Science & religion - agree or disagree?

[Niotulove]

Stephen Jay Gould said, "No scientific theory, including evolution, can pose any threat to religion - for these two great tools of human understanding operate in complementary (not contrary) fashion in their totally separate realms: science as an inquiry about the factual state of the natural world, religion as a search for spiritual meaning and ethical values.”

Do you agree or disagree with this quote? Please feel free to share why.
**By the way, I'm not giving any thumbs up/down. I'm interested to see the general, unbiased response to my question**

[gjohnson9894]

completely and totally agree to the Nth degree.

this is the source of most of my amusement and continued participation in R/S: religious zealots using religion to discredit science and non-religious people attempting to use science to disprove religion. Neither argument holds any water but they are certainly fun to watch!

[Mr.Samsa]

Sounds good to me. The two can be reconciled by anyone that really wants to do so. Of course, being an atheist eliminates the need for any reconciliation anyway.

[hammerthumbs]

I disagree. Science is not only an inquiry about the factual state of the natural world, but it is also a way to support humanist ideals. For example, from science we learn that there really is no such thing as races, as that there is no more genetic difference in hair color as there is in skin color. That means there is no "chosen" race to conquer all. In fact, the only reason some people are able to conquer other people has nothing to do with any genetic advantage and entirely to do with what region of the world they were fortunate or unfortunate enough to have lived. We learn about both the beauty and the ugliness of nature. We learn that we are primates and therefore are not apart from nature, but completely absorbed in it. This is both humbling and awespiring. That being said, there really is no need for religion, as its attempts to explain the natural world were false, and its attempts at philosophy and morality are inept at best.

[Kon]

Disagree, as religion (and spirituality) for the most part were attempts to explain the natural world; so they're not really in the separate realms, except one is fiction (religion) and one is a true inquiry for understanding the world (science)...