Kurt and Walt have been having a back and forth about the struggles between religion and science. Being the nosy, opinionated guy that I am, I feel obliged to weigh in.
The issue that Kurt began to touch on in his last post is epistemology, the philosophical discipline concerned with the source and nature of knowledge. Science is, at it's root, an epistemological philosophy, explaining that knowledge comes from observation of the natural world, refined through experimentation.
Religion - or at least, a major component of most religions - also contains an epistemological component, explaining that knowledge is to be found on page 128. "Faith," by definition, belies questioning, asserting a trust the precludes the very need to question. Even if your particular strain of religion is not as fanatical about faith as some (e.g., those Kansas evangelicals), to take something by faith means to trust an answer absent empirical observation and experimentation.
And that's the crux of it: science and religion are indeed opposed. They both assert a different source of knowledge. There is no reconciling that, and no way for both to be right.
- E
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