Science and Religion, Again<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Three issues are guaranteed to bring zealots (on all sides) out of the woodwork: abortion, gay marriage, and evolution. This week\u2019s \u201cTexas Faith\u201d question\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/08\/science-and-religion-again.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Science and Religion, Again\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Three issues are guaranteed to bring zealots (on all sides) out of the woodwork: abortion, gay marriage, and evolution. 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{"id":506,"date":"2009-08-19T17:02:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-19T17:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/08\/science-and-religion-again\/"},"modified":"2009-08-19T17:02:00","modified_gmt":"2009-08-19T17:02:00","slug":"science-and-religion-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/08\/science-and-religion-again.html","title":{"rendered":"Science and Religion, Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The panelists gave mostly good answers, while the comments have quickly become polarized. Here\u2019s part of my comment:<\/p>\n

Religion and science both seek truth, but they approach it from different perspectives. Science seeks objective, verifiable, material truth. Religion seeks subjective, believable, spiritual truth. Science tells us \u201cwhat\u201d and \u201chow,\u201d religion tells us \u201cwhy\u201d and what it means. We need both. We need the knowledge and material benefits that comes from learning how the natural world works, and we need the inspiration and meaning that comes from our myths, rituals, and experience of wonder and awe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fundamentalists of both sides will never admit it, but there are limits to what we can truly know through either science or religion. None of us have the whole picture, and, I think, we never will.<\/p>\n

\u201cMutual engagement,\u201d then, begins with the acceptance that religion and science are two sides of the same coin, and the humility of both sides to admit it doesn\u2019t have all the answers.<\/p>\n

Last week, I wrote \u201cmaybe, the magic worked\u201d \u2013 and I\u2019m convinced it did. Not that my working caused the change, but that it affected the situation for the better. Magic doesn\u2019t fix the odds, but it does improve the odds \u2013 I\u2019m sure of it. Still, I have enough training in science to understand why most people can\u2019t accept that it\u2019s anything more than wishful thinking.<\/p>\n

This, I think, is the challenge for believers and practitioners of all religions. We need to act as though our beliefs are completely true, even as we have the humility to admit we may be wrong, and the courage to change our beliefs if they\u2019re shown to be wrong.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"