Is Science a Religion?

[billyjack]

Why not? Why do you believe in reason and experience as accurate truth gatherers? Does reason tell you that reason is cat's meow?

no, reason tells me its the cat's pajamas, actually. it rarely fails and when it does, the events are typically beyond words, therefore meant for experience and perhaps, a lot of the time, nothing more. i dont think trusting reason is a belief. its just trusting yourself. i'm still curious what a good beacon of reality would be if not reason and experience??

[Mathor]

no, reason tells me its the cat's pajamas, actually. it rarely fails and when it does, the events are typically beyond words, therefore meant for experience and perhaps, a lot of the time, nothing more. i dont think trusting reason is a belief. its just trusting yourself. i'm still curious what a good beacon of reality would be if not reason and experience??

but what if a religious person claims to be using reason and experience. I feel like a person saying "The other day God woke me up and we went for a walk in the park", if they are being truthful and this REALLY happened, then that is reason and experience that has been proven by them. It is no different than experience that you have. And how could that person possibly prove to you that that happened other than by telling you that it happened.

[Sapphire]

I would answer the question of this thread with a "no".

I use the following definition of religion:

A system of practices which act according to beliefs, including belief in the existence of at least one of the following: a human soul or spirit, a deity or higher being, or self after the death of one’s body.

And in science, I wouldn't know which spirit or deity this would be. One might argue that atoms live on after the death of one's body, but in my opinion science does not regard the world of spirits.

Now the question whether science is a believe system, that one I would not be able to wholeheartedly say "no" to. I don't remember which philosopher it was, but I remember in high school that science progresses within Dogma's. In science, we simplicate reality to grasp it in our brain. We find formula's, but those formula's only "work" when we follow certain rules.

I don't think science and religion are synonyms or fall within the same group. They just exist on their own, though certain similarities can be found.

[blazeofglory]

In one respect science can be close to religions. Of course some of the religious ideas can not be weighed in the scales of reason or can not be experimented and on that ground science can resemble features of religions.

[Oniw17]

Science and religion are both attempts to understand the world, and they both have the risk of becoming dogmatic. I'm not one to preach against religion; I've learned a lot from religious books and other texts, just as I've learned a lot from literature. However the reasons that science differs from religion are that it allows for change and that nothing is accpeted as science unless there is a reproducible experience that anyone with the right apparatus can repeat. You could make an argument that science also doesn't involve supernatural forces, but it has in the past and there are religions that don't necessarily believe in the supernatural. The problem with experiencing God is that it's not an experience that can be reproduced by anyone using the same stimuli. Not to say that science isn't compatible with religion.

[billyjack]

but what if a religious person claims to be using reason and experience.

i'd ask them what school they went to that taught them their reasoning abilities. then i'd investigate the school to make sure it wasnt getting government funding.

[blazeofglory]

In point of fact both scinece and religion has undergon edramatic change over time. And the values in religions accepted centuries ago are changed and so are in science.