God and Science

I received an email from my grandmother, and in it was a link to a Youtube video. I heartily recommend it to anyone and everyone! It is an amazing scientific discovery. You thought we were small in the solar system? Small in the galaxy? The universe? Think again. We just got smaller. Here's the address:

http://www.flixxy.com/hubble-ultra-deep-field-3d.htm

I have always loved science, especially space. I remember I used to marvel at the actual size of the Earth alone. Then, the solar system. Did you know 990 Earths could fit inside Jupiter? A million in the sun!
Then I learned of galaxies. Our solar system is but a fraction of the entirety! What would it be like at the center, where all those stars cluster around a supposed black hole? Could we ever find out?
Then I saw a couple pictures the Hubble telescope had beamed back to us. We are but one galaxy of millions, upon billions! We are infinitesimal! We physically occupy next to no space at all!
This relatively new discovery Makes us even smaller, and the universe even bigger! The galaxies, to us, and for now, number in the hundreds of billions! We could never experience it in a billion years!

Science is beautiful and fascinating! We are constantly discovering new things about who and what we really are, and what other things there are in this universe! Stars, planets, galaxies, worlds where life may have existed, or where life exists currently! All these wonderful ideas, theories, concepts, discoveries to be made, things to experiment with, to do, to see! It's a constantly growing and exponentially more fascinating thing!

...and yet some people cannot just bask in the glory that is the universe. No...their shortsightedness is painfully clear, and abundant. They peer into the vastness, the immensity, the almost limitless space far beyond them...and see only their reflection and that of the Earth's. They do not care that we discovered that there are far more galaxies in the universe that we could even begin to comprehend. They use it to belittle other people...or to argue angrily with one another. How can we, as a society, advance like this? How can we stare infinity in the face, and turn away to insult another human being?

In the video that I spoke of previously, I scrolled through the comments below wishing to state my joy in this discovery, and share it with others, only to find the flames of hostility. I continued scrolling, searching for evidence that not all was lost, and that most people that had commented were talking of science, or giving thanks to the poster of the video, or anything that wasn't specifically made to target another person, to either insult or argue against. I found very little, but those few posts alone were enough to lift my hopes. Thank you.

Most of these negative comments were directed against Christians, and other theists. I would like to quote one of the comments:

What more do Christians want? This is probably one of the best proofs to show that Yahweh, Allah, Jesus, Ra, Thor and Zeus are just products of human imagination.

How is that proof? It proves nothing for or against God. If there are a million and one grains of sand on my property (I know, small property, but it's just an example), does that prove that my refrigerator is actually a microwave?

Alternately, one might use this as proof that God does exist. I don't know how. As I have said before, the number of something doesn't really prove God's existence or not.

That wasn't actually meant to be anything, I just thought it was hilarious . Back to the topic...

Why are God and Science generally thought to be Antonyms? Why do some members of some churches preach, yell, and scream that science is the devil's work, and that all scientists are of the devil? Why do some scientists preach, yell, and scream that God doesn't exist, and anyone who believes in him is a moron? Why are they so against each other?

For those religious, closed-minded zealots that think science is the devil's work, know this: God gave us our minds for a reason. To think, to ponder, and to understand. Without science we are like animals, content to live, but not to thrive. God wanted us to think, scientifically as well as religiously. Science is one of the things that not only makes us human, but makes us sentient as well! God does not wish us to be closed-minded animals...but sentient thinkers constantly pushing the boundaries of our abilities!

For those Scientific, egotistical know-it-alls that think religion and anyone who follows it is useless and a bunch of nonsense, know this: many of the worlds greatest inventors, leaders, and thinkers were christian, or a part of some religion. America, for instance, was founded by religious groups. Egyptians, builders of the great pyramids, avid inventors (they created electric light-bulbs before people even knew electricity existed in such a form), and one of the greatest nations this world has ever seen were extremely religious people (granted, they weren't exactly the most benevolent people, but hey). The Mayans, "inventors" of the number zero, predictors of many disasters, watchers of the stars: also intensely religious.

God and Science are not necessarily antonyms. Why, then, do people always assume they are? Where does it say in the bible that science is the devils work? Where in all the knowledge of the greatest scientific minds of history is the irrefutable and explicit proof that God does not exist? Why are both sides at war when they could help each other?

In my mind, religion and science are two sides of the same coin. One deals with the soul, emotions, and morals, giving guidance to those who are lost, while the other deals with our world, understanding, noting, and discovering it. Not just our world, either, but others.

God and Science can coexist, but unfortunately humanity has not evolved enough to allow them to.

Perhaps the religious zealots are too scared to even consider the fact that God does not exist. I have, but have come to the conclusion myself that he does exist.

Perhaps the scientific atheists are miserable, and want others to be as miserable as them, or maybe they just aren't willing to accept that there is a power higher than them, an all powerful being. They don't want to even consider it.

Alas, my conclusion. I am not saying all religious people are anti-science zealots. I am not saying all scientists are atheists, or are rude, arrogant jerks who seek only to disprove someone of their belief in God. I am merely stating my opinion on the topic: That even in the face of infinite discovery, some people, under the guise of science, use it as an excuse or ignore it completely to attack someone else. It is disgusting, and we cannot advance as a society until we grow past it.