Religion comes into conflict with science when it is defined by unprovable claims that can be dismissed as superstitions, and when it treats as historical facts stories that read like legends and myths to non-believers. Other aspects of religion -- what I would consider the deeper and more significant elements -- are not only compatible with science but enrich its findings. The best evidence of this is science's response to the religions of the East over the course of the last 200 years. As the French Nobel laureate Romain Rolland said early in the 20th century, "Religious faith in the case of the Hindus has never been allowed to run counter to scientific laws." The same can be said for Buddhism, which derives from the same Vedic roots.
Most of the Hindu gurus, Yoga masters, Buddhist monks and other Asian teachers who came to the West framed their traditions in a science-friendly way. Emphasizing the experiential dimension of spirituality, with its demonstrable influence on individual lives, they presented their teachings as a science of consciousness with a theoretical component and a set of practical applications for applying and testing those theories. Most of the teachers were educated in both their own traditions and the Western canon; they respected science, had actively studied it, and dialogued with Western scientists, many of whom were inspired to study Eastern concepts for both personal and professional reasons.
As early as the 1890s, Swami Vivekananda spent time with scientific luminaries such as Lord Kelvin, Hermann von Helmholtz, and Nikola Tesla. "Mr. Tesla thinks he can demonstrate mathematically that force and matter are reducible to potential energy," the swami wrote in a letter to a friend. "I am working a good deal now upon the cosmology and eschatology of Vedanta. I clearly see their perfect unison with modern science." Had Vivekananda lived three years longer, he would have rejoiced in Einstein's discovery of E = mc2, which united matter and energy forever.
In the early decades of the 20th century, the great sage and Indian independence leader Sri Aurobindo, who had studied in England, blended East and West by extending Darwinian concepts to the evolution of consciousness and the cosmos. In 1920, Paramahansa Yogananda set a precedent by calling his first lecture in the West "The Science of Religion." He befriended a number of scientists, growing so close to the great botanist Luther Burbank that he dedicated his Autobiography of a Yogi to him. Later, Swami Satchidananda, whose own teacher, Swami Sivananda, had been a successful physician before becoming a monk, encouraged the scientific study of Yoga; one of his early students was Dr. Dean Ornish, whose groundbreaking research sprang directly from Satchidananda's teachings. And Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, even before he became famous as the Beatles' guru, prodded scientists into studying the physiology of meditation, setting in motion an enterprise that has now produced over a thousand studies.
The interaction of Eastern spirituality and Western science has expanded methods of stress reduction, treatment of chronic disease, psychotherapy and other areas. But that is only part of the story. Hindu and Buddhist descriptions of higher stages of consciousness have expanded psychology's understanding of human development and inspired the formation of provocative new theories of consciousness itself. Their ancient philosophies have also influenced physicists, among them Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg and J. Robert Oppenheimer, who read from the Bhagavad Gita at a memorial service for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In his landmark TV series Cosmos, Carl Sagan called Hinduism the only religion whose time-scale for the universe matches the billions of years documented by modern science. Sagan filmed that segment in a Hindu temple featuring a statue of the god Shiva as the cosmic dancer, an image that now stands in the plaza of the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva.
The relationship between science and Eastern spiritual traditions -- which many prefer to think of as psychologies -- is still in its infancy. In recent years, the Dalai Lama has carried the ball forward, hosting conferences and encouraging research. Western religions would do well to emulate this history. Their historical and faith-based claims conflict with empirical science and probably always will; but to the extent that their practices directly impact human life, they can be treated as testable hypotheses.
Relationship between religion and science - Wikipedia, the free ...
Religion and Science (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Albert Einstein: Religion and Science
Conflict & agreement between science and religion
Richard Dawkins: Is Science A Religion?
No other religion or scientific discipline has delved deper into Life, nor provides the student the
opportunity, but not guarantee, to directly experience the principles and source of Life.
And let's not forget Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had a degree in physics. He saw science as ultimately only skimming the surface of Life, including quantum physics.
Casear started with taxes. Not God, nor did God ask for 10%, of money either, but tithes share will all what you had.
Christ came to start God's church on earth.
Book of Revelations, what God says about mans religion.
7 different churches in those days. God was not pleased with any of them, boldly rebukes them all. God is speaking to the 7 churches as if they are all one.
remember Jesus had very few friends in the temple, for Christ threaten the priest job security. Jesus said I will destroy this temple and in 3 days I Will build it up, I ask not pleased was he?
Jesus preached to his listeners that the Divine Authority had been place within the hearts of all, given to know for them self right from wrong. They needed no one to teach them.
What got Jesus crucified, Jesus preached that they needed to pay the priest, for their rituals, baths, their live stock, to be OK with God. That God loved them just the way they were, poor, outcasts, refugees, widows, orphans, diseased, being oppressed by a military rule over them.
Christ brought all people to the same level, Caesar claim to hold.
What got Jesus crucified, was that Christ disturbed the Empires Status Quo, the military rule that was oppressing the people.
