As a man of science I long ago experienced the awakening effect of getting a very small glimpse on the intrinsic simplicity of things. There comes a time when, once studying far enough, god, quite simply, can no longer exist. However it happens all the time that a religious bigot throws this argument in my face: religion and science are the same, they both try to comprehend the universe! Science is just a young religion! Before I break down and have a little weep, let me take a moment to try knock some sense into these people.

Scientific Reason

The other day I was entertained by a very amusing and, quite frankly, ridiculous preacher commenting on Why are there still so many religious people? He claimed to understand the scientific method, but it was apparent he had absolutely no clue where to even begin. In short, the scientific method is humanity’s only ever method for testing a suspicion or idea by (wait for it) actually testing something to see if it’s true! Instead of just going with whatever fairy tale most appeals to your insecure little human mind, the scientific method succeeds in removing all bias and finding a result. The beautiful thing about science is that it doesn’t give a f*** what you think. If you’re wrong and you’ve been proven wrong and every bit of evidence ever found and still being found is contradicting you in every way conceivable by a very great deal, then guess what?

Richard Feynman on The Key To Science



Religious Reason

In the nicest possible way, religious reason is both moronic and oxymoronic. Even considering the notion that religion is like science makes me extremely worried for our future as a species. Whilst science looks at evidence and facts and insists on such a rigorous method to ensure accuracy, religion is a mindless, brainwashed cult basing all of their claims on scriptures millennia old. Trying to apply the ethereal ponderings of two thousand year old shepherds to explaining an ultimately complex and fundamentally simple reality by today’s standards, is just insanity in in greatest form. Imagine we did this with medicine (and the anti-vaxxers aren’t that far off): the ancients drilled holes in your head when you had a headache and cut you open while conscious to try put bits back together. Imagine we applied this reasoning today because there was a book saying it was a good idea! Ideas come and go, they improve and render older ones useless. Religion was, at a time, a crucial developmental scaffolding to getting humanity on its thinking feet. But then it was outdone, improved upon by its own creators. Sadly, our ever present nostalgia kept god alive.

Scientific scripture

Another oxymoron! Science exists with no rules, no set ways of doing things, no prescribed ideals and beliefs and (most importantly) no untouchable and non-negotiable concepts. Science is so certain that matter is made up of particles and that energy always remains constant that it teaches these ideas as fundamentals, but there is nothing stopping anyone from disproving it. Not that you will be able to disprove it, many have tried and failed and in the process have strengthened the theory. However, if someone did disprove any theory beyond doubt, science would change its views. Yes, people would be sceptical and it would take a lot of convincing, but eventually it would change. There is no taboo in science, no forbidden topics. Only an idea that cannot withstand scrutiny needs to be protected from it. This is the single biggest difference between science and religion, in fact it is what makes them polar opposites. Religion has a book that cannot be questioned, science has questions filling its books.

Religion has questions about the universe which are so overwhelmingly complex that, in order to allow ordinary people to cope, are answered by inventing a deity. Science is of the elite, allowing it to present the reality of a situation regardless of its complexity or its emotional evocation.

Where we’re going, we don’t need… roads.

Titan

@titanharth