Can Science and Religion coexist?
First of all, I just want to say that I'm not out to offend anyone with this expert. Everyone is entitled to they're own beliefs. I know religion is a touchy subject. Nowhere in this blog update will there be any negative remarks toward peoples personal beliefs or hatred toward any religions. This is simply an explanation of my beliefs. Agree or disagree, I respect every ones opinions.
Backstory
When my father died back in 2000, my outlook on god and religion changed. Before his death, I believed God had at one point existed on this planet as a man or supernatural being of some sort. I wasn't very educated on the subject but even then, religion just sounded like fairy tales or a cool movie idea to me. I was told heaven was up, and hell was down. None of it really made sense to me, because I knew that "up" led to space, and "down" led to inner core of the earth. Anyway, I was raised semi-christian. The reason I say semi is because my parents took me out of Sunday school in the 5th grade. Religion was never forced upon me as a child except from what I was told at Sunday school and grade school. I actually remember praying to "God" as a child, and at the same time questioning who the heck I was praying too. "Am I talking to some mystical being that's invisible? A man or god that controls life as we know it? Or am I just talking to myself?" I would ask. So as my fathers health started declining, I actually began praying a lot, but quickly began to get discouraged because it seemed as if the more that I prayed the more his health declined. When my father finally passed in the summer of 2000, I gave up on believing in God. I stopped praying and lost all faith. I was young and naive, and angry at the world. I was angry at God. And still to this day, I do not pray to what religious people refer to as God.
I'll just come right out and say it. I'm an atheist. I don't believe in God, Gods, or any form of Religion. And I never will. Originally my disbelief in God and religion in general was due to the bitterness I was holding on to. But that's not why I don't believe today. Over time, I simply opened my mind. I wanted to understand how the world and nature really works. Using basic logic and common sense, something I believe the vast majority of society in this country lacks today. I began to wonder what religion is...
By definition, religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. Also defined as a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Islamic religion etc. Religions are organizations. The top 10 religions based solely upon the number of members goes like this.
1. Christianity [Abrahamic, 27 AD] 2.1 billion adherents
2. Islam [Abrahamic, 610 AD] 1.3 billion adherents
3. Hinduism [Dharmic, 1500 BC] 1 billion adherents
4. Buddhism [Dharmic, 600 BC] 376 million adherents
5. Sikhism [Dharmic, 1469 AD] 23 million adherents
6. Judaism [Abrahamic, 1300 BC] 14 million adherents
7. Baha’i Faith [Abrahamic, 1900 AD] 7 million adherents
8. Confucianism [Taoic, 600 BC] 6.4 million adherents
9. Jainism [Dharmic, 600 BC] 4.2 million adherents
10. Shinto [Taoic, 300 BC] 4 million adherents
These are the most common religions. Did you know that there are roughly 4200 religions in total! So which one got it right? Here's something to consider before you try to answer that question. There is one thing all these religions have in common. They were all created by man with no science backing them.
What I've learned through out my life is that humans have a hard time excepting death. And the possibility that maybe there is nothing after. It's a primal fear that has been embedded in our DNA through out evolution. But as an atheist and a man of science, I've come to terms with this. I do not fear death. The biggest misconception about atheists is that we have nothing to live for because we have no faith. No driving force. In reality, it's the complete opposite. I have nothing to die for. I have everything to live for because I live in the now. It's made me more passionate about my life and work, and understanding how life works. Life is something I cherish very much. Which is also something people should celebrate when someone dies. You celebrate their life, not their death.
Now, here's something that may make you scratch your head. As stated early, I'm a man of science. An atheist by definition is a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings. Or in other words a person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods. The belief in god or gods are always attached to a religion. So would it surprise you that as an atheist I believe in some things labeled as supernatural, paranormal, or extraterrestrial? Surprising isn't it! Well, If it wasn't for science, I would not believe in such things. I believe these things exist. But are labeled incorrectly due to pop culture.
Let me give you some examples.
"Prayer"
Have you ever heard the expression that thoughts become things? Did you know that thoughts themselves may directly effect others. How about the law of attraction? Universities all over the world and some of the most brilliant neuroscientists have been probing at the human mind for decades. Some studies have shown that thoughts can directly effect another human beings thoughts and reactions. Some scientists believe that thoughts are projected out into the physical realm like radio waves. Researcher Lauren Colgin and her colleagues at the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for the Biology of Memory at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) measured brain waves in rats, in three different parts of the hippocampus, which is a key memory center in the brain. While listening in on the rat brain wave transmissions, the researchers started to realize that there might be something more to a specific sub-set of brain waves, called gamma waves. Researchers have thought these waves are linked to the formation of consciousness, but no one really knew why their frequency differed so much from one region to another and from one moment to the next. Information is carried on top of gamma waves, just like songs are carried by radio waves. These “carrier waves” transmit information from one brain region to another. “We found that there are slow gamma waves and fast gamma waves coming from different brain areas, just like radio stations transmit on different frequencies,” she says.
"You really can “be on the same wavelength”
“You know how when you feel like you really connect with someone, you say you are on the same wavelength? When brain cells want to connect with each other, they synchronize their activity,” Colgin explains. “The cells literally tune into each other’s wavelength. We investigated how gamma waves in particular were involved in communication across cell groups in the hippocampus. What we found could be described as a radio-like system inside the brain. The lower frequencies are used to transmit memories of past experiences, and the higher frequencies are used to convey what is happening where you are right now.”
"The Supernatural and Paranormal"
Some scientists believe that the earths natural geo magnetic forces can manipulate and stimulate certain neurons in your brain causing one to hallucinate. Have you ever had a supernatural experience? Are you familiar with Michael Persinger? Michael A. Persinger (born June 26, 1945) is a cognitive neuroscience researcher and university professor with over 200 peer-reviewed publications. He has worked at Laurentian University, located in Sudbury, Ontario, since 1971. He is primarily notable for his experimental work in the field of neurotheology.
Tectonic Strain Theory
Persinger has also come to public attention due to his 1975 Tectonic Strain Theory (TST) of how geophysical variables may correlate with sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) or Marian apparitions. Persinger argued that strain within the Earth's crust near seismic faults produces intense electromagnetic (EM) fields, creating bodies of light that some interpret as glowing UFOs or The Virgin Mary. Alternatively, he argued that the EM fields generate hallucinations in the temporal lobe, based on images from popular culture, of alien craft, beings, communications, or creatures.Still not convinced? Are you familiar with Stanley Koren's "God Helmet?" The God Helmet was not specifically designed to elicit visions of God, but to test several of Persinger's hypotheses about brain function. Persinger uses a modified snowmobile helmet that incorporates solenoids placed over the temporal lobes. This device produces magnetic fields that Persinger describes as "weak but complex."
The sessions are conducted with the subject seated in an acoustic chamber. The acoustic chamber is also a Faraday cage, shielding out all EMF emissions and radiation except the Earth's magnetic field. Persinger reports that this shielding allows him to use the apparatus to investigate the effects of geomagnetism on the human brain. So what are the results of these expeirements? Most reports from Persinger's lab consist of people sensing "presences"; people often interpreted these to be that of angels, a deceased being known to the subject, or a group of beings of some kind. There have also been reports in which the participant has experienced what they perceive as God. Persinger reports that "at least" 80 percent of his participants experience a presence beside them in the room, whilst about one percent report an experience of "God", and others report less evocative experiences of "another consciousness or sentient being."
Now, as a man of science it would be idiotic of me to think that life has only evolved in this solar system. The possibility of extraterrestrial life is very likely and in no way am I saying that the above examples account for all UFO reports and sightings. There are more stars than there are grains of sand on the entire planet earth.
"The big one....Death and the Afterlife"
The human body is an extensive code of information. By extensive I mean trillions of cells. They provide structure for the body, take in nutrients from food, convert those nutrients into energy, and carry out specialized functions. Cells also contain the body’s hereditary material and can make copies of themselves. Shockingly, 40 percent of the atoms in our body is stardust. So realistically, the molecules in our bodies were prototyped and manufactured in some ancient generation of stars. It's pretty amazing stuff. So what does all this have to do with the death? A lot actually. The following information gets a bit confusing. But bare with me.
Black hole information paradox
The black hole information paradox results from the combination of quantum mechanics and general relativity. It suggests that physical information could permanently disappear in a black hole, allowing many physical states to devolve into the same state. This is controversial because it violates a commonly assumed tenet of science—that in principle complete information about a physical system at one point in time should determine its state at any other time. A fundamental postulate of quantum mechanics is that complete information about a system is encoded in its wave function up to when the wave function collapses. The evolution of the wave function is determined by a unitary operator, and unitarity implies that information is conserved in the quantum sense. This is the strictest form of determinism.
determinism means that given a present wave function, its future changes are uniquely determined by the evolution operator.
Reversibility refers to the fact that the evolution operator has an inverse, meaning that the past wave functions are similarly unique.
The combination of the two means that information must always be preserved.
Basically what scientists are saying is that information in it's physical state, no matter how extreme the conditions such as a black hole can destroy that information. It will always be preserved at the quantum level.
So think about that for a minute. If information can't be destroyed at the quantum level, and our bodies and minds are built from the quantum level up. Do we ever really die? Or does a part of us exist forever? Only science can answer that question.
There are many things I didn't discuss or bring up. Creationism vs evolution. The point is that, it's going to take science to prove/disprove certain aspects of religion. I don't believe all of the religions will be proven, but aspects of them might. And for that to happen we need to set our differences aside, keep an open mind so that progress can be made.
A friend of mine said something that I believe applies to both people of religion, and people of science. In fact it applies to all of humanity. We all have faith in the unknown.
