Science & Religion

John Hanju Kim

Part 3: How is Science practice

guided by belief and culture? Can
Science be aided by religion?
 Chalice Lighting

The light of the ages has brought wisdom

and truth to all peoples, in all times of
human history. We light this flame to remind
us to seek wisdom in our own time.
- Rev. Daniel Harper
 Opening Questions

● Has what is perceived as advance in civilization identical

to advance in science?
● How does our culture and religion influence what
scientific questions we focus on?
● How does our culture and religion influence how science
is conducted?
● Could science be handled differently and still be science?
Scientific Method
A common grade school view of
the scientific method is an an
individual practice.

In this view, the individual

scientist needs to be responsible
for keeping bias out of their
process.
 Influences on Science

● Individual beliefs are always guided by beliefs - including

religion and culture.
● These beliefs influence what questions are asked, and what
mechanisms are proposed.
● What were early scientists like? How would we describe
them as people?
○ Qualities: ___ , ___ , ___ , ___
○ Influences?
 Progress in Science

● Science tends to progress along one way of thinking until a

major shift shakes things up
● Thomas Kuhn calls these ways of thinking "paradigms" and
changing them "paradigm shifts"
● Studying fields of science shows that thinking tends to go in
trends
● Within a trend, models can still improve - and still roughly
fit the data
● Examples: ...
 True Science is SOCIAL

● The process of science has social steps:

○ Peer Review
○ Publication to publicly-accessible journals
○ Reproducibility
● No general science conclusion is from an individual.
● Scientists of different cultures and religions communicate and
cooperate.
 Consequences of Science as Social Practice

● An ideal scientist does not need to be emotionless or without

beliefs.
● Passion for a question or conclusion can be good because it
drives the scientist to study. Not all scientists need to be
equally open to all ideas.
● What is required is honesty, and willingness to work in the
larger community under the social contract.
 Where have religion and science lead?

● In social change, how have science and religion lead?

○ eugenics / racial genetic differences
○ homosexuality as a mental disorder
○ others: ___
● What is our sense of "progress" in science?
○ How does this compare to progress in civilization?
 Discussion Questions

● Has what is perceived as advance in civilization identical

to advance in science?
● How does our culture and religion influence what
scientific questions we focus on?
● How does our culture and religion influence how science
is conducted?
● Could science be handled differently and still be science?
 Extinguishing the Chalice

We extinguish this flame, but not the light of truth,

the warmth of community, or the fire of commitment.
These we carry in our hearts until we are together
again.