Name: Asyrafi Arifin Class: 2T24 General Paper 2011 CA: Essay Science and Religion will always

conflict. Discuss.

The very invention of science itself was in the face of religious opposition. Studying the world was considered a waste of time, or at worst, forbidden sorcery. Some even issued orders forbidding the study of nature and even supporting the killing of those who did. The battle between science and religion has been going on ever since the olden days and I feel that even up till today or the days to come, they will still remain in conflict. Science and religion had a historical conflict about our world so extreme that it involved people getting tortured and murdered. The church had their own version of stories on how our world works and how God has made it that way. However, there are people or skeptics that are not satisfied with these stories or myths and proceed on to find the real truth of how things work. Galileo Galilei once mentioned, Religion tells us how to get to heaven, not how the heavens go and people such as him are those that get into conflicts with religion, mainly the Church. Their curiosity and hunger to gain knowledge has led them to many discoveries that usually go against the stories or words of the Church. Marco Antonio de Dominis, a famous scientist in the 1600s, was tortured and murdered by Rome in 1624 for his investigations in the phenomena of light, in particular because of his explanation of the rainbow. The Church believed that rainbows were the acts of God and that there is simply no explanation for it. When Marco found out the real truth about rainbows and how they emerge, the Church felt threatened and feared that they may lose the trust of the people. They did not want people to accept his theories and decided to dispose him. With the immense power that the Church had at that time, they could easily accomplish that. Besides that, an astronomer and professor in Bologna, Cecco dAscoli, suggested that men might live on the other side of the world. For that, the Church burned him alive in 1327. The Church did not accept such statements and wanted the people to view world as how they have mentioned it to be. Another great conflict in the past between science and religion was about the dispute of the centre of our solar system. The Church believed that Earth was the centre while some scientists at that time disagreed and theorized that the Sun was the center of our solar system. In 1513, Copernicus first wrote down his discovery that the Earth goes round the Sun. This discovery, one of the greatest in the history of men, was violently opposed by ignorant Christian Churches for the next three hundred years. Giordano Bruno, a philosopher, was burnt at the stake by Rome in 1600 for simply daring to suggest the same fact as Copernicus did that the Earth goes round the Sun. Galileo Galilei, the great human thinker, believed in that very same fact and was imprisoned, threatened with torture and forced to recant his beliefs. Their beliefs

went against Christian superstitions as the Church felt that everything orbited around the Earth. Ever since Galieo Galilei suggested his theory, Catholic writers have told lies about him and try to justify as to what has happened. All of these great scientists of the early days who found out the real truth of the world were at conflict with religion and were threatened with death if not already murdered. Science and religion also conflict ideologically. The Church believes in a system of ideas and ideals that were found in the Bible while science questions the word of the Bible and seeks to find out the truth behind everything. This conflict is truly exemplified in their conflicting views of the emergence of man, the great battle between creationism and evolution. For almost all of the history of Christianity, the Church preached that the Earth was less than 10,000 years old and that they believed in creationism that is the sudden creation of humans due to Gods will and power. This is what is written in their book, the Genesis. The Church strongly adheres to this fact up till now and will definitely stick to it unless someone else comes up with a theory that is backed up with sufficient evidence. However, in 1844, Charles Darwin first wrote down his discovery that humans came about from animals by a natural process called evolution. He believed that humans are physical beings, the soul is mythology and that there is no afterlife. Therefore, our destiny is to fully discover how our human brain works and then to become immortal on Earth. Darwins take on the emergence of man greatly enraged the Church as it totally opposes the word of the Church that is in creationism. Besides this great conflict, religion has also caused religious scientists such as Sir Isaac Newton, some downfalls. Newton could have achieved a lot more than he already did had he not accepted religious answers to unresolved scientific issues. Newton had a small deficiency between his calculations of the motions of planets and the actual observations, so he invoked the hand of God. However, a century later, the great mathematician Laplace made better calculations with Newton's own equations and showed that there was no such deficiency. Hence, religion and conflict has been in conflict ideologically and they still do in some cases today. Furthermore, science and religion are also conflicting on the grounds of abiding strictly by the morals and values system. They have been in conflict and always will, in the field of human life and medical treatments. In the past, things not understood might be assigned to the realm of supernatural whims, which to a scientist represents a very pessimistic outlook. Mental illness was thought to be caused by demonic possession and illnesses or diseases were thought to be caused by curses. Science has allowed scientists to dwell into the unknown and find the truth behind all these and how such illnesses or diseases actually come about. Today, stem cell research has been one of the most heated conflicts where Catholic churches are against the immoral use of human embryos for stem cell research while scientists are using it for the greater good of mankind. Advocates argue that it could be the solution for many who are waiting or in need of transplants. Science and technology has used stem cells for medical treatments for a wide range of conditions since stem cells have the ability to differentiate into any type of cell and are able to repair extensive tissue damage. However, these stem cells require the destruction of

human embryo, which may be seen as an early-aged human life by some like the Church and other religions. They believe that this very act violates the sanctity of life and is tantamount to murder. They believe that human life is inviolable and that human life begins the moment a sperm cell fertilizes an egg cell to form a single cell, though an embryo is only human once it has developed cells that perform human functions. This has been in debate for a long time where science and religion are conflicting one another. Besides that, euthanasia has also been one of the great conflicts between science and religion today. The act of euthanasia is seen to violate principles in many religions, as they believe that people should have the right to live. Furthermore, the Roman Catholic Church is one of the most active organisations against euthanasia as they feel that only God has the power to take life away and that life is sacred. They feel that science should not try and play God and end life as and when they like or even create life out of nothing through means such as cloning. Religions of all kinds argue that only God should have the power to do all this. All this various fields display how science and religion have been in conflict in the past, in the present and most probably in the future as well. However, there are people who believe that science too complements religion as their definitions are not exactly opposite of each other. Science is a system of acquiring knowledge based on empiricism, experimentation and methodological naturalism while religion is the belief in and worship of a God or Gods or any such system of belief and worship, usually involving devotional and ritual observances and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. Like Albert Einstein mentioned, A legitimate conflict between science and religion cannot exist. Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. Therefore, science and religion will conflict with each other to a very large extent because both use different methods to derive their facts. However, in areas where science cannot provide and answers to explain phenomena, religion serves as a solution to our doubts.

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