God did not chose the rich of the world to be his beloved chosen people, but the poor who were being oppressed and forced to be slaves to the rich.
So stop the Iie!
God's church on earth was already in place. It was started by his chosen people and called Judaism.
What got Jesus crucified, was his father. His mission was from the outset to die to atone for our sins. It wouldn't have mattered who he upset, he was bound to die. Was he or was he not sent down to die? You never answer questions Sunshine, you just sermonize. Try to answer this one, please.
Your knowledge of history and of christianity is poor. Please explain how Jesus threatened the might of Rome. He was so insignificant that if he did exist he wasn't mentioned by any independent source.
"God forced no one go give, for that would not be true love or compassion."
Jesus said, ". . . go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasures in heaven".
Go and sell and give? Sounds like an order (or maybe blackmail) to me.
Science, Technology and Industry go hand in hand. Industry funds the development of science, and profits from the technological products of science. Heavily techological cultures are notorious for their explotation and harm done to the environment and to life on earth. Look at ecological damage caused in the atheistic, pro-science cultures of China and Russia.
India has also been damaged by the increase in development, such as pollution and resource exploitation. But India is taking action against the culture of excessive scientism. India has recently halted the use of genetically modified crops. India has banned the use of plastic bags. Promoting ecological soundness and taking actions to stop industries that pollute and exploit. Something the West doesn't do very well.
The difference between something like the Rig Veda;s and the bible or the quran are these
1) The bible/Quran insists they are word of God and that these are absolute truth and goes on to insist that if you question them, you would be punished and tortured even after death into eternity.
2) The Rig Vedas have also mused about life and the celestial world but nowhere do they claim its the absolute truth let alone they are word of god nor are there any intrinsic threat of any kind if you do not buy into the rig Vedas. They are mere opinions. What they have observed and written about have far more depth and seem far more reasonable and closer to today's scientific conclusions than the biblical geocentric flat earth kind of thinking that were written by some goat herders of the middle east.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EyAKFi3_Xg”
St Peter makes it very clear and explains, but men who were inspired to write, what the spirit told them, all were moved by the one spirit, to write. God is the author of the book, given to us, by the power of the Holy Spirit which inspired them all to write down what was given unto man.
Find 10 authors, and not two, authors would express, the same, on one subject coming together perfectly, and fit like a glove and all have the same ending, nor beginning.
There are two different creation stories in Genesis.
Moses writes about his own death in the first person.
God is satisfied with his works Gen 1:31,
God is dissatisfied with his works, Gen 6:6.
Man and woman were created at the same time.GE 1:26-27
Man was created first, woman sometime later.GE 2:7, 21-22
God is the author of evil, Lam 3:38/ Jer 18:11/ Is 45:7/ Amos 3:6
God is not the author of evil, 1 Cor 14:33/ Deut 32:4/ James 1:13
God is cruel, unmerciful, destructive, and ferocious. Jer 13:14/ Deut 7:16/ 1 Sam 15:2,3
God is kind, merciful, and good. James 5:11/ Lam 3:33/ 1 Chron 16:34
Marriage or cohabitation with a sister denounced. Deut 27:22/ Lev 20:17
Abraham married his sister and God blessed the union. Gen 20:11,12/ Gen 17:16
Please explain why Luke and Matthew have such different genealogies of Jesus. Why did these ended with Joseph, Jesus' stepfather and not related to him, thus rendering the genealogies worthless.
Please explain why Luke and Matthew have such different nativity stories. The chronology is different, the wisemen, shepherds etc etc appear separately between authors. After the birth, Luke has the Holy Family go back to Nazareth, Matthew has them in exile in Egypt. Why the differences?
There are literally thousands of contradictions, errors, inconsistencies and lies in your bible.
You're the one who believes and sermonizes it, prove it is the word of God.
But if we leave believe and think critically about reason to find the truth of the case and accept the truth, people all over the world will not face conflict and war between each others and peace will happen in our world.
I think the reason Eastern religions are more science-friendly is that they make the effort of
the individual central to self-transformation, not theoretical dogmas which have to be believed in
without question.
Because the emphasis is this way, a whole body of methods, practices, observations,
and suggestions has grown up - what we call yoga in a general way. People are expected to
explore, experiment and share their discoveries. Spiritual democracy and science, you might say.
Gayatriprana
Brain patterns associated with higher stages of human development are being closely studied by scientists at The Center for Brain, Consciousness and Cognition at Maharishi University of Management, in Iowa. By documenting the changes that take place in the brain and physiology during and after meditation, science is taking the mysticism out of spiritual development.
As a meditation teacher, everyday I see Christians and people of all religions (as well as people of no religion) happily integrating meditation techniques into their life with no conflict. This acceptance is due in part to the extensive scientific research verifying the practical benefits of meditation. Aspects of Eastern knowledge, such as certain non-religious meditation techniques, are universal and compatible not only with modern science but with other religious and cultural traditions.”
Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam (which is Primarily an Eastern religion) as do Christian and Jewish faiths (although they too were born in the east) still believe a ton a gobbledygook.