Why is religion, spirituality, and philosophy combined with science on these forums?

[John 6:29]

I can understand philosophy and science being combined as philosophy often leads to branches of science. However, I don't understand why religion and spirituality are combined with science. I honestly don't mind, as I don't spend some much time here, but it's not as if science and religion/spirituality are by necessity at odds (or in this case have a common ground) and require to be in the same forum topic.

I think, if they were separated, it'd stop a lot of debating and flaming. I believe that debating is perfectly fine, but when people are asking genuine questions, it doesn't help when every topic turns into: "Science disproves religion, there is no God, there's no evidence," when the related topic has absolutely nothing to do with whether God's existence is real.

I believe, philosophy (perhaps -- it is debatable whether philosophy should belong with religion) and science should have their own section where science and philosophy can co-exist and debate about the existence of God and leave a religion/spirituality section separated from it so that seekers may find genuine help without completely demolishing their threads.

I don't know if anyone agrees with me on it, but it gets irritated going through threads trying to find genuine questions while weeding out the 70000 posts debating the existence of God. It literally seems like EVERY thread turns to that and I figured I'd bring it here to see if anyone agrees with me on this before bringing it elsewhere. However, I realize that posting here will probably (ironically) turn this thread into another thread debating the existence of God.

Thoughts?

[Gingerbread Latte]

Well, most arguments against religion are based from a Scientific point of view so maybe that's why?

[John 6:29]

Originally Posted by Serenity.

Well, most arguments against religion are based from a Scientific point of view so maybe that's why?

Hence why a philosophy and science forum would work, but for religious seekers and people who already have a religion, there should be a place to discuss without debating and going off topic, which, if you examine any thread in this area... it leads to a debate.

Science and philosophy should be used to discuss the existence of God whereas a religious seeker does not necessarily care to discuss the existence of God because they already believe in God. Religion doesn't exist to prove God but is for those who believe in God (or the supernatural, generally speaking).

Consider it this way, what if someone started a thread on evolution and had a genuine question, say about speciation. Then a religious person comes in and says, "evolution isn't true because my religious text doesn't talk about it." It is relatively the equivalent of someone using evolution and various scientific theories such as the big bang or string theory to say God doesn't exist (which neither theories disprove God just as a religious text doesn't disprove evolution).

In other words, lets say a person was seeking a question about how to be saved in the Christian religion. Would it be fair to say that a Christian should answer the question and an atheist should not come in and say, "God doesn't exist so salvation is useless." Now, it doesn't come so blunt in the threads, but it is generally what happens. The way I see it, religion should be separated from science because science doesn't necessarily do anything for religion. Especially to those who, despite evidence, believe their religion no matter what. Thus the discussion on the existence of God, or which God, should be left to a philosophical, science, or historical forum. Or else threads should be moderated more closely because they all seemingly go off topic (which isn't a complaint, due to the sheer amount of posts debating in this thread, it'd be difficult to moderate... hence the easy solution is to separate the topics).

I can see where you're coming from. It's true that a lot of the threads on this forum lead to a debate. But I also see many genuinely helpful replies posted in response to people's questions regarding religion and/or science. It is definitely true that there are going to be people who post with the intent of stirring up a debate, but that happens on other forums as well, not just here. All debating aside, I think there is a lot of good, well thought-out advice given. (I've even seen atheists give acceptable advice to those questioning their religion.) OPs can ignore the hardcore debaters if they so desire and only pay heed to the responses that answer their questions sufficiently.

I would also like to point out that it is not only the views of theists and non-theists that conflict. I've seen theists post generally unhelpful comments on the threads of other theists. For some, there is still tension between religions. For instance, a Christian might take offense to the beliefs of a Wiccan and vice versa. I feel like even if the subjects were separated, there would still be debating. Some people are very fixed in their beliefs and anything that deviates from those beliefs stirs up a debate with them.

In answer to your initial question, religion and science are both attempts to explain how the world works. They both revolve around how people perceive the world. So I think that's why they're lumped together into one topic.

[John 6:29]

Originally Posted by Eblouie

In answer to your initial question, religion and science are both attempts to explain how the world works. They both revolve around how people perceive the world. So I think that's why they're lumped together into one topic.

I see science as answering the how the world works, but religion as the answer as to why the world works. I don't see them in opposition. I believe philosophy is getting confused with religion.

[OMFG!You'reActuallySmart!]

Originally Posted by mewithYou

I think, if they were separated, it'd stop a lot of debating and flaming. I believe that debating is perfectly fine, but when people are asking genuine questions, it doesn't help when every topic turns into: "Science disproves religion, there is no God, there's no evidence," when the related topic has absolutely nothing to do with whether God's existence is real.

The current religion, philosophy and science forum does allow for debating so that wouldn't stop. I put a suggestion in a while ago to have debating be allowed in here and I was told it was allowed and the rules were clarified on that.

Topics of "science disproves religion" can be interesting but I agree, science addresses the how while religion addresses the why. But there are some debates where science and religion to come together, such as when there are threads regarding creation of organisms on Earth or formation of the universe, there are religious and scientific views. Threads could be for only members of a certain belief but as I've seen on other websites, science sometimes gets convoluted during some of those discussions and these convolutions are then presented in threads open to all believers.

Originally Posted by mewithYou

I believe, philosophy (perhaps -- it is debatable whether philosophy should belong with religion) and science should have their own section where science and philosophy can co-exist and debate about the existence of God and leave a religion/spirituality section separated from it so that seekers may find genuine help without completely demolishing their threads.

That makes no sense. The concept of god is a religious one, so religion will automatically have to go into sections with philosophy and science if god is to be discussed. However, science forums may want to discuss things other than the existence or non-existence of a god. I'd be a bit more willing to have separate religion/spirituality sections providing that no science is discussed in them because that leads to members posting their nonsense about something scientific. Main example of this is biological evolution where certain members, mostly those who are religious, post incorrect dribble of evolution and continue to post that dribble even after being told with evidence it is incorrect. I'm all for having religious threads not get destroyed by scientific posts but scientific threads cant get destroyed by religious posts in order to make it fair.

I'd also propose another thing, which is if people who aren't well-versed with a religion post incorrect information about that religion, they should accept and use those corrections. The same goes for when religious members who aren't well-versed in science post incorrect information, they should accept and use those corrections. There have been too many threads where the same individuals post the same dribble despite being told otherwise and it is a real annoyance because they can derail threads by not listening. It's almost as annoying as how many threads turn into whether god exists or not.

For diversity though, for a separate religious section, why not have it discuss religions other than Christianity?

However, where would philosophy go if there were to be two separate sections? It applies to both, so should there be two separate sections and each have philosophy?

Originally Posted by mewithYou

I don't know if anyone agrees with me on it, but it gets irritated going through threads trying to find genuine questions while weeding out the 70000 posts debating the existence of God. It literally seems like EVERY thread turns to that and I figured I'd bring it here to see if anyone agrees with me on this before bringing it elsewhere. However, I realize that posting here will probably (ironically) turn this thread into another thread debating the existence of God.

You are right, many threads do turn into debates of whether god exists or not, however, in defense to some of that, some of those threads do debate whether god exists or not. Not all threads are dedicated to that but some of them are.

[Rosalie]

I think that it has to do with the topic of belief. Some people believe in science instead of religion, or vice versa or both. The two are often entwined in discussