Introduction
An artists rendition of the Roman god Saturn created to promote NASA’s
study of Saturn. The Roman culture worshiped numerous statues that represented
gods who oversaw many different aspects of life. Saturn was a god of agriculture.
(NASA). The debate of science versus religion and the use of science within political government agencies has dominated headlines over the past few years. Two major stories dominated the headlines. The Kansas State Board of Education, which regulates schools, decided to eliminate teaching evolution from the biology curriculum. Second, the local school board in Dover, Pennsylvania, a mix of rural and suburbia near York, PA, required teachers to teach intelligent design as part of the science curriculum.
You may recall that former President Bush had been heavily scrutinized for what his critics claimed were actions that ignored or distorted the application of science in government agencies that are supposed to make decisions based on science and research rather than political ideology. This only underscores the importance of understanding how science functions within the context of our society.
Since Americans often mix politics, religion, and their own opinion together, this module will address the differences between scientific debate, political debate, and religious debate over knowledge. A debate over science and religion may end up like the end of a Jerry Springer show or Monday Night Raw on World Wrestling Entertainment. In this section you’ll learn that science and religion are both very different tools for understanding humanity and understanding the Earth. Their differences often leads to heated debates and confusion within the public.
Within this discussion, we will go over the characteristics of science and how it has safeguards to partition itself from religious and political ideas. and learn the controversial ideas of mixing science and religion: Creationism and most varieties of Intelligent Design (ID). We’ll also examine the controversy over Creationism and ID being taught in the science classroom and see if these ideas qualify as pseudoscience.