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Lecture: Science and Religion
Saturday, March 6, 2004
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Believers
face several social and intellectual problems in the modern world.
The increase in the number of people who cannot afford housing,
the loosening of neighborhood relationships, drug usage and other
addictions are some of the social problems that we face. The concept
of "good and evil" and perceived conflicts between "science
and religion" are among the intellectual problems. Believing
that one step beyond dialogue is friendship, and that friends unite
against problems, IDSA has invited Dr. Aslandogan, editorial board
member of the Fountain Magazine and Professor at UT-Arlington, to
give a talk about Science and Religion.
 After
defining methodologies and domains of religion and science, Dr. Aslandogan
talked about the two book paradigm. According to this paradigm, the
sacred texts are books of God expressed in human language; and nature
is also a book of God expressed in cosmic language. After explaining
this paradigm, Dr. Aslandogan gave examples of “verses”
from each book. |
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Then,
one obvious question would be: "If the Author is the same why
should there be any conflicts?" Dr. Aslandogan's answer to
this question was simple and convincing: "The readers are imperfect."
Throughout his presentation, Dr. Aslandogan tackled some perceived
conflicts between Science and Religion. Some examples are: spherical
earth vs. flat earth; sun-centric vs. earth-centric solar system;
evolution vs. miraculous creation of life/humans; and no flood vs.
world-wide flood. Dr. Aslandogan's resolution was generally based
on two themes: Dr. Aslandogan concludes his presentation by claiming that "Science without faith is equally deficient as faith without science." He argues that science and religion can complement each other for a better experience in both.
