Physics and Religion,my own philosophy

[squareroot]

Hi guys.

I've been thinking about this for a while now and I woud like to have someone to share my thoughts with.
Since I've developed a growingninterest in physics i started to doubt my own religion more and more aproaching atheism(i was raised as a christian).
Physics and Mathematics gives me the impression that everything can be explained through the language of Maths.
Allow me to present you a simple and logical thinking:

Let's talk about the Greeks and their ancient belief
They thought that after Zeus defeated his parrents,the titans,created mankind.Of course that was a time when math ,physics ,philosophy were very young.Now think every time there was a thunder on the sky HOW convinced those people were that Zeusisup there on mountain Olimp throwing thunders at them because he was now pleased.Now lots of years later ,we have climbed Olimp and saw that is just another mountain and we gave a proper explication for thunder so that Greek Mithology seems rubbish to us.
So ,that being said, what if we are in that exact spot ,what if 3000 years from now ppl will talk about how we belived in something so improbable?
Compared to the universe and time we are nothing,but we always believe that "this is it " the religon in MY time is the correct one,MY time is absoule, the entire universe gravitate around the point of time in witch I lived, well, the truth is that we are nothing, what is 70 years compared to 14 billions?
Many people who lived their lives in "lust" and "sin" when they become older they remeber that they will soon be no more and that they have left nothing behind them so they become scared,starting to believe inna odeity who can avsolve them of all of their sin,because the bible says that is never to late for redemption, so they spend the last 5 yearsbof their lives like thare was no past, as they approach death they get coward and suddenly start believing in anything anyhow just to have that thought that if he lived his life for nothing a least he will have a happy afetrlife.This thing disgusts me to the deepest level.I think afetrlife is a excuse for those who did acomplished in this life.

I am sorry for my english and if I was too bitter, these are my lastest thought and I felt like sharing them with someone.I don't think that there is a point in contradiction here because these are my thoughts not a general truth.



Thanks again PF.

 

[Char. Limit]

I feel like the basic gist of your argument here is that religion is meant to explain what otherwise cannot be explained. The problem with that of course is that as you learn more and more about science, fewer things become unexplainable, and thus religion becomes less and less necessary.

Which yeah, I'd say that's true.

 

[squareroot]

Exactly.ty.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

I feel like the basic gist of your argument here is that religion is meant to explain what otherwise cannot be explained. The problem with that of course is that as you learn more and more about science, fewer things become unexplainable, and thus religion becomes less and less necessary.

Which yeah, I'd say that's true.

Exactly.ty.

This is known as the God of the gaps argument in which the claimant argues that because phenomenon X is unexplained it must be attributable to a "god", a second fallacy beyond this is the claim that it must be specifically their definition of "god." This reminds me of a phrase made by a prominent AI researcher, Fred Reed, that goes along the lines of "if we know how to do it it ceases to be AI." In the same way once we know how something works it ceases to be "miraculous." You've alluded to this yourself with reference to old gods; polytheist religions like those found in Greek mythology often attribute specific anthropomorphic gods to natural phenomenon that were unexplainable e.g. lightning (Zeus), the passage of the sun (Apollo), the behaviour of the sea (Neptune) etc.

You may find it interesting to read through a list of logical fallacies so as to recognise similarly badly formed arguments.

 

[BobG]

Personal opinion, but I see science as a way to describe how the universe works and religion as a way to help make your own life work.

There's not much overlap between the two (or at least there shouldn't be).

Certainly, the facts (science) are important unless you're intentionally choosing to be delusional, but science probably won't help a person forge a successful marriage, raise their kids, figure out a way to make happiness a way of life (although I have to admit that spinning Easter eggs and understanding why they'll "stand up" regardless of how they started does bring me a certain amount of happiness - especially when I spin them with my grandson).

Granted, some religions see more overlap between the two than is really healthy, but that just means a person chose the wrong religion.

 

[SHISHKABOB]

but what about questions like "is there a soul?" etc.

those questions are most likely not answerable by science. And either you can just not worry about it since there's nothing you can do about the fact that you are going to die, or you can have some belief that comforts you in regards to that topic.

That's not really a "god of the gaps" is it?

though of course, it's not scientific at all to talk about such things, because a thing like the soul is necessarily impossible to observe. So talking about things like that goes away from science and into "fantasy" or "spirituality", depending on the person you ask :p

 

[Hobin]

Personal opinion, but I see science as a way to describe how the universe works and religion as a way to help make your own life work.

But then what's beer for?

 

[leroyjenkens]

I feel like the basic gist of your argument here is that religion is meant to explain what otherwise cannot be explained. The problem with that of course is that as you learn more and more about science, fewer things become unexplainable, and thus religion becomes less and less necessary.

Which yeah, I'd say that's true.

I liked the way Neil DeGrasse Tyson explained it. He called God an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance.
At first God was used to explain everything. As we learned the real explanation of things, one by one, God wasn't needed to explain them.
I think there will always be the people who can say, no matter how much of the universe you can explain, "You can explain that? Well what about this?"
It also takes some people an absurd amount of time to eventually accept the non-God answers to some things. Some people never accept the non-God answer.
Honestly, religion, at best, is unnecessary. At worst... it's pretty terrible.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

This thread is only encouraging members to speculate on the existence of gods and espouce their religion. Moderated and closed.