FACTS
Core Conclusion:
Science & Philosophy: Science is deeply intertwined with philosophy, relying on the same methods and tools, such as reasoning and sensory perception, to explore the world. Both disciplines aim to analyze concepts and arguments rigorously.
Materialism vs. Spirituality: Science is based on realism and materialism, meaning it only recognizes things that can be observed and tested. Spirits and supernatural entities, being non-material, do not fit into the scientific framework, which leads to skepticism about their existence.
Testing and Evidence: The core of science is about testing hypotheses, questioning assumptions, and eliminating false claims. Faith-based claims (like the existence of God or spirits) cannot be tested in the same way and are often dismissed as unsubstantiated or circular.
Secularism & Science: Secularism is the philosophy of separating religious influence from public and scientific spheres. Science operates on the premise that evidence, not faith or belief, is the foundation for knowledge. Even if God exists, science would not relate to Him in a spiritual sense but would focus on the empirical evidence for or against His existence.
The Role of Religion: Religion and faith are not based on testing or evidence but on belief. Religion often relies on non-testable claims, which makes it incompatible with the scientific method. Therefore, secularism advocates for the removal of religious influence from scientific and public decision-making.
Science as the Primary Driver: Science is essential for societal progress, offering the tools to solve problems, understand the world, and improve quality of life. Politics and religion, while playing roles in society, should not be considered as foundational as science. Secularism ensures that science remains independent and free from religious interference.
The Need for Evidence: A key tenet of both science and secularism is that beliefs must be based on evidence. Religion’s reliance on faith without evidence is seen as inadequate when compared to the rigor of scientific inquiry.
Ethics & Secularism: Secularism does not ignore ethical considerations; instead, it finds solutions to ethical issues through rational, evidence-based reasoning rather than through religious or metaphysical assumptions.
Science, Secularism, and Democracy: Science and secularism are inseparable, as secularism creates an environment where scientific inquiry can flourish without the interference of religious dogma. Democracy, too, benefits from secularism, ensuring that public policy is driven by reason and evidence rather than religious ideology.
In conclusion, science and secularism are fundamental to a just, rational society. They foster the exploration of truth through evidence and questioning, while religion, which is based on faith without evidence, can limit critical thinking and social progress. Secularism ensures that religious belief does not interfere with scientific or democratic processes, allowing humanity to progress with the best tools for understanding the world.
THE ARGUMENT
Christian says, “Without faith, prayer, and the presence of
Jesus, we would still be sinners, but we would be worse.”
Christian also says, “Church and faith should be separated from the
state. It makes for a bad combination.” Yet, he knows that if the
Church is a big force in a nation, that is not going to happen.
There might, at best, be a loose separation.
Science is not separable from philosophy. It is a form of philosophy. Philosophy and science depend on the same basic tools. Your eyes, ears, and senses are scientific instruments and, in fact, the most important ones. A telescope is no good unless you have eyes. You need information to start thinking like a philosopher, and that is where science comes in.
Both disciplines require methods and tests so that concepts can be analyzed for meaning and credibility. Argumentation is fundamental to both. Both use thinking techniques to root out bad arguments and mistakes. They are on a continuum.
Science and much of philosophy are about realism. This leads to them being unable to see spirits as real. Spirits seem to be something that exists only in our heads, for spirit is non-material. So, we tend to see only what is material — in other words, what is made of parts or based on parts — as real. Spirits are the opposite of material things.
Science defines how the brain is able to determine what is real. Unless some vision can be tested and shown real, it will be categorized as an illusion. Even if it might be an illusion, it is treated as such unless further light comes.
Science, to an extent, is about increasing our good feelings. What do you think medical science is for? In that sense, it is willing to tell us to discard religion and God should they hinder good feelings statistically.
Philosophy is deeply involved in avoiding circular arguments where you pretend to be arguing for X when you have already made up your mind and are only pretending to care about using your brain to see if it is right.
Science opposes circular arguments or tautology. Religion says there is evidence for God, and God creates the evidence. But that is tautology or circular reasoning. A criminal offering you evidence that he is innocent of the crime is not giving you evidence at all. Evidence has to be independent. For these reasons, science is the opposite of God, faith, and religion. For these reasons, science embraces the philosophy of secularism.
Science is about testing claims to find the truth and eliminate lies and errors. Science is about learning the truth through testing, questioning, doubting, and revising. Science is not about building the best case for a theory but about debunking all alternatives to see what is left standing. It both tests for evidence and uses a process of elimination. If you say there is a God or indeed that there are spirits, it follows that they might tamper with tests. Science flatly rejects the notion of possible secret interference, which amounts to classifying both God and spirits as fictions.
Religion cannot be as good as science because it is not about testing. Faith does not test. Faith has no method, but religion does. It has methods for inducing faith or making you think you have it. There is no other word for that but manipulation.
Secularism is acting as if there is no God or as if what God wants is immaterial.
How does science relate to secularism?
Science has to take the attitude: "Even if we cannot prove or disprove God or His activity by testing, if there is evidence for His non-existence or existence, then we will follow it to the conclusion. The evidence for or against God is what matters, which means God does not matter if there is evidence against Him or no proper evidence." This cares about evidence for God, not God. This cares about evidence for a no-God, not atheism. Science is secular. If science finds God, it will be like the secularist who has an intellectual belief in God but no relationship or love for God. An intellectual belief in God is not the same as a committed religious one. It treats God as a non-God — something not to be related to on a personal, spiritual level.
