Science and Christianity Compared

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Science and Christianity Compared

Similarities

  • Science does not rule out a creator God - God could have created the big bang
  • Both are provisional - change and develop over time
  • Both can be arrogant - Fundamentalism stated that the Bible is the exact word of God and scientism states that science is free from error and the source of all truth
  • Both use models, symbols and analogies
  • Both work on assumptions
  • The creation stories follow a similar pattern
  • The Genesis story and the big bang could both be true but humans have not been able to put the two together
  • Many great scientists of the past held religious beliefs and so do many scientists today
  • Evolution is still a theory. There is evidence for micro-evolution, variation within a species. Christians accept this
  • In Genesis the word for 'day' could mean a longer period of time, and so does not conflict with the scientific view of the vast age of the universe

Differences

  • Christianity asks why? Science asks how?
  • Science is based on observation, Christianity is based on faith
  • Christianity tends to be hollistic, science has tended to be reductive: trying to solve problems taking things apart and examining the individual constituents
  • Christians believe that Jesus preformed miracles which science can't support
  • Christians believe God created people and that they are special as they were made in God's image but science states that humans are dominant because of natural selection
  • Christians believe God created the universe. Science believes in the natural process of evolution
  • Scientists try to tell us how they think the universe as we know it came about. The writer of Genesis is trying to explain why
  • Some Christians believe that it is not possible to bend the bible to fit with science. This means that as science explains more and more there is less and less room for God
  • The theme of the new testament is about love and forgiveness but science can't tell us anything about these things or about morality
  • Religion says that love is a real thing, science says that it is just chemicals in the brain

Overall comparison

Christianity and science are similar in some ways. There are ways in which science and Christianity could go together as there is still a place for a creator in science which could be God. However there are quite a few differences between both. They have different views on how humans came about. Christianity believes that human were created by God in his image and so are special where as science states that humans came about from evolution. Science can't support the belief that Jesus preformed miracles and some Christians believe that the bible should not be bent to fit with science.

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