Can science replace god?

steddyeddy · 18-02-2013 12:19AM #1

I love science as people might have picked up from my posts on boards (that and social justice). For me science gives my life meaning and to me the origin of the universe and the quantum workings of the organic are far more amazing than any other religion. I'm an agnostic as I can't know if there's a god and I dont agree with the bullying tactics of some of the athiests. I do however think that science can replace a lot of relgion.

Astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson was asked by a Time magazine reader "what the most astounding fact is?" His reply is a scientific creation story which sums up my stance:

The most astounding fact is the knowledge that the atoms that comprise life on Earth the atoms that make up the human body are traceable to the crucibles that cooked light elements into heavy elements in their core under extreme temperatures and pressures. These stars, the high mass ones among them went unstable in their later years they collapsed and then exploded scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself. These ingredients become part of gas cloud that condense, collapse, form the next generation of solar systems stars with orbiting planets, and those planets now have the ingredients for life itself. So that when I look up at the night sky and I know that yes, we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the Universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up – many people feel small because they’re small and the Universe is big – but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars. There’s a level of connectivity. That’s really what you want in life, you want to feel connected, you want to feel relevant you want to feel like a participant in the goings on of activities and events around you That’s precisely what we are, just by being alive…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D05ej8u-gU

Jazzmaster · 18-02-2013 12:20AM

Oh man! This one's gonna be hard on my stash :-)

Cork boy 55 · 18-02-2013 12:22AM

In the near future the awakening will occur.
An event when Atheism, education, science, logic and rationality reaches a critical mass of the humanoid population and the cults collapse rapidly into a morbid dying heap.

The new movement of environmental scientific atheism will became the belief system of the earth humanoid population.

AnonoBoy · 18-02-2013 12:22AM

TL;DR version dudes? Come on......

Lapin · 18-02-2013 12:23AM

Science doesn't need to replace anything.

Science exists already. Science is fact.

God never did. God is fiction.

steddyeddy · 18-02-2013 12:23AM

AnonoBoy wrote: »

TL;DR version dudes? Come on......

Yea click on the video link dude. You'll love it!

Czarcasm · 18-02-2013 12:28AM

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

In the near future the awakening will occur.
An event when Atheism, education, science, logic and rationality reaches a critical mass of the humanoid population and the cults collapse rapidly into a morbid dying heap.

The new movement of environmental scientific atheism will became the belief system of the earth humanoid population.

Have you met Aquarius?

I don't think science can, nor will ever replace a belief system, but certainly the two can co-exist without all the extremist nonsense. Many great scientists are also people of faith, and one does not interfere with the other.

Seachmall · 18-02-2013 12:28AM

I'm sitting here in my underwear, watching Grey's Anatomy, drinking beer and arguing on the internet.

I can't help but feel that star would be much more beautiful had it not exploded to form me.

Praetorian Saighdiuir · 18-02-2013 12:30AM

I thought that guy Jesus was replacing God?!?

smash · 18-02-2013 12:31AM

Seachmall wrote: »

I'm sitting here in my underwear, watching Grey's Anatomy

I thought you were a guy.

steddyeddy · 18-02-2013 12:31AM

Seachmall wrote: »

I'm sitting here in my underwear, watching Grey's Anatomy, drinking beer and arguing on the internet.

I can't help but feel that star would be much more beautiful had it not exploded to form me.

You're stardust man. Whatever you choose to do in life we are still amazing

AnonoBoy · 18-02-2013 12:31AM

steddyeddy wrote: »

Yea click on the video link dude. You'll love it!

I dunno. I think someone's made a cat version of the Harlem Shake. Might check that out first.

Y'know, gotta keep abreast of the latest developments in the world.

There'll be time for science later.

Seachmall · 18-02-2013 12:32AM

smash wrote: »

I thought you were a guy.

Don't judge me! :mad:

Mardy Bum · 18-02-2013 12:32AM

If it replaces the fear of death along with humanity's inbuilt propensity for irrational thought it might.

I seriously doubt it though.

hames · 18-02-2013 12:33AM

steddyeddy wrote: »

I love science as people might have picked up from my posts on boards (that and social justice). For me science gives my life meaning and to me the origin of the universe and the quantum workings of the organic are far more amazing than any other religion.

For me, science is part of my faith.

I don't feel that science compromises my religious beliefs, in some ways an awareness of the Universe increases my faith in God, although science is not the foundation of my religious beliefs.

By the way, I can't believe you mentioned

steddyeddy wrote: »

Astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson

without mentioning that he's this guy

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/198/020/BRTky.jpg?1320962111

franktheplank · 18-02-2013 12:35AM

While I love much of what science brings us, I always try to take on board Max Weber's views of the dangers of rationality, which can become 'the iron cage of the soul'.

I read an interesting comment on Dawkin's anti-religion stance lately where he was accused of being something along the lines of a science fundamentalist. I'm not familiar enough with Dawkin's work (I find his anger pretty irrelevant) to say if this title does apply to him but I have definitely come across some people who I would call science fundamentalists and tbh, I find them as close minded as their religious counterparts.

The King of Moo · 18-02-2013 12:35AM

It's hard to say, but I think there'll always be some kind of religion, or non-verifiable source of apparent structure in the universe/life.

I think for some people, science seems a little boring and doesn't seem to offer any mystery. And that's what so many people want: the idea that there's mystery and magic in the world, as well as a sense that there's a general order to everything.

