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An essay on science and religion
The influence of religion on science
An essay on science and religion
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Some Creationists and Darwinists have the debate regarding dinosaurs and theories about their existence, their demise and how humans may or may not have coexisted. Creationists believe in the theory of divine creation as told in the book of Genesis. This theory is thus tied to the Christian faith and has been deemed as a fairytale by some Darwinists. Darwinists refute the claims of Christian fundamentalists with theories of human evolution using scientific theories and natural observation. Why is it that at times it can seem as though science and religion cannot exist together? Religion is a process of faith and science is formed on a process of research and trial analysis. The two theories consistently admonish the other rather than finding areas of common understanding. Can the story of Noah and the arc account for the exclusion of dinosaurs and can faith allow readers to accept the existence of fossils?
Documented in the holy bible are individuals who were said to have lived well into their hundreds. An example of some of these individuals include Adam, Abraham, Noah, and of course, Methuselah. Like the turtles of today, human’s lifespans were increasingly longer then. Turtles and other amphibians with protective shells and/or epidermis can live to be over 200 years old. In addition to their long lives, their bodies grow at a much slower pace. Their organs do not break down or become less efficient with age. As Natalie Angier notes the lungs, kidneys and liver of century old turtles are indistinguishable from the organs of a teen turtle. (Angier) Most female amphibians reach sexual maturity much later in life than their mammal counterparts. The ecological development of reptiles is also instinctively tied to their environment....
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... Genesis. The sediment from the flood enveloped them and due to the massive weight of the water fossils were created. There is room for reason and religion, science and creation. The mythology of one person is similar to the mythology of those around them. The mechanism and approach are the same. It is up to the reader to find their mythology within themselves and follow their bliss.
Works Cited
Angier, Natalie. “All but Ageless, Turtles Face Their Biggest Threat: Humans.” The New York
Times 12 Dec. 2006 Web. 09 Apr. 2014.
Frías-Alvarez, Patricia. "UV-B Radiation Severely Affects Embryo Development In The
Mexican Axolotl." Animal Biology 60.3 (2010): 299-318. Academic Search Premier. Web. 08 Apr. 2014.
Hedley, Joanna. "Metabolic Bone Disease In Reptiles: Part 1." Companion Animal 17.6
(2012): 52. Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File. Web. 10 Apr. 2014
In conclusion, it is possible for science and religion to overlap. Although Gould’s non-overlapping magisterial claims that creationism doesn’t conflict with evolution, it doesn’t hold with a religion that takes the biblical stories literally. Moreover, I defended my thesis, there is some overlap between science and religion and these overlaps cause conflict that make it necessary to reject either science or religion, by using Dawkins’ and Plantinga’s arguments. I said earlier that I agree with Dawkins that both science and religion provide explanation, consolation, and uplift to society. However, there is only conflict when science and religion attempt to explain human existence. Lastly, I use Plantinga’s argument for exclusivists to show that such conflict means that science and religion are not compatible. It demands a rejection t either science or religion.
A myth is a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events. Each civilization has its myths about the creation of the world and its human race. Most speak of “gods” who perform feats far beyond that of humankind. Most are legends passed down through oral tradition, and embellished along the way. The book of Genesis is one of the most significant books in the Bible and is sacred scripture for Jews, Samaritans, and Christians. The Babylonian epic, Enuma Elish, is one of the most important sources for understanding the Babylonian worldview. Hesiod’s Theogony is a poem describing the origins and genealogies of
The most common mythological theme across different cultures is the creation of humankind because everyone has always questioned how the earth was created and so forth. Creation myths are “usually applied to a mytho-religious story which explains the beginning of humanity, life, the earth and the universe as being the result of a deliberate act of supreme beings or being” ("Creation myths," 2007). Individuals from different cultures believe in a higher power known as God and they believe that the higher power is the creator of earth, animals and humankind, however each culture believe in different Gods but they all believe that God is the creator and that is the universal theme across different cultures.
Both of these myths reveal to us about their understanding of the universe, and about their culture. Not only do they talk about their various gods, and heroes, but they also talk about how they viewed the universe in general (Rosenberg 79). Greek mythology evolved from two early civilizations, the Mycenaean’s and the Minoans. It was the combining of these different Greek cities and Kingdoms during 10th century B.C. that created the Greek Mythology. Its geographic isolation gave it a place for mythologies to evolve (Gale Virtual Reference Library: Greek Mythology 454-456).
A creation myth is an explanation of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it. Every creation myth is different, but there is similarity in most of them. Motifs are recurring ideas that help develop a theme and these motifs are common in many creation myths. Three similar motifs are the idea of a supreme being, the idea of people being created from organic material, and the idea of rulers being overthrown. These concepts appear in the Inuit, Greek, Hindu, Chinese, Norse, and many more myths. These three motifs connect to one another and are common in many creation myths.
