The relationship between Science and Religion

Sometimes I see people comparing “science” to “theology”. As if it is one or the other. I think that this occurs because many theological theistic theories are not consistent with the most likely conclusions drawn from evidences in other fields of study which have been evaluated using the scientific method. Also I think this occurs because frequently the scientific method is not applied to the field of theology. In this way, many have created a dualism between “science” and “theology”. To get the record straight-- speaking for myself alone, I would like to share my perspective on this subject.

“Science” encompasses information gathered using the scientific method to collect, analyze and make theories about evidences. These theories have been classified into fields of study including subjects like chemistry, physics, archaeology, medicine, history, psychology, and biology. Among these fields is “theology”.

Theology means “the study of the nature of God and religious belief”. It is a field of “study”. There are two main primary branches of theology: “Theism” and “Atheism”. Theism is the theory that a higher being/power exists. Atheism is the theory that a higher being/power does not exist. 

The theory of theism has many branches to it and has a long history. Observations which are used as evidences for this theory include such things as the existence of the universe, the complexity of the circumstances surrounding the event of life, historical accounts (including instances of recorded visual, auditory, and extrasensory observations). 

Many of theisms branching theories have “colleges” (aka religions) in association with them which often rely heavily upon a specific set of these evidences. Similar to other fields of study (such as medicine) in past ages, these “colleges” may have sets of dogma, traditions, or long held theories which may or may not mesh well with other fields of study.

Admittedly many people attending these “colleges” who uphold the theory of theism as their predominant theological theory may not have a track record of studying other, perhaps contradictory evidences or theories which might explain some of the observations and historical accounts and/or have not applied the scientific method effectively to their theories and also may implement some practices which are calculated to do more harm than good. 

Although I consider this highly regrettable, I do not see this as reason to abandon the entire theory of theism any more than I would consider it reasonable to abandon the entire field of allopathic medicine because some groups have utilized harmful methods currently or in the past, or based practices off of conclusions which have been demonstrated to be data collection errors.

I have hopes that in the future, the scientific method will be applied to theology with a higher degree of consistency and with more effectiveness and that theology will develop and become a useful and helpful field of study alongside other fields of study such as medicine and psychology.