SG: Science and Religion (or Faith and Reason)

So this week's was on science and faith. Here's the transcript. Feel free to comment or add. (Also unsure how accurate this is . . .)

· WELCOME JOHN!
· How do you define science?
o Jae- Science holds to the way physical world works and how you understand it
o Is science like a religion?
§ Can science and religion be intertwined?
§ David- light, stars, gasclouds
· Can things be proven, creationism through science
· John: bible should be used as a spiritual guide
o Rules and laws
o Are laws to be taken literally/history
o David: bible primarily theological
§ Should not only be spiritual
· How divided are science and religion/relationship between S+R?
o D: scientists say science should not have any element of faith
o Science: test hypotheses to explain how thing work
§ Science is really putting faith in theories
§ Scientists are biased because people want their theories to be true
o Jae: WR100 science and religion class
§ Either
· Cannot co-exist because they contradict each other
· Or science and religion are the ame thing
o Science is trying to discover God behind the workings of how the world worked
o Religion- explain through personal connection
o Steve: human nature for people to look for God/higher power
§ Science people turn to science, some people to turn to God
§ John: people turn to S+R to explain the working of the world
§ Jae: should not view God as to fill wholes in science
· That limits the power of God
· Science and religion support each other
o John: forfeit rational thought because faith is a paradox
§ Christians do things because God commands it, not because it is the right thing to do
· Abraham and Isaac
o Josh: both science and religion revolve around faith
§ Putting faith in statistics
o John: the senses are what we experience and we don’t have a choice to accept it
o Josh- our conscious is placed there by God
§ Ability to deny id and superego is supernatural
§ S: only thing you can trust is your consciousness
· Descartes
o Jae: our concept of right and wrong deny our survival instincts
o John: ethics is evolutionary sound
§ We require social contact
§ people are made for relationships
§ social contractarianism
· selfless behavior does make sense
§ Josh: there is a deep inner feeling that does not reside well within us
· even though others support and don’t really care, there is a thought that this may be hurting me in some way
o drinking: when you wake up hung over
· an open mind is greater than dealing with absolutes
o Machiavelli- The Prince
§ Should always be at war- not good for economic development
· Believing in a God who loves us makes us less stressed
o Believe that there is a way out
o God gives us security in an insecure world
· Jae: social contract has limits
o Humans have a natural tendency to believe in something greater
o Say David went hiking and gets caught off by an avalanche
§ Society calls up 200 people to rescue David
· May not even be wanted
· But we still feel the call to rescue the person
· David: reliability of the bible a a historical document
o Can have the same facts about something and different conclusions
o One person said bible was reliable/other person said bible wasn’t
§ But both people saw the same thing and believe different things
· John: a lot of our moral is based on fairness
o Nazis said they have the right to dominate everyone else
§ Not fair
§ Undermines notion that everyone is equal
· Doubt and God
o Josh: God takes a beachhead in your life but there is still doubt
o Steve: “Moses argued against God and won”
o Will we ever understand God?
§ God did not want robots and mindless slaves
o David: false dichotomy between faith and reason
§ If you have faith, then its not compatible with reason at all
§ Magic fairies that wash dishes
§ Science and religion can support each other
· Newton’s theory wrong
· Science is not an absolute
· Misery and joy given by God
o If you believe in God you change your rationality

Scribe for the week: Galin Ma (blame him for the weird formatting)