Every ancient society and civilization has creation myths that were passed down and keep alive throughout the passing of time by word of mouth. These myths are the world’s oldest stories and are vital to these cultures because they explain their beginnings and give purpose to their existence. By analyzing and interpreting different creation myths it becomes easier to understand different cultures and their connections and relationships with heir beliefs and god(s).
Anum Munaf Dr. Caryn Voskuil PHIL-1301-83456 23 April 2017 Response Paper: Chapter 2 In Chapter two “God and the Origin of the Universe” of the book “Problems from Philosophy”, written by James Rachels and Stuart Rachels, a very interesting and contentious topic has been discussed. It is about the belief that God exists in this universe or not and this universe is created by God or it has been developed by chance. Rachels with the help of distinct types of arguments tried to prove that God exists in this world and the universe is created by some intelligent designer. At the beginning, he gave the results of recent Gallop poll and Pew Research Center polls to explain that how many people are religious and how many are non-religious.
Myths – as they are known to most of the world – give insight into the pasts of various countries and religions as the people saw them. They have been used to explain phenomena in nature or describe the tales of courageous and important men and women throughout history. Creation myths in particular define how the Earth itself was created, along with the universe, heavens, hell, people, and creatures that exist today. Genesis of Christian mythology, for instance, tells the story of how the single deity God spoke and formed everything from day and night to man and woman. Various African creation myths, such as with the Yoruba, explain the creation of the Earth through at least a couple gods working together and all life sprouting from a seed.
Each of their gods made the mountains, stars, animals, humans, oceans, moon, and the planets. The only thing that was not made by all three was the sun, because that is Begochiddy. So in the stories that the tribes had made their gods not only breed creation but, in two of the stories they caused destruction and chaos through thievery and impatience which are the same traits that people have in today's world. The communities must have thought that the gods looked like humans and acted like humans but, also have supernatural powers to help create the world around
...is higher than “physical, natural, or elemental accounts of creation by accretion, excretion, copulation, division, dismemberment, or parturition" (Leonard & McClure, 2004). If, however, we are self-conscious about our culture’s assumptions about what is “normal,” we see that at least as many cosmogonic myths have presented creation as part of a natural process as have conceived it as an exercise of divine and creative will. That is, many creation myths depict the birth of the cosmic order as an organic, natural, and evolutionary process rather than as an engineering project or the act of a master magician. Ranking one kind of myth as lower or more primitive and our own myths as higher or more cultured derives from a cultural bias. To study myth effectively, we need to free ourselves as much as possible from the prejudices we inherit from our cultural surroundings.
Over the course of 408 years, from when the thirteen colonies were first founded and today, the traditions of European and Native American culture have always varied significantly. From their religious to their political views, the European and Native American beliefs have many common characteristics as well as many dissimilarities. These differences and similarities are most evident when comparing their creation stories and their constitutions.
human beings and the birth of gods and goddesses. Explanatory myths are those that try
The different categories of mythology are explanatory myths and adventure myths. Explanatory myth will break down into smaller sub divisions called Cosmogony, nature myths, and eschatological myths. Explanatory myths these are myths that nature or certain events and customs of different cultures. Cosmogony is a big word for creation myths. Creation myths explain the origin of the universe. They use primal gods and animals to tell the story. There are different types of creation myths as well. The first is the single stage creation where a god existed ex nihilo. Which means a god existed in a vast space and created the universe out of nothing. The other is multi stage creation. In this the universe is created by one god. His children then continue to create the rest of the world. Nature myths have to do with animals and everyday phenomena like the rising and setting of the sun. The last explanatory myth is eschatological. This tells how death and other bad things came into the world and how the world is going to end. The next category of mythology is adventure myths. These are myths that involve humans. These are stories of major events in history that parts have been embellished or forgotten and made up. Now that you know the different categories of mythology we will look at the different regions where the stories came from.
Mythology is defined as a collection of interrelated stories of a given culture. Myths are intended to explain and describe the mysteries of nature and give understanding about the world that surrounds us. Each culture has their own mythology that reflects their values and beliefs. Myths were also generated to tell the story of the first people to inhabit the earth. The Egyptian mythology elevated these people to the level of Gods and Goddesses by giving them supernatural and special powers. These myths of creation were passed from one generation to the next, either orally or by hieroglyphs painted in sacred temples, pyramids, and sanctuaries.
Since the dawn of intelligent man, humanity has speculated about the origins of the universe.