Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier are two great boxers who despised each other in the ring, and are part of the greatest rivalry in the sport of boxing. They are hostile when together, but extremely peaceful alone. Just like them, science and religion are very peaceful on their own, but when they are put together, they provoke thoughts that lead to arguments. Meanwhile, Peanut butter and jelly are two items that go extremely well together and are part of the lunch for many kids in their early years. But if looked at closely, they do not completely mix together, they coexist. Just as science and religion do not completely mix together, they coexist. Although many believe that the two cannot be put together peacefully, there are many philosophers
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The easiest way to understand this is to look at mythology. One well-known example of mythology is Greek mythology. The creation of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades to explain things such as thunder, hurricanes, and the underworld. Science was not a major contributor in this example. The world worked the way that it worked because of Gods, not because that is how nature intended it to be. Hawking says that “Ignorance of nature’s ways led people in ancient times to invent gods to lord it over every aspect of human life” (Hawking 20). But ignorance does not prevail often and it did not prevail in this case either. Thales started to believe that “the complex happenings around us could be reduced to simpler principles and explained without resorting to mythical or theological explanations” at a time before 500 BC (Hawking 20). This set the stage for science and religion to start clashing. The world became less and less dependent on religion to explain matter that they did not understand, the dependency switched towards science. Aristotle dominated the period after Thales so much that “his approach to science dominated Western thought for nearly two thousand years” (Hawking 26). The dominance of science ended when Christianity
The easiest way to understand this is to look at mythology. One well-known example of mythology is Greek mythology. The creation of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades to explain things such as thunder, hurricanes, and the underworld. Science was not a major contributor in this example. The world worked the way that it worked because of Gods, not because that is how nature intended it to be. Hawking says that “Ignorance of nature’s ways led people in ancient times to invent gods to lord it over every aspect of human life” (Hawking 20). But ignorance does not prevail often and it did not prevail in this case either. Thales started to believe that “the complex happenings around us could be reduced to simpler principles and explained without resorting to mythical or theological explanations” at a time before 500 BC (Hawking 20). This set the stage for science and religion to start clashing. The world became less and less dependent on religion to explain matter that they did not understand, the dependency switched towards science. Aristotle dominated the period after Thales so much that “his approach to science dominated Western thought for nearly two thousand years” (Hawking 26). The dominance of science ended when Christianity