Religion versus
science, it’s an
age old
dispute that splits both
congregations and
scientists into
factions. Both religion and science are based upon
one thing:
knowledge. The difference
between these to ways of thinking is the manner in which this knowledge is
attained. In the case of religions, knowledge is originally gained through a revelation of God, or knowledge granted to a person by a
holy entity; on the other hand, scientific knowledge is gained through
experiments using the
scientific method.
Knowledge attained through the revelation of
God most often results in a
belief structure. Throughout history, people have claimed to have been
spoken to directly by God, and in turn a religion or belief structure has been built around this single new experience. This
knowledge is also most often attained (or granted) in an instant, rather than over time. Islam begins with Mohammad
fasting and
meditating in the mountains, and suddenly there is a vast
revelation of understanding through God, and thus begins one of the largest religions in the modern world.
Moses atop the mountain and in an instant he is speaking directly with God as he is granted stone tablets infused with the most abided by set of
absolute values in
America today. In the past this knowledge is given to one person and it is that persons
responsibility to accurately spread the word of God to the masses. The knowledge is open to interpretation and can be disbelieved by any person. In the case of Mosses and
the ten commandments, the word of God was (and still is) widely accepted by the masses; however, quite the opposite is true with the knowledge that
David Koresh (of the
Waco, Texas Massacre in
1993) claims to have been granted. In most cases there is no way to prove or disprove knowledge attained through a revelation of holiness. The
Egyptians had no proof that Moses himself didn’t carve the
ten commandments in to those stone tablets, and the
FBI and
ATF, in turn, had no proof that
God had
not spoken to
David Koresh. The contrast between these events portrays the uncertain nature of knowledge given to humans by God, as well as the widely differing acceptance of
people who claim to be vessels of
divine knowledge.
Scientific knowledge gives us the
skeletal works for our society. Science provides the
technology and knowledge that people build their everyday lives upon. Scientific knowledge is usually attained by either a single scientist or a group of scientists working on related tasks. For
hundreds of years, scientists have taken certain steps in order to
prove or
disprove their hypothesis to gain knowledge. These steps are commonly referred to as
the Scientific Method. Although there are many variations of the Scientific Method (in order to better suit different situations and processes) they are all based upon these steps: state the purpose of the project; make a hypotheses;
test the hypothesis; analyze the results; re-evaluate
hypothesis; and finally, make a statement concerning the results in relation to the original purpose of the
experiment. Due to the Scientific Method, scientific
knowledge takes time, a
statement cannot be taken as fact without proof, and likewise, it is necessary to disprove something before considering it false. Perhaps the most important aspect of scientific knowledge is that the same steps are used to disprove something as was used to prove it in the first place. Scientific knowledge is originally attained by scientists, however, through the media (
press releases,
the internet,
newspapers,
scientific journals, etc…) the knowledge is accurately distributed among the
masses.
In
my opinion, knowledge is gained through experience. Whether a persons experience be using the scientific method to
gain knowledge, or talking to God, it is meaningful. All that people truly have is their experiences. Of course, there are certain advantages and pitfalls to each of these
two types of knowledge. Insight granted by
God is of course a great experience concerning knowledge, however, it is much more of a personal experience than working with Scientists to find a cure for
AIDS.
On the other hand, not everyone is interested in working in a Scientific field, in this case, they must rely upon
newspapers,
books,
magazines and other sources in order to gain
concrete knowledge about the sciences. Likewise, not everyone has
faith enough to believe that they are able to be spoken to by a
celestial being. In both cases, the best knowledge is gained from doing it yourself; however, knowledge can be gained vicariously through reading about either topic.
Knowledge gained through the
revelation of God and through the Scientific method certainly are both very different processes to
gain knowledge. What they have in common is that they both are
important to a
culture and
society. Religious knowledge given by God often becomes the basis for a belief structure such as
Christianity or
Islam. Scientific knowledge gives us technologies (such as
cars,
computers, and
telephones) that we base our lives around in
today’s society.