Science and Religion have been in conflict, or rather contradiction, for centuries now, over various topics. Take for example evolution. The average man in the street doesn't know much about evolution; he's probably not a creationist, and he may know that species change over time. The phrase "survival of the fittest" will surely ring a bell. He probably isn't acquainted with the ways of mutation, or the premises behind the theory of evolution. When questioned, he will say, "I believe in God; God created us and the world", and he will also say, "I believe in evolution" or "I know Adam and Eve and the Genesis story are symbolic". The fact is that evolution (as we understand it now, based on evidence) is a combination of random change and mindless selection. It has no purpose, and this is incompatible with the religious view of God directing the Creation to produce Man, and then commanding it to stop because it has reached perfection.
English: German-born theoretical physicist Albert ...
English: receiving from Judge his certificate of A...
Gods and sodasThose who want to believe say that evolution "looks" random but in fact God has directed it in mysterious ways to produce us. This of course must also mean that the mass extinction of the Cretacean was not a coincidence; without the presumed meteorite impact that killed the dinosaurs, the mammals from which man ultimately evolved wouldn't have had a chance. Or are we to suppose that God allowed the meteorite to crash, but if it hadn't crashed He would have directed evolution differently to produce Man anyway? When does this chain of "reasoning" end? We have free will; is there anything else free, or does God account for everything? What is left of our free will, if there's a God directing the rest of the Universe? That's a very serious limit to our freedom! (Assuming we have...