March 2008 Entries
By: The Baron
[Part 7 in a multi-part series on Science & Religion from an LDS perspective. Previous entries in the series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6]
When identifying the primary points of conflict between science and religion—the areas where most debates seem to start and stop—the top two are almost certainly: (1) evolution and (2) Noah’s flood.
Saving evolution for later, it is remarkable the amount of attention that Noah and his ark receive, only because of how insignificant that story really is from a religious perspective. (The story itself contains nothing directly or even indirectly related to what we would call ‘doctrines of salvation’—if it were removed from the Bible altogether, Christianity as a religion changes hardly a bit…)
By: The Baron
[Part 6 in a multi-part series on Science & Religion from an LDS perspective. Previous entries in the series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5]
Before we address some specific elements of the science vs religion debate, let’s first identify the idea of ‘reconciliation’.
“Reconciliation” happens when someone is faced with two ideas and/or bodies of data that seem to contradict, despite some amount of evidence that suggests both are true. When this happens, there are a number of possibilities:
By: Paradox
...as I prepare for the temple trip.
By: The Baron
[Part 5 in a multi-part series on Science & Religion from an LDS perspective. Previous entries in the series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4]
Imagine a university with both math and literature classes. (Okay, maybe that's not that hard to 'imagine'…)
By: The Baron
[Part 4 in a multi-part series on Science & Religion from an LDS perspective. Previous entries in the series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3]
“Faith” is almost universally considered to be a religious term…and not without reason, as there are 368 sections of scripture throughout the LDS standard works that discuss it.
Often, to a person on the science side of the debate, “faith” is not only a religion term, but a derogatory term at that. “You (a religious believer) depend on ‘faith’“, you might hear, “while we (the science side) rely on fact”.
Is ‘fact’ really the opposite of ‘faith’? Would it surprise anyone to learn exactly how much science depends on those so-called religious pillars of ‘faith’ and ‘testimony’?
By: The Baron
[Part 3 in a multi-part series on Science & Religion from an LDS perspective. Previous entries in the series: Part 1 | Part 2]
One of the primary characteristics of working with incomplete ‘explanation-schema’ is that speculation becomes a fundamental part of the process. One takes what one knows, places it within the framework of existing theories, and then makes guesses as to what the rest of the picture might look like. They are usually educated guesses, of course--not random--but speculative guesses nonetheless.
By: The Baron
[Part 2 in a multi-part series on Science & Religion from an LDS perspective. Previous entries in the series: Part 1]
For the next step in analyzing the relationship between science and religion, let’s look at how the search for truth is accomplished in both. To do this, we need first to define a word that gets thrown around a lot in science vs. religion discussions: “Theory”
By: The Baron
[Part I in a series of articles exploring the ‘conflict’ between science and religion, particularly from a LDS perspective. I do not have a pure scientific background, so this series will not be a deep analysis of scientific evidence in regards to religious beliefs or doctrines—you might try LDS Science Review or Clark’s site for that—but rather an exploration of the concepts of science and religion and how to relate and reconcile them together from a more abstract, philosophical perspective.]
A key question in modern society is how to judge the relationship between science and religion. No one questions that they are different, but are they different in the sense that they fundamentally oppose and conflict with one another, like oil and water? Or perhaps complement each other instead, like peanut butter and chocolate?
By: The Baron
On a certain street in a certain (imaginary) town there are two houses that lie directly across from each other. Within each house lives a different LDS family, although as it happens the local ward boundaries travel down the middle of the street in front of them, thus these two families happen to belong to separate wards despite their close proximity.