Religion And The Natural Sciences

There is no denying that knowledge is disputed all the time in our world. Some of the most hotly debated types of knowledge, however, are those that can be considered hypothetical or more abstract. This ties directly into the statement, “Without application in the world, the value of knowledge is greatly diminished.” In order to explore the truthfulness of this statement in this essay, I will focus on the two Areas of Knowledge of Religion and the Natural Sciences by proposing the question, “To what extent are theoretical solutions and ideas useful in our world?” One general reason that all knowledge can be considered useful is because of the cognitive effects and benefits. Regardless of what is being taught, some people enjoy learning. This

Regardless, this theoretical knowledge system has measurable effects on our world. A large part of religion is the community that surrounds it. According to a study titled “Religion, Social Networks, and Life Satisfaction” which was published in an issue of the American Sociological Review, religion makes a person happy because of its social in addition to its spiritual aspects. This study shows that not only can a theoretical knowledge system have emotional effects on a person, but it can also have profound effects such as creating entire communities. This shows usefulness on a social level as well as a cognitive one. Another way that religion has an impact on our society is through charitable acts. Religion, to some, is synonymous with charity. In fact, many of the organizations on the Forbes list of top 50 largest charities are religious, including the YMCA, St. Jude’s, Catholic Charities USA, Campus Crusade for Christ, Catholic Medical Mission Board, as well as several others. This shows that these hypothetical knowledge systems can change people’s lives, not only by following them but because also by charitable donations due to religious

While the value of these ideas is not necessarily equal to the effects, it is often determined by them. Regardless, religion and the natural sciences are prime examples of hypothetical ideas that not only have these effects on our world but are arguably useful in some sense and not in others. Religious knowledge can be considered useful and valuable because of the sense of community it creates, however, it can also be the catalyst for wars and death. Likewise, fields within the natural sciences such as String Theory have uses such as uniting Quantum physics mechanics and Einstein’s theory of relativity and potential use in the future, however, could turn out to be a large waste of time and money. While a concrete answer on whether or not practicality determines an idea’s value can never objectively be reached, it is an interesting thought that will be considered for years to come, and may or may not be