To What Extent Can Faith And Reason Be Intertwined Based On The Context Of Ockham

The Christian faith goes back thousands of years, and has acquired a strong system of devout followers from all different walks of life. The big question regarding Christianity is whether or not there really is a God. Many have set out to disprove Christianity, including one of the major theorists Charles Darwin with his belief in evolution. Unlike in the evolution theory, faith plays a huge part in the Christian religion and without it they really rely on nothing. Can there be a valid belief system without evidence? Christianity falls short of being logical because of its lack of evidence, inadequate reasoning, and harm it causes to believers.

Atheism and Christianity has different viewpoints in regards to the origin of the universe, but both share alikeness as well. Christians believe in God, but Atheist does not. Christians believed and that the universe and earth was created by God in six days and on the seventh day he rested. The atheist on the other hand believe that the universe was made of an atom, expanded to what we know now, energy and matter. According to Jack Wellman, Christians and atheists can agree upon is that the universe had a finite, singular, beginning point called “Big Bang Theory.” That the expanded universe came from nothing if we reverse it.

When comparing science and religion there has been a great rift. As long as humanity has believed in a creator there as always been thinkers trying to quantify and evaluate the truth behind religion, trying to disprove or prove a supernatural force.

The argument for the existence of God has been a debate for many centuries. God, in terms of philosophy, must be a supernatural being that: is all-knowing, is all-powerful, and is all-good. Theists believe God exists based on these terms; atheists on the other hand don’t believe in God. Atheists believe that if there is evil present in the universe, then there is no possible way God can exist if he is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent. Evil is defined in three different categories: human evil (evil we humans cause), natural evil (not in our control, of the Earth), and sufferings of the heart (not necessarily human/natural evil). The argument for the problem of evil is that God doesn’t exist because evil exists. In

Biology professor Kenneth Miller’s central argument is that science should not undermine one’s faith in God. “Science itself does not contradict the hypothesis of God.” He makes this argument by stating that science explains the things that God has made and in doing so, trying to prove the existence of God through natural or scientific means does not make sense. Once the supernatural is introduced, there is no way to use nature, thus science, to prove or disprove its existence. Miller argues that science gives us the window to the dynamic and creative universe that increases our appreciation of God’s work. The central point of his argument is evolution. Creationists, of the intelligent design movement, argue that nature has irreducible complex systems that could have only arisen from a creature or designer. This theory is widely supported among devout believers in the Bible and God. Miller argues that if they truly believe this, completely ignoring hard facts and theories, then they are seeking their God in the darkness. Miller, a Christian himself, believes that this “flow of logic is depressing”; to fear the acquisition of knowledge and suggest that the creator dwells in the shadows of science and understanding is taking us back to the Middle Ages, where people used God as an explanation for something they have yet to or want

Human reason is the perception of how things might have came to be. It is the ability to consciously making sense of things and apply knowledge. Faith is the complete and total trust or confidence in someone or something. It can either be the belief in God or in the principles of religion. Faith and reason have each been sources of rationalization for religious belief. Many different authors provide evidence for the claim faith and reason is compatible. Saint Augustine believes that faith provides us with reason, but without reason faith would have never been known to man. Man’s knowledge cannot solely understand reason alone. Reason allows human beings to be brought to God and it is faith that provides us with those reasons. Saint Thomas Aquinas talks about how faith and reason are connected to one another. Both faith and reason are ways of finding the truth because faith is consistent with reason. In Plato’s Allegory of the cave, he expressed that the prisoner’s reasons within the cave misguided them towards faith and God. In the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, the fundamental claim of faith and reason is compatible is brought about in ways someone can find the truth.

In a time when faith and hard labor kept the majority of society alive, the introduction of reason by the Enlightenment was initially perceived as a threat. People had focused on their faiths and grasped the traditions and rituals of their dogmas. The Enlightenment introduced the possibility of faith and reason coinciding and cooperating to form a more civilized and equal society to replace the Old Regime, and the changes lasted far after the period of the Enlightenment.

Faith and reason are not always compatible. Reason is based on evidence . Faith, on the other hand, does not require any substantial evidence. To some people faith and reason can exist without contradicting each other, whereas others claim that faith and reason have to be conflicting.

They are specifically fighting about whether or not the flood of Noah had anything to do with the creation of the Grand Canyon (Branch). But the most common hot topic is consistently evolution vs. creationism. Often enough the fanatics of each side are fighting to remove or push evolution as a teaching in the school system. But through the First Amendment the scientific side has found much more favor in the court systems. Because of the separation of church and state in our school systems the religious groups have been shut down numerous times. For one example, in the article “Twenty Questions: What Have the Courts Said about the Teaching of Evolution and Creationism in Public Schools?” Randy Moore, Murray Jensen, and Jay Hatch wrote, “the popularity of creationism is irrelevant to the question of whether it should be taught in public schools” (Moore, et al). This is very understandable to keep religious beliefs and ideas out of American schools, but still teachers push their beliefs of atheism backed by science onto their students, whether intentional or not. Most likely it is unintentional, but most classes lack to reiterate that evolution is still only a theory. Atheism, even though there is no bible or group gathering is still a religion. Pushing the beliefs of atheism is the same as pushing Catholicism or Hinduism

Francis explained that both scientific theories were not incompatible with the existence of a creator – arguing instead that they “require it”.

Pope John Paul II once said, “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know himself – so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.” (Fallible Blogma) Based on this significant and powerful quote, one can infer that faith and reason are directly associated and related. It can also be implied that the combination of faith and reason allows one to seek information and knowledge about truth and God; based on various class discussions and past academic teachings, it is understood that both faith and reason are the instruments that diverse parties

Faith and reason were two modes of belief that dominated the history of Western Civilization. Both faith and reason were popularized as tools to understand the universe in Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian eras. By conflicting with each other, these two modes of belief sparked a lot of controversy. Reason or rationality is belief based on concrete evidence and logic. The development of one’s reason relies heavily on observation and questioning. Greco-Roman philosophers believed in the power of the human mind to understand the world. So in order to find ultimate truth, Greco-Roman philosophers dedicated their lives to perfecting their reasoning skills and encouraged those around them to do the same. Contradictory to reason, faith is the

In the history of science vs. religion there have been no issues more intensely debated than evolution vs. creationism. The issue is passionately debated since the majority of evidence is in favor of evolution, but the creation point of view can never be proved wrong because of religious belief. Human creation breaks down into three simple beliefs; creation theory, naturalistic evolution theory, and theistic evolution theory. The complexities of all three sides create a dilemma for what theory to support among all people, religious and non-religious.

Faith and reason can be viewed as opposites. Faith is an element of belief, something an individual does not necessarily require a reason for accepting without reason. For example, an individual’s reason for believing in God may not seem too rational when they are trying to explain them. They may not even stand up to criticism. On the other hand, reason is constructed as a formula. Faith is basically something we believe in, like something we learn in church. Reason is something we learn in school, such as a math formula.

It is for this reason that the debate is also not between science and Christianity. Each advocate for each position is attempting to reconcile the apparent differences between science and Christianity. It is simply the case that they each take a different approach and give different amounts of authority to science and a literal interpretation of Genesis.