Religion-Science Discourse: A Western Perspective

Abstract

The present study is a brief overview of the intellectual debate in the western world concerning the mutuality of religion and science. Conflict and reconciliation are two prevailing views concerning this discourse. The conflict thesis is the result of modernity, emphasizing the separation of two domains. Religion has had an established plausibility for centuries; it has been there since the dawn of humanity, and the belief in a grand existence, beyond the domain of the observable, has become a part of the way human beings think and feel. On the other hand, science has an equally ancient beginning, and its proponents believe that logical thinking and empirical observation and testing are the only way to approach the truth. Nevertheless, it has been found that despite an ongoing intellectual debate, a balanced coherence between science and religion still needs to be worked out to meet the civilizational challenges of the present day.