Atheism is a fast spreading concept in the world today. It may be because people don’t want to have anything holding them back from what they want to do; therefore they don’t want to believe in a supreme being that wants them to live their life a certain way. Or maybe it is because they can’t see how one being could create this earth and the wonderful things on it.

This may be part of the reason scientists and those who believe completely in science only think the way they do. They don’t want to admit or have a belief in a God because they want science to explain everything. Knowing how things work described in a scientific way gives them comfort to know they may have control over what happens and it’s not all up to the Supreme Being they would believe in.

Although the concept that science can explain everything may be comforting or logical, believing that a God created the earth and how things work within it can give more meaning to life and give us something to believe in after death.

In an article that can be found at http://www.asa3.org/archive/asa/200011/0161.html by Freeman Dyson called, “Science and Religion can work together” he says:

“Francis Bacon, one of the founding fathers of modern science, was the smartest man of his time, with the possible exception of William Shakespeare. Bacon saw clearly what science could do, and what science could not do. He is saying to the philosophers and theologians of his time: look for God in the facts of nature, not in the theories of Plato and Aristotle. I am saying to modern scientists and theologians: don't imagine that our latest ideas about the Big Bang or the human genome have solved the mysteries of the universe, or the mysteries of life. Here are Bacon's words again: ‘The subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding.’”

So even though science may be able to explain many things, religion can give us meaning to life and look at the facts of nature with a different view.

In my last blog, I brought up that the bible story matches the scientific theory about the Creation. I didn’t mean that it matched up exactly, I just noticed that the order of how things came about matches. Starting with the land and then leading to life. The way that these things developed differ in the stories, since science says that life came from different gases in the atmosphere, and in the bible God created all of it. But the order of things is similar.

In an article published by Criss L. Cox at http://www.associatedcontent.com she says, “Science is the study of how things work. Faith in God is the belief there is a Higher Power watching over us. Science studies how the things God created work. Where is the conflict?”

This controversy between science and religion may not all be that simple, but she makes a good point. For those of us who believe in a higher power, we can see that science is just studying the things that the higher power created in this world. There must be some scientists who believe in God or some other higher power, so why do they not see this connection? I believe it is because people search for something other than faith to tell them how and why things work the way they do, which is fair, but incorporating both should be twice as helpful, should it not? We can have the facts discovered by those researching it, but having faith to back it up can make it even better. The Creation is an example of this. One can read the bible to know the story, but study the scientific facts to know more about it and decide which part they believe.

Albert Einstein once said, “All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.”

This being said by a great scientist can make those who are very one-sided on the science vs. religion issue maybe think again. The reality is that they may not change their minds, but it can also help those in the middle not knowing what to think realize that we can and should have both science and religion in our lives. Having a religion to believe in gives us something to look forward to and is important, on the other hand having scientific knowledge can also help us know how the world we are in works. Let’s look at an example of how these two things can go together when talking about a huge controversial topic- the creation of Earth.

When it comes to Creation, there are many different stories in religion and theories in science. However, the main theory of the order of things being created is the same order the book of Genesis in the bible describes. I don’t want to debate on the bible and whether it’s correct or not, but many people do believe in it. Since the scientific theory and the bible story match up, why argue? Why can’t we just accept that science is just studying the things the God created and how they work? There are many who could, including me, but overall those who are strongly opinionated one way or another are not likely to change their thoughts and include the other side, but that’s no reason to not discuss it. We can still try to make them see both ways, and accept that science is just studying God’s creations and how they work.

What good has science done? It has discovered things of the world years ago, studied many aspects of life, and researched cures for many different diseases. It also explains many phenomena we wouldn’t know about otherwise. Scientists research and study issues we want to know about and explain how it happens. On the other hand, what good has religion done? Religion has also played a part in our lives to explain things. There may be different religions, but they all give us comfort because they give us explanations and reasons to live the way we live. Then why do these two important aspects of life quarrel over just about everything? Can’t they just combine their thoughts and research to come up with one explanation? Well, it would be possible if every scientist and every religious official could agree, but it’s just not probable. We should still try to take pieces of each to use in our lives. The tricky part is how to do this. Some people just want to be completely religious, and some may not believe in any and want scientific answers for everything. In an article I found on scienceray.com called, “Common Ground in the Science-Religion Debate,” it says:
"Of course, just like historians argue over different historical accounts of events, scientists and religious proponents will continue to argue over the details even though the end result is the same. But then again, to many, the details do matter. And for those of us that don’t mind the details, its certainly an interesting and long lasting debate to follow."
So even though the two aspects may not agree, we can follow the debate, find things we like about both and come up with our own thoughts and feelings on the issue. After all, that’s what being in a free country does for us.