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Working Title: Science, Theology, and Humanity Source Title: Religion and Science Source Source: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Summary:

Is the intense relationship between science and religion mainly characterized "by conflict or by concord?" That is the question that the author intends to answer. The author begins by asking the question, however, of what exactly are religion and science? It is important to understand what you are arguing about before you can actually argue successfully about it. The author argues that science is not clearly defined. He asks what the definition of science would be, then presents a multi-faceted view of it, drawing conclusions and opinions from a variety of different sources. One main idea that the author focuses on is methodological naturalism, which many argue is the central idea of scientific theory. However the author presents us with counter-opinions to this and illustrates the problems with trying to give a definition for something so broad. Ultimately the author concludes that although we can not make a definition for science, “we do have many excellent examples of science, and excellent examples of non-science.” Religion is just as difficult to precisely define as science is. The author asks the reader “what characteristics are necessary and sufficient for something's being a religion? How does one distinguish a religion from a way of life, such as Confucianism?” These pose interesting questions. Many people today would probably think that religious beliefs are guiding principles for life. However, philosophical and moral beliefs can do the same thing. The author argues in his writing that neither science nor religion are clearly defined, nor are they likely to be, although we can give numerous examples of both. The author concludes his writing by discussing how and where the exact conflict and concord between religion and science actually comes from, and then talking about the opinion that the conflict between the two actually comes from the differences between naturalism and science. In many ways today, science and religion seem to conflict with each other. The author presents the opinion that this conflict may not be as universal as some people might think, and in the past religion and science have worked together. This is usually overshadowed though, by the case of Galileo and the church.

Works Cited Entry: Plantinga, Alvin. "Religion and Science." Stanford University. Stanford University, 20 Feb. 2007. Web. 26 May 2014.