There is no dichotomy between religion and science.

[juantoo3]

A strange future is here or awaiting us: mind-reading machines, genuine virtual reality, neural implants, customized drugs and many more scientific developments all have implications for our view of ourselves and of our spiritual possibilities. We have entered an era when our very humanness, in genetic terms, is no longer a necessary condition of our existence. The synthesis of human and machine intelligence is here. What will such changes to the conventional boundaries between self and world mean for us? Do the changes have relevance for a spirituality that is rooted in the recognition of the non-duality of consciousness?

Dichotomy? I believe so

While we probably are closer now, this stuff is 40 years old at least. "They" were talking this stuff in the 70s. I'm just wondering if the educated idiots behind such schemes are also building in safeguards...like Asimov's three laws of robotics? I'm inclined to think not, safety is seldom if ever considered as part of such envelope pushing schemes until too late, and safeguards are forced into the equation. In the case of the internet, safeguards at this point are largely too little, too late. "Science is the savior of humanity!" and simultaneously the destroyer of humanity. LOL, it just occurred to me that science exists in large part to save us from itself, it creates the monsters it needs to defend us from, it is the demon we fear most as we embrace it without question...

 

[wil]

LOL, it just occurred to me that science exists in large part to save us from itself, it creates the monsters it needs to defend us from, it is the demon we fear most as we embrace it without question...

yes that's a given....think superfund cleanup sites, think climate change, smokestack scrubbers...

And what was the best of science in the past is now considered 'bad' science...but science is not to be blamed, science doesn't kill people...it just provides the means...someone else implements it.

While the compatibility of science and religion may be in question their parallels are not.

 

[Devils' Advocate]

I can grant the disciplines of science and religion are dissimilar

Okay, I'll meet you half way on this one.

*If* G!d exists, and with the right tools, science theoretically *could* prove G!d

Cannot agree with you on this one. This Divinity exists outside of the space/time reality that we live in. There is no way that science could ever prove such a thing. It is just like the Multiverse theory. All the math says it is likely true, but I don't think science will ever be able to prove it. Why? Because we are trapped in but one universe. There is no way to view, measure, test for a universe beyond our own.

Which is why I believe science cannot prove whether a Divinity exists one way or the other. It is more than not being able to prove the negative. There is no way to prove the positive!

I think there may be some cultural bias in your sample...there are many Hindi and Buddhist scientists as well, not to mention the wide range of Pagan scientists

I do not know the answer to this. Well I know part of the answer. There is no issue with Buddhists being scientists as there are no Gods in Buddhism. Other non-English speaking religions, I do not know.

Your comment that there are a lot of Pagans in science is surprising to me. I have never heard such a thing. I don't think I know of a single scientist that claims to be Pagan. Atheists, sure. Plenty of those in science. But Pagan? Do you have any kind of source for this suggestion?

 

[wil]

I'm thinking of all the things we couldn't see/prove until we had the machinery to do it... like telescopes, microscopes, CERN... I've seen some device showing acupuncture meridians? maybe someday a G!dscope... (She's over there...now overthere....hell she's everywhere...and nowhere)

Pagan scientists... I know some that work for NASA...

 

[juantoo3]

This Divinity exists outside of the space/time reality that we live in. There is no way that science could ever prove such a thing. It is just like the Multiverse theory. All the math says it is likely true, but I don't think science will ever be able to prove it. Why? Because we are trapped in but one universe. There is no way to view, measure, test for a universe beyond our own.

To me this is a presumption I'm not prepared to make, in that I have no way of knowing that if G!d exists, G!d is "limited" to only outside of the time/space reality that we live in. Logically, practically and pragmatically it seems reasonable that G!d would at least be capable of operating in our "local" space/time, and while operating in our space/time should/would/could be measured. I'm with you on the multiverse thing though, and have been a vocal opponent for a long time.

Your comment that there are a lot of Pagans in science is surprising to me. I have never heard such a thing. I don't think I know of a single scientist that claims to be Pagan. Atheists, sure. Plenty of those in science. But Pagan? Do you have any kind of source for this suggestion?

I don't have a source directly, and one must also bear in mind that modern Pagans tend to be rather secretive...but a reading of older threads on this forum should shed a bit of light. I can state that in the medical field, the hospital I work, I have known at least three Wiccans over the past ten years or so...and that's just the one's not afraid to show themselves. I've known others, Druids and (I'm drawing a blank, a Scandanavian Pagan faith similar in ways to Wicca), not to mention my old friend I dearly miss who was Shaman. There are quite a few that were here at CR / IF way back, but as the membership grew more and more mainstream they kinda filtered away. Always skittish, they didn't appreciate being challenged or questioned.

 

[juantoo3]

Here is a general and simplistic overview:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_paganism