[OT] Plato's Pub and Philosophical Society

[dogscoff]

I'm curious how many of you believe there is a fundamental conflict between religion and science.

Not at all. Given the amount of religiously devout scientists now and throughout history (many of whom have been listed in this thread) I don't think you can argue that the two are mutually exclusive in any way.

IMHO the spiritual side of humans (including "God") is derived from human consciousness- it comes from within individuals. it is as individual as each person is, so I find the idea of an external institution (ie a church/ religion/ holy book) handing out "ready-made" spirituality to the masses laughable.
Despite this I think religion can still lead to spiritual awareness, but only as a tool for encouraging self-improvement, self-understanding and mental discipline. Maybe this is how religion was originally intended. However it's use through the ages as a tool for manipulating the masses has reduced its usefulness in this respect, and imo for most people religion actually blocks their spiritual development, because they believe they have nothing to contribute to it- they are told that someone else has already figured it all out and written it down in a book for them.

To wrap this up, I'm not really sure what I believe- it's easier to say what I don't believe (see footnote)- but I do believe this:
In time, scientists studying all those tiny sub-atomic thingummies and time/space and wierd forces and energies will eventually find themselves coming to conclusions about consciousness that have been known to spiritualists and so on for thousands of years.

Footnote. For the record, I do NOT believe in any of the following:
-Any god or pantheon.
-ghosts, angels or leprechauns.
-re-incarnation and remote viewing,
-Crystal healing & astrology
-Roswell aliens.