( Few thoughts on my journey of understanding Science & Religion )
We, the humans have a very special place in this vast universe.We have a very brief history on this Planet Earth about a few thousand years only. When man became conscious about the things around him i.e nature, he firmly believed that there must be a magical hand behind Nature. Thus he began his quest in understanding this magical hand which he named as God.
With this emerged the term 'Religion' with God as the Supreme Head of Universe and His set of guidelines for His faithful followers for Salvation, a place near & dear to God. Thus came into picture the following religions with remarkable events surrounding them like Hinduism, Christianity , Islam, Judaism, etc. with their own set of beliefs. Some follow the idea of monotheism and other polytheism etc. This led to the clashes between these ideologies for centuries which led to brutality among humans the world has ever seen before, all in the name of religion.
But on the other hand religion brought revolutionary changes in arts , music,education, technology , science etc . In the forefront was Christianity with Pope as its Head. St Augustine in 5th century was the first to give a relationship between Science & Religion. He laid out set of rules for Science & championed the discoveries of Science as long as they do not conflict with religious beliefs of that time.
The Popes believed that discoveries of Science will only reinforce their religious beliefs about God and encouraged it. But something went wrong. Instead of reinforcing their faith , it questioned its faith itself. With Copernicus starting this scientific revolution in 15th century. Later on carried by Galileo. Galileo was prosecuted by church for supporting the idea of Copernicus's Solar System with Sun at its centre as against to their belief that Earth was at the centre. In 1859, Charles Darwin's theory of Evolution challenged the idea of creation of humans by God. The 20th Century witnessed the emergence of scientific theories that would explain the Origin of Universe(OoU) like Big Bang Theory , String Theory etc as the front-runners. With the biggest ' Particle Accelerator' the world has ever seen , Science may finally give a clear picture about the Origin of Universe .
The remarkable feature of science is that it follows this line ' Theory- Experiment- Validation'. It always keeps six honest friends serving .They are Who, What, Why, How , Where , How & When, always questioning everything in its path to truth. On the other hand Religion whose basis is on faith, firmly sticks to its Holy Books with abundant resistance to change. The Power of Science lies in its ability to change based on evidence , if big bang cant explain the Origin of Universe , some other theory will.
Finally , in the times ahead, the biggest threat that the religion has to deal with is.. SCIENCE .
We, the humans have a very special place in this vast universe.We have a very brief history on this Planet Earth about a few thousand years only. When man became conscious about the things around him i.e nature, he firmly believed that there must be a magical hand behind Nature. Thus he began his quest in understanding this magical hand which he named as God.
With this emerged the term 'Religion' with God as the Supreme Head of Universe and His set of guidelines for His faithful followers for Salvation, a place near & dear to God. Thus came into picture the following religions with remarkable events surrounding them like Hinduism, Christianity , Islam, Judaism, etc. with their own set of beliefs. Some follow the idea of monotheism and other polytheism etc. This led to the clashes between these ideologies for centuries which led to brutality among humans the world has ever seen before, all in the name of religion.
But on the other hand religion brought revolutionary changes in arts , music,education, technology , science etc . In the forefront was Christianity with Pope as its Head. St Augustine in 5th century was the first to give a relationship between Science & Religion. He laid out set of rules for Science & championed the discoveries of Science as long as they do not conflict with religious beliefs of that time.
The Popes believed that discoveries of Science will only reinforce their religious beliefs about God and encouraged it. But something went wrong. Instead of reinforcing their faith , it questioned its faith itself. With Copernicus starting this scientific revolution in 15th century. Later on carried by Galileo. Galileo was prosecuted by church for supporting the idea of Copernicus's Solar System with Sun at its centre as against to their belief that Earth was at the centre. In 1859, Charles Darwin's theory of Evolution challenged the idea of creation of humans by God. The 20th Century witnessed the emergence of scientific theories that would explain the Origin of Universe(OoU) like Big Bang Theory , String Theory etc as the front-runners. With the biggest ' Particle Accelerator' the world has ever seen , Science may finally give a clear picture about the Origin of Universe .
The remarkable feature of science is that it follows this line ' Theory- Experiment- Validation'. It always keeps six honest friends serving .They are Who, What, Why, How , Where , How & When, always questioning everything in its path to truth. On the other hand Religion whose basis is on faith, firmly sticks to its Holy Books with abundant resistance to change. The Power of Science lies in its ability to change based on evidence , if big bang cant explain the Origin of Universe , some other theory will.
Finally , in the times ahead, the biggest threat that the religion has to deal with is.. SCIENCE .
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