Post #60 "Religion's Case/Science's Case"

Religion, once confident of its hold on truth and morality, is no longer as secure in its belief as in the past, as traditional teachings are now being challenged by recent findings and discoveries. Religion's case has further been threatened by the fact that many recent findings and discoveries have been withheld from public scrutiny for years, have been hidden in secret vaults, or have simply not been made available. Archeology has uncovered long hidden secrets from the past and aided by science, has come forth with new and improved methods for understanding, deciphering, and dating these important discoveries and connections, thereby throwing doubt on long adhered to religious doctrines and beliefs. Religion, furthermore is being challenged by a new generation brought up in a science imbued world wherein many no longer find a relationship to that which was unquestioned and totally accepted as ultimate Truth. Religious faith in general seems to be on a decline as organized religions fail to answer the needs and problems of today. Those of the school of Reason see religion as hindering and stifling free thought as demanded by science's world of proof seeking through rational thinking. The question also arises as to how much religion's values determine the politics of government.

Although science has prided itself on much progress in effecting and solving issues of the substance and workings of the universe, it readily admits that there remains many unanswered questions and unsolved problems. The debris and destruction that lie in the wake of the so-called advances of science and technology are just beginning to come to light and to cause concern, that maybe the payoffs are too costly and perhaps even deadly to lives and to the welfare of humanity and our planet. Is the world safer and are lives really improved when threatening situations arise that are the direct results of these so-called technological advances such as acid rain, the depletion of the ozone layer, violent and unpredictable reactions of an earth battered through climate changes, loss of endangered species, accumulating solid waste, toxic substance in general, and toxic substances found in food, medications, and water supplies, air pollution, scarcity of energy sources, and the use and production of energy, not to mention the threat of these advances in the hands of unscrupulous power-seekers? These threats are just beginning to be manifested. Surely history will show that many technological advances have been a mistake. How many of these innovations have been the result of power-seeking individuals attempting to progress on the fulfillment of humanity's desire to become God. These threats to the safety of humanity and the planet are the nasty underbelly of the gods of science and technology.