Religion and science: a philosophical study

Abstract

Religion and Science are the two main historical sources for man s guidance. Both of them have the most influence on all aspects of man s life but some times on some issues, there seem to be problems and clashes that need to draw our attention. There is still a popular belief that religion and science are two fundamentally conflicting view points. Religion has several definitions, but as we understand the term, it implies a relationship not merely between men, but also between man and some moral powers that includes the ways for man s ethical perfection. According to some definitions, whenever and wherever man has a sense of dependence on external moral powers which are conceived as mysterious as and higher than man s own, there is religion, and the feelings of awe and self-abasement with which man is filled in the presence of such powers is essentially a religions emotion, the root of worship and prayer. The internal aspect of religion is the body of ideas, convictions and emotions and actions concerning man s relations to God, involving essentially an unselfish righteous life , while its external aspect is the system of prayers, ceremonies, rites, and actions through which the religious will and feeling are manifested. Some claim that unselfish righteous life with the belief that it is a truly intrinsically happy life constitutes the essence of religious life. In this sense even an atheist could be a religious person. Other perspective has a different method and different definition. It is generally agreed that a scientific thought is essentially a publicly testable empirically well justified thought about the world. The question of whether religion is compatible with science has occupied a prominent place in the discussions of the nineteenth century and some thinkers hold the view that science and religion are incompatible. We know that historical religion has always opposed science and free enquiry. It has not encouraged scientific knowledge.