Science and Religion

Through the centuries, science and religion have had a tumultuous relationship.

There have been numerous attempts to unite the two, e.g., Thomas Aquinas’s 13th Century attempt to prove the existence of God with unaided reason, Descartes’s 17th Century five different proofs of God’s existence using Aristotelian logic, and our current Pope, who’s doing everything in his power to ensure that science is employed in the way we all live our lives.

On balance, however, the two have not been good friends, for two fundamental reasons.

One is that religious fanatics tend to commit savage acts.  As Voltaire put it, “Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”

The other is demonstrated in the photo above.  Hardcore believers do what they can to drive science underground.  Though there was never a good time for this behavior, it’s particularly dangerous now.