowing” the world by personal experiences and views. Everyone has their own beliefs on the world, and most of these beliefs are formed from life experiences. People will always have different views, even if they experience the same thing together. These are two very different beliefs and will always be taken in differently.
junuee castro
Faith is based on things which are not seen whereas science observes and experiments on things that are seen, touched, smelled where it describes and explains natural phenomena. Also, faith corresponds to knowing and being certain that there is a God. The conflict perhaps with science and faith is that faith is an obstacle to research when the existence of God comes about. For this reason, both cannot be compatible. The believer seeks wisdom or reasoning from his Creator, because he truly believes that God is above all. He also seeks truth, that of which he finds in scriptures. Both logical and moral truth is given from within and it is reason which brings us to this knowledge. According to the Roman Catholic Vatican Council, “faith- frees and preserves reason from error and enriches it with knowledge.” (Sess. III, de fide, c. 4)
Now science on the other hand, as defined in Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary derives from the Latin word "scientia," meaning knowledge. One gains this knowledge through study and practice. It requires material means to perform experiments, testing particular methods and applying various laws. After all, it is trial and error; scientific methods have not yet conquered its reasoning on the roots in nature or humankind. For example, when patients have been diagnosed with severe illnesses; cancer, tumors, brain damage, to name a few, how does science explain and reason on cases where people have been completely healed? Why then, can science not find means to experiment and define such cause? Most of them have been labeled as “miracles” but yet, these have no method, cannot be trial and error, but indeed, have occurred vividly around the globe.
Natural and social science brings us to discover more of who we are but it does not fulfill our entity as human beings. It is those people behind science whom have been granted this knowledge to bring forth what we know. Behind these people lies someone else. Those who are both scientists and believers have a greater affection in reconciling both. For those who are not, may appreciate science to a certain extent but not in totality. In conclusion, the greatest truth to accept is making something out of nothing.
"Men, indeed, are not able to make something from nothing, but only from existing material. God, however, is greater than men first of all in this: that when nothing existed beforehand, he called into existence the very material for his creation".
(Irenaeus A.D. 189)
Science and critical thinking are not compatible with faith and religion. For one, Science is about facts, and solid proof. As religion is about faith, and understanding in what you can’t see or prove. And not to mention science has always been religions biggest enemy based on the fact that science can explain many things that religion insists are act of god or even miracles.
These two ways of thinking can never coexist, because people as a whole will always want to dissect, and ask questions, it is in are nature to want to know how things work and operate, and that’s not how faith in a higher power works, you can’t just dissect it, can’t touch it, see it, but you can fill it, so that’s way so many people have a hard time believing. That’s where science comes in and gives all the answers that many people are looking for. The end result many people lose faith. Like for an example in Genesis 1:27 God created man in his own image, but yet in the other hand you have Darwin stating that the human species is a product of evolution.
Bethany
A modern day definition of science manifests itself to be a view that all true things come from trial and error, and a requirement in this is that there is recorded proof. Also, one must be able to repeat a situation with the same outcome. I think this nutshell that is the scientific theory, has standards that are much too strict to allow any irrational idea, such as God, or even the idea of divine miracles, to reside within any rational thinker’s mind. Therefore, I argue, that a belief in the divine or of a figure that is divinely inspired is incompatible with subjects that concern rational thinking. This does not mean however, that there have not been numerous philosophers, mathematicians, scientists, and thinkers alike that have had a belief in a God. Though, with societies’ current definition of true and believable science, these ideals are no longer as prevalent as they once were for our fore-thinkers. Those that paved the road for modern science were barely skimming the surface. Now, the average human knows that they are human, they know about the society in which they live, and are readily able to explain their view on Man’s place and impact in the world. Once, these were the knowledge landmarks of Man, and now that we better understand (could we truly know anything for sure, or merely comprehend?) about what we are as part of the human race, we are able to put our time towards harder questions; one’s that remain unanswered.
Religion in science is a very touchy subject for many people. Those with religion based morals often have something to say about the methodology concerning a scientist’s or groups work. Stem cells for instance, are often looked down upon when it comes to testing. Though these cells feel no pain at this point, they are still seen as an individual and therefore should not be abominated. While on the hand of the scientists, these stem cells can help many pre-existing-people waiting in line for an organ donation. For people to agree upon this subject, they must either let go of their personal morals for the greater good, or halt scientific research because of the beliefs of a group, neither of which is going to happen. Though, why should man have to agree? What of critical thinking at that point? Shall the day human’s agree be the day our philosophical livelihood vanish, only to be replaced by force fed ideologies? One may hope so.
Carol Hill
I think that faith is incompatible with science since with science there has to be proof that there is existence of an actual thing-God that has to be physically seen. If it is not seen then it simply does not exist. On the other hand I think that it is compatible with reason and critical thinking because after all the reason why one “obeys” commandments or Laws is because of the critical thinking that went on behind actually coming up with the guidelines.
I do not think that people will or may even try to reconcile these different ways of “knowing” the world because everyone has an opinion about what their way of thinking and reasoning is. It is through their upbringing and choice of religion handed on to them that they act or react to others when it comes to their religions.
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