Religion vs. Science vs. My confusion
I just wrote this for an assignment to do a diary entry (never thought that writing this would come in useful) and thought it was one of the better pieces I had written lately:
I moved into my frankly dank and rather depressing room, and was feeling rather low, so was glad that the guy across from me was near the same age as me and doing the same course. We had similar tastes in music, and he seemed nice enough. We talked, and met up with a girl also on the course. After the classic student “take a beer and chill” session we decided to go exploring round Tooting.
First point of reflection, I apparently have no sense of direction at all. I always relied on having a good internal compass, yet still managed to get us very, very lost. We ended up 2 postcodes away with a good 3 miles between ourselves and Tooting high street. Fantastic start. Despite this, spirits were high and off we ventured, eventually ending back at the palace that is St. George’s Grove. Since the house is still empty, we occupied the common room, letting the TV fill the uncomfortable gap when we ran out of things to talk about. Until a programme regarding the war in Iraq came on. I made a flippant comment about how the Army was more of a religion than anything else, as the mindset to be able to kill a man was something that needed to drummed into the mind using a highly disciplined doctrine. I didn’t expect the guy I met to demand me to explain myself. I did, and in the process found out that he was a committed Christian. Meeting a person who is so devoted to one thing is a rare event in my life, so I began to ask him questions about his viewpoint on certain things, so I could be a bit more aware.
Classic clashes between science and religion, the theory of evolution, creation and of course aliens all flew into my line of questioning. He answered, but I wasn’t sure whether I was making him feel uncomfortable about the issues, his body language said he wasn’t exactly pleased, so I eased off.
In bed that night I reflected on the answers he gave me, and pondered them for some time. When I asked about his views of evolution, he simply stated God made animals and God made Human’s. That was his answer. I was desperate to start ranting to him about the reams of “apparent” scientific evidence, but I didn’t. Partly because I was biting my tongue so hard it bled a little, partly because I was stunned. His absolute conviction that it was a fact seemed near the far reaches of my comprehension. It seemed to him as real as fact that God made the earth in seven days as to me that it was a process that took billions of years. The manner in which he presented it to me seemed slightly arrogant, and when I said that Christianity in general appeared occasionally arrogant, he seemed to care very little, almost reinforcing my view. I still don’t know what to quite think about it all, as I have no wish to insult him. I think the short answer to a long question is just to try and avoid the subject of religion, as views differ so much I can easily see why so many wars are started over it.
Addition: I do believe in "something", and inside I feel very spritual. There is more to life than exsisting. I'm also very sure that the Church is in general a good thing, it inspires good morals and examples to live your life by that are very good. I just don't see why religion and science can't sit happily together, they fill each other's gaps.
Science: The big bang happened don't know why. Duh God!
I moved into my frankly dank and rather depressing room, and was feeling rather low, so was glad that the guy across from me was near the same age as me and doing the same course. We had similar tastes in music, and he seemed nice enough. We talked, and met up with a girl also on the course. After the classic student “take a beer and chill” session we decided to go exploring round Tooting.
First point of reflection, I apparently have no sense of direction at all. I always relied on having a good internal compass, yet still managed to get us very, very lost. We ended up 2 postcodes away with a good 3 miles between ourselves and Tooting high street. Fantastic start. Despite this, spirits were high and off we ventured, eventually ending back at the palace that is St. George’s Grove. Since the house is still empty, we occupied the common room, letting the TV fill the uncomfortable gap when we ran out of things to talk about. Until a programme regarding the war in Iraq came on. I made a flippant comment about how the Army was more of a religion than anything else, as the mindset to be able to kill a man was something that needed to drummed into the mind using a highly disciplined doctrine. I didn’t expect the guy I met to demand me to explain myself. I did, and in the process found out that he was a committed Christian. Meeting a person who is so devoted to one thing is a rare event in my life, so I began to ask him questions about his viewpoint on certain things, so I could be a bit more aware.
Classic clashes between science and religion, the theory of evolution, creation and of course aliens all flew into my line of questioning. He answered, but I wasn’t sure whether I was making him feel uncomfortable about the issues, his body language said he wasn’t exactly pleased, so I eased off.
In bed that night I reflected on the answers he gave me, and pondered them for some time. When I asked about his views of evolution, he simply stated God made animals and God made Human’s. That was his answer. I was desperate to start ranting to him about the reams of “apparent” scientific evidence, but I didn’t. Partly because I was biting my tongue so hard it bled a little, partly because I was stunned. His absolute conviction that it was a fact seemed near the far reaches of my comprehension. It seemed to him as real as fact that God made the earth in seven days as to me that it was a process that took billions of years. The manner in which he presented it to me seemed slightly arrogant, and when I said that Christianity in general appeared occasionally arrogant, he seemed to care very little, almost reinforcing my view. I still don’t know what to quite think about it all, as I have no wish to insult him. I think the short answer to a long question is just to try and avoid the subject of religion, as views differ so much I can easily see why so many wars are started over it.
Addition: I do believe in "something", and inside I feel very spritual. There is more to life than exsisting. I'm also very sure that the Church is in general a good thing, it inspires good morals and examples to live your life by that are very good. I just don't see why religion and science can't sit happily together, they fill each other's gaps.
Science: The big bang happened don't know why. Duh God!
Religion: Earth in seven days. Fossil record. Skeletons. Carbon dating. Etc. Can't these things be God's work?!
posted by Carmelo @ 8:18 pm
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