And I think that's what religion offers a lot of people. The promise of something beyond the ordinary, as well as a vague sense of order to the universe.

Even if religion as we know it disappeared, I think something else would fill that gap for people. You can even see it now with people's beliefs in the paranormal and U.F.Os.
I don't mean to equate religious faith with such beliefs, but I believe for many people they stem from that same source of wanting to believe in something beyond the ordinary and looking for something to put some order behind the apparent randomness of life.

So while there might be no Christianity or Islam in 1,000 years, I think there might be something else like them. I think for too many people, science just doesn't seem to offer enough magic or comfort.

professore · 18-02-2013 12:36AM

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

In the near future the awakening will occur.
An event when Atheism, education, science, logic and rationality reaches a critical mass of the humanoid population and the cults collapse rapidly into a morbid dying heap.

The new movement of environmental scientific atheism will became the belief system of the earth humanoid population.

Where can I get some of what you're smoking - that's some good sh1t !

Mardy Bum · 18-02-2013 12:36AM

hames wrote: »

For me, science is part of my faith.

I don't feel that science compromises my religious beliefs, in some ways an awareness of the Universe increases my faith in God, although science is not the foundation of my religious beliefs.

I don't even know where to begin with that...

Cork boy 55 · 18-02-2013 12:47AM

professore wrote: »

Where can I get some of what you're smoking - that's some good sh1t !

I don't consume narcotics since my awakening
I don't need them to expand my mind,
Nature does that for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwARpaKHx_w

Manach · 18-02-2013 12:51AM

They replaced God with science post Bolshevik revolution. That turned out so well. Same broken promises, same empty slogans. Welcome to the new age, yeah right.

The Pheasant · 18-02-2013 12:58AM

People still apparently believe in astrology and all that sh*te despite modern science, so I'd be doubtful that people would abandon religion considering it's so ingrained in so many of them

Gbear · 18-02-2013 01:02AM

I get along fine without a god or anything filling the void that's supposed to be left without having one.

A belief in a deity isn't the default position. It's something that's needlessly tacked on.

Capt'n Midnight · 18-02-2013 01:09AM

AnonoBoy wrote: »

TL;DR version dudes? Come on......

One day a group of scientists got together and decided that man had come a long way and no longer needed God*. So they picked one scientist to go and tell Him that they were done with Him.

The scientist walked up to God and said, "God, we've decided that we no longer need you. We're to the point that we can clone people and do many miraculous things, so why don't you just go on and get lost."

God listened very patiently and kindly to the man and after the scientist was done talking, God said, "Very well, how about this, let's say we have a man making contest." To which the scientist replied, "OK, great!"

But God added, "Now, we're going to do this just like I did back in the old days with Adam."

The scientist said, "Sure, no problem" and bent down and grabbed himself a handful of dirt.

God just looked at him and said, "No, no, no. You go get your own dirt!"

*or one of them.

Ruudi_Mentari · 18-02-2013 01:10AM

If.. a big part of religion is to perturb people from doing bad stuff, then science doesn't push morality and just says x can indeed go into z, this is possible would you like to further experiment? It's just cold, hard fact you know those mad scientists all they were ever concerned with was how to make a monster..

Science is great, but not as a religion pair it up with moral fibre and that might be the key.

Seachmall · 18-02-2013 01:13AM

Ruudi_Mentari wrote: »

If.. a big part of religion is to perturb people from doing bad stuff, then science doesn't push morality and just says x can indeed go into z, this is possible would you like to further experiment? It's just cold, hard fact you know those mad scientists all they were ever concerned with was how to make a monster..

Science is great, but not as a religion pair it up with moral fibre and that might be the key.

Science should focus on truth, leave morals to the philosophers.

Ruudi_Mentari · 18-02-2013 01:24AM

Seachmall wrote: »

Science should focus on truth, leave morals to the philosophers.

See this is my fear.. how about leaving morals to the people with a conscience.

Science cannot replace god anyhow. God doesn't actually exist, so how would his believers juggle truth with fiction.. you mean eventually? Long process.

Henlars67 · 18-02-2013 01:37AM

Replace religion as what, one of the world's largest sources of evil?

TheBegotten · 18-02-2013 01:43AM

Science can't replace religion because science is bases on knowledge, whereas religion is based on faith. You could quite easily decide "I don't believe in God anymore" and, to you, he no longer exists, because all you had in him was your belief. Whereas you could also say you don't believe in gravity, but you're still going to fall if you jump off a cliff. Personally, I think science and religion cater to different parts of the human psyche. While there's room for both, passing one off as the other is misguided. Which is why I can't stand anti-theism. You can't claim to be a man of science and then tell someone they're wrong without proof.

catallus · 18-02-2013 01:52AM

I'd like to meet these people who regard religion as being the source or vehicle for all (or even some) of the bad things, or evil, in the world.

Anybody who has read a bit of history or philosophy knows, without a doubt, that religion is the epitome of culture. Without it there would be no science or thought or writing or family or civilization. It is as much a part of being a human being as having opposing thumbs.

Gbear · 18-02-2013 01:54AM

TheBegotten wrote: »

You can't claim to be a man of science and then tell someone they're wrong without proof.

There are no unicorns in your sock drawer.
Is there any empirical way to prove that statement? No.
It still doesn't mean there are unicorns in your sock drawer.

Can science replace god?

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