Religion vs. Science, revisited, perhaps revamped.

I have been meaning to write this post for quite a while. It came to a head a while ago when I was honored with a particularly deep question on my Formspring page:
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Q: Why is it that physicists spend their time trying to discover the meaning or the secrets of the universe? What is it that they hope to gain by answering this question?


A: It's simple, really. We want to know why we exist and what the limits of this universe are, among other things. My own potentially controversial viewpoint is that the day we understand science in its entirety, we will truly know God. Because almost all religions teach that the only pure purpose of life is to serve God and others, and in doing so to come closer to God. God created this Universe and everything in it. He didn't simply set down laws (i.e. the laws of science) to govern its existence; He IS the Universe around us. Thus by understanding the Universe we will become one with God. ^_^ Thank you for this question; I've been meaning for weeks to write a blog post about it, and hopefully I soon will. :-)


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This, being synced up to my Facebook profile, sparked a minor discussion on how it makes sense. (If you are my Facebook friend you can see it here.)


A couple of days prior to that, my strongly religious buddy had posted a status update reading:
"Jesus is the answer to everything! Thank you Jesus!"  
(If you are his Facebook friend, you can see it here.) 
Being my comedic self, I had to ask a logical question to see if this was an indicator he'd lost all logic. Like, say, "What's your girlfriend's name?" Or "What did you do with the bodies?" You get my drift.


Now, while all of this may or may not have something to do with anything, the point is that virtually all religions, while far from a waste of time, are rife with uncertainties and instability*. For the more devout, there is pretty much no issue since everything is taken on faith; however, for the more logically-minded such as myself, science provides a calm, ever-developing haven for thought (and, theoretically, truth).
I have no problem with faith - heck, I'm a church-going, choir-singing Catholic. But my issues arise when the new discoveries and developments in scientific realms cause such tremors and tribulations in the religious world that you'd think, somehow, they were competing.


Take a look at my answer to the question I was asked, and you'll get my idea of why religion and science, far from being such bitter rivals, were meant to coexist.


At the very least: in a simple way, it gives us an answer as to how evolution could indeed be a way that God created us; it is a process that humans have used to a large degree, known as directed evolution. The name says it succinctly - evolution, but with an end goal in mind, and a hand guiding the path there.
Whereas the Bible says the Universe was created out of Nothing and Man was created out of dust (or clay, depending on the translation), science says that the Universe was most likely created out of Nothing, and that Man evolved from, and is still essentially composed of, many of the particles (i.e. atoms and molecules) that also compose dust (and clay). Why is there an issue about this? I'll leave you, the reader, to your thoughts on that.


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*Just as an example, the Bible has around ONE HUNDRED translations, just in English. God alone knows how much was lost in translation of each one, compared to the original Hebrew Bible.
In this regard, I respect the Qur'an of Islam, because they strongly advocate the use and study of their scriptures in the original Arabic.

Acknowledgement of Ambiguity

To Whom It May Concern,

I Love You.

Sincerely,
Anand Lobo.


P.S.: It does not say "To who may be concerned about it".

P.P.S.: Read the P.S.