Religion says that “faith, as in a relationship with God, depends on belief in God, in the same way a husband needs to believe he has his wife if he is to love her.” Some think that if science gives evidence for God, it would mean that science is now speaking to faith. But science would not be talking to faith. Science giving evidence for the existence of God would not mean that science and religion/faith are now one. It still does not endorse God-based faith but opens the door to it. Belief and faith are related but not the same. Science brings you to belief, and if there is a God, we should start off with belief in God. Then faith can come.
Religion has resolved to ignore science if it proves that all things happened without an intelligent, designing God. It says that if science fails to find evidence of God or debunks all evidence for God, that only means there are ways other than science to verify God sufficiently. But a non-testable verification is not a verification at all. It is as bad as saying that if X was proven to have been physically incapable of murdering Tony, there must be another way of showing he did it, even if you will never imagine finding it. It is really just politely saying, “Evidence means nothing to me, but I cannot admit that.” Also, testable reasons for believing something are the best reasons.
Surely, an all-good God could design a universe that allows science to be a gift from God, showing us a lot about what God is like? A testable God? A God who is put outside the reach of testing is suspect, or rather, His supporters are!
Science is always open to revising because it is based on evidence and therefore belief. Faith is about a personal relationship with God and is not just like mere belief. The argument that religion and science work in separate spheres fails to recognize that some religions, like science, are into belief, not faith. Some religions are not into faith but belief. You could argue that if science shows any interest in belief in God, that is religious. Religion is based on secular ideas, not just religious or spiritual ones. Religion finds a way by which the secular is absorbed and turned into a part of it.
If there is an inseparable relationship between science and secularism, then is it the job of science to show that God probably or definitely does not exist? It is. It would be the central job. It would need to show, as far as possible, that God does not exist if He does not. God research, then, is ultimately its only job. It is because God, whether true or not, is the biggest and most important idea and theory one can imagine.
God, in principle, is the being that alone matters, which means pressure is put on the scientist to care only about Him, and that leads to bias. The scientist becomes too unreliable to do science anymore. Is it better, then, for science to be anti-God? Certainly. It takes the pressure off, for you will never oppose God with all your heart, but you can love Him with all your heart (in principle). In other words, do not oppose God as in hate, for that is too emotional. But do not love Him but oppose Him. Then you reduce bias and become free to do your job.
It is said that society, on the whole, needs politics, science, and religion. In fact, society needs science the most. Politics cannot function unless people do enough science. For example, we need science to see what is happening in society. We need science to find solutions to problems. The state cannot make money unless it learns from science.
We treat life as an experiment, trying to see what works and what does not. So, science comes first. Checking things out comes first. Politics then comes second. As for religion, we can say that it is the least important. Or better still, it is not important at all. A religion is really just every person being their own religion and pretending they all really share the one faith. They might share a similar one, but that is about it! Religion, as an organized belief system, is not important at all. It can be done without. Many societies treat faith as a private matter, and they are reasonably thriving and healthy societies. A religion being important in a society does not mean it should be important in it. But science and politics are intrinsically important. The likes of Keith Ward, who say that society needs politics, science, and religion, are showing their underlying religiously motivated intolerance by adding religion in. It's intolerant merely by being added in, for it has no right to be in. Religion claims to be sacred and the voice of God — it is claiming to be more important than science or politics. It is saying that it is better for them to collapse than for it to collapse.
Nothing beats testing. Science is about testing. Science gives you no beliefs or dogmas but only tells you what the testing said. The scientist does not ask you to believe what they believe but gives you the tools and information so that you will make up your own mind, and if you process the facts adequately, you will believe for yourself. If science is the best way to know things, it follows that if there is a sensible God, then that God is pro-science. But what does religion give us? It gives us a God who does miracles and who writes Bibles full of lies. That is not a sensible God. That is not a God who can be a friend to science. That is not a God who can be friendly to a remotely okay idea of God!
It is maintained by some that secularism does not ask how people can live in the world without God or religion. In other words, secularism does not try to figure out what ethical, scientific, or other operating principles we must have if there is no God or if no religion is true. The secularist, then, is not concerned with ethics or God or anything other than politics.
Those people are not making sense. Secularists have to consider things such as, "How do we stop the state from being so unfair to all religions except the state Church?" That brings in the ethical notion of justice. And they have to consider, "How do we stop that religion from killing other religions?" If ethics doesn't matter, then why care?
Science, many say, cannot tell you that a person is intrinsically valuable or important. It treats a person as a pile of parts, not as something inherently worthy of respect. If that is true, then why do those people claim science and religion can fit together? They are inconsistent.
Science does not treat you as a collection of parts. If it cannot say how you are a valuable person, that does not matter, as long as it treats you as such. And it does. There is no point in science trying to cure cancer just for the sake of a learning experience. No scientist takes that approach.
Some say that atheists who think that religions should not exist at all are really non-secular atheists. Their view is described as completely alien to the logic of the secular idea. But it would be odd to say that you need religions around to be secular!
Science and secularism are inseparable. Where there is no secularism, science cannot emerge or be truly respected. Secularism creates an environment where religious, metaphysical, and spiritual questions are not looked at or pursued. That allows people to examine religious theories and beliefs and re-visit scientific discoveries.
Science, secularism, and democracy — not religious faith and religion — save us. Secularism and science are two sides of one coin.