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Pivotal Dichotomy

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The Pivotal Dichotomies of Science and Religion
Science can help identify and elaborate upon the laws of nature, help humans ascertain an improved understanding of the universe, and enable people to acquire powerful thinking skills to generate innovative and beneficial ideas. However, in the recent centuries many scholars have addressed the numerous conflicts that have emerged between the fields of science and religion. Although certain similar factors can render science and religion compatible, many differences have caused a contentious divisiveness to permeate between the two fields. Many philosophers have contemplated and debated the relationship between science and religion. While both science and religion ask and answer questions, …show more content…

For instance, several philosophers, such as Albert Einstein, have elaborated upon the compatibility and similarities of the two fields (Chaffee, 2012, p. 354). Science and religion both attempt to answer very difficult ontological questions about the world, including the origins of existence, various features of the world, and the laws established by a divine creator. Both fields attempt to answer questions regarding the past, for religion emphasizes stories of creation to explain the commencement of the world, whereas science promotes the big bang period and the evolutionary process to explain the beginnings of the world and the origins of life. Both fields also perpetuate answers regarding the future. Whereas many religions discuss apocalyptic concepts regarding the end of the world, science articulates the impacts of climate change patterns, the inevitable death of the sun, and the eventual disintegration and conclusion of the universe (Pomerleau, 2014). Thus, many philosophers contend that science and religion are compatible because both strive to attain the same goals of understanding the past developments of the world, the future fate of the human race, and the laws that govern the …show more content…

Religion often concentrates its arguments on the actual creator or god of the universe. For instance, religions often assert that God is a being with intelligence, will, desires, and dislikes. Religions in turn have a propensity to focus on the desires of the creator, the codes of behavior that God expects humans to exhibit, rewards the creator bestows upon those who obey these requirements, and the punishments God inflicts upon transgressors who violate the requirements. Religion also emphasizes the specific manners by which God created the universe, as in Genesis, established by the Ancient Israelites and promoted by modern Christians. Rather than focusing on the actual creation or universe, religions tend to focus on the creator and the concepts of God that are expressed and maintained in the religious doctrine. In contrast, science tends to refrain from generating assertions regarding the creator and instead focuses entirely on the actual creation. Science primarily addresses many different aspects of the creation, including the beginnings of the universe, the matter and features of the world, how stars and galaxies formed, how planets were established, how our planet generates life, and how life functions and develops on Earth. Although science and religion both express divine laws, science focuses on the laws of nature that govern the motions and developments of

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