"GOD AND RELIGION ARE FORMS OF CONTROL.
RELIGION IS FOR STUPID, SUBSERVIENT, WEAK-MINDED PEOPLE WHO DO NOT WANT TO
THINK FOR THEMSELVES. THEREFORE, RELIGION IS THE BANE OF INTELLIGENCE, RATIONALITY,
AND SCIENCE."
There is no other piece of militant atheist propaganda
that is more vile than this.
Unfortunately, this myth is very common, as many—religious
and nonreligious alike—would not think it possible to be both a scientist
and a priest or monk.
-
Buddhism is one such religion that wholly concerns itself
with the path to enlightenment and truth.
-
Hinduism is similar in that it also admonishes its followers
to seek the truth.
-
Despite popular atheist myth, Christianity (and Judaism)
support skepticism, pursuit of knowledge, and belief through reason. Passages
in the Bible show praise for those who do not mindlessly believe, but come
to their beliefs and faith through reason. Still other passages—many,
in fact—praise the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom.
Another popular atheist myth in the wake of the recent Kansas Board of Education
debate is that Christians universally reject the theory of evolution (which
has changed into an anti-religious appeal to ridicule 
meme, the Flying Spaghetti
Monster's "Pastafarian" church ). In fact, Pope John Paul II and
Pope Pius XII have endorsed the theory of evolution. Catholic schools and universities
have been allowed to teach evolution for decades.
Catholic officials have repeatedly warned against ignoring scientific reason
and theory. Even more telling, officials from the Vatican have admonished the
Intelligent Design movement, stating, "The faithful have an obligation
to listen to scientific reason." A devout Catholic biologist, Kenneth R.
Miller, testified against teaching Intelligent Design in schools.
It was a Roman Catholic priest (Georges Lemaître) and not an atheist or
otherwise anti-religious person that put forth the Big Bang theory, which is
now widely accepted by the scientific community. In fact, at the time of publishing
his theory, freethinkers panned it as "religious dogma. That many atheists
now champion the Big Bang theory, forwarded by a priest, as proof God does not
exist is ironic, seeing as atheists and many scientists of Lemaître's
day thought that the universe's current state was eternal and without a beginning.
Clearly, religion is not about rejecting findings from scientific methods
or remaining ignorant, no matter how much atheist zealots claim otherwise. Science
and religion are not mutually exclusive and are not competitors.
|
"Test everything. Hold on to
the good."
- Bible, 1 Thessalonians 5:2
|
|
"The mind of the prudent acquires
knowledge, And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge." "
- Tanakh and Bible, Proverbs 18:15
|
|
"Since the Encyclical Humani
generis (1950), my predecessor Pius XII had already stated that there
was no opposition between evolution and the doctrine of the faith about
man and his vocation, on [certain] conditions [where the origin of the
human soul is concerned]."
- Pope John Paul II
|
|
"As a steward of God's world,
I accept my responsibility to encourage the use of science and technology
for the good of humanity and the environment."
- Christians in Science Organization creed excerpt
|