I an tired of the war some religious people have with science, and I'm tired of the same argument the other way around. I'll fight like hell against some religious organizations but I wont deny the faith of many in their congregations; that would be arrogant of me. I'll take the doubting Thomas line on this; 'prove it' one way or another.
I'll use God[s] and creator[s] alternatively with basically the same meaning.
Evolution.
OK God[s] created man?
God[s] created the fossil record as a joke?
We didn't come from monkeys!
The DNA tells a different story!
Perhaps if a creator was all knowing it merely created the first strand of RNA; and being all knowing let nature take its course? Perhaps this creator was a physical force? Does a creator have to be something we recognize? Perhaps one day the data will be available until then we can keep looking and broaden our minds in the process.
Would a god deny its creation in all its variety and glory? Would this creator particle have to be sentient? Would the top quark write a diary? Why did the creator mess around with quantum?
Both science and faith try to answer many questions, when the mind looking for the answers is open; many wonderful discoveries can be found.
The evolution style argument can be used in many of the current discussions [pontifications], and I have no intention of going through them all.
The data doesn't lie.
It is how we interpret it that matters.
I'm a chemical engineer, a Buddhist and an non-theist, my partner is a doctor and a Catholic; neither of us find conflict between our faith and the science we try to understand. Conflict occurs when minds are closed, and Marie-Louise gets more annoyed with her church than I.
Science can explain many things and all is not known, that is its beauty. Faith can inspire us to continue to search for meaning to the information that swamps us every day. Neither are mutually exclusive.
Music is a set of notes organized in a definable pattern why does it touch our collective souls at its best?
Biology can explain love as being a driving force to propagate a species, yet I live in a non reproductive and loving union. What brings us together on so deep a level? Drives, urges and needs can be explained in part on a biological level, but at some point to my mind they deviate from the physical/biological requirements. A metaphysical glue that binds us perhaps? Or more simply put:
Love is.
When religion decides it doesn't have to defend itself from science and visa versa and both stop playing the power game then perhaps we will begin to understand what it all is about. There is no fundamental reason why we cannot have both faith and science.
This is where I start to have no respect for fundamental religions [philosophical or scientific] as they deny all the wonderful possibilities of our universe into narrow and hence limited conclusions.
As the saying goes:
"If you think you understand quantum; you don't."
And if some of the theories surrounding quantum are possible; then there is a whole lot more out there to get our teeth into.