The Relationship between Science and Religion
The Relationship between Science and Religion The relationship between science and religion will be analyzed in the following three aspects: conflict, compartmentalization and complementariness. Conflict An essential question on our own existence is bound to evoke our curiosity: where did we come from? Charles Darwin, in his theory of evolution, believed that human being was evolved from apes. However, the Genesis in Bible considered that human was created by God. Undoubtedly, it is impossible for human to have two sources. Therefore, science and religion hold absolutely contrastive viewpoints. That’s the basic standpoint of Conflict. Science is full of rationality and impersonality, while religion is filled with irrationality and belief in supernatural being. According to Russell, the conflict between science and religion is inevitable, with the former eventually defeating the latter, which is also the opinion of western atheists. In their opinion, science and religion represent truth and fallacy respectively. The clash between science and religion typically emerged in Christianity in the Medieval Ages of Europe. In order to maintain its dominant position, the church divinized such inviolable doctrines as Aristotle’s theory and Ptolemy’s geocentric theory. Whoever opposed these theories would be regarded as deviationist. But as the result of scientific progress, people occupied in science became suspicious of religion. While the religions believed that the Earth was at the center of the Universe, Nicholas Copernicus argued that the Sun was at the center of the Universe and the Earth revolved around it. Copernicus’s heliocentric theory was the symbol of natural science’s emancipation from the restriction of religion. It declared that science was independent. However, the development of science posed a threat to religion. Therefore, religion’s persecution to science came to a climax. Galileo published a book, Dialogue on the Two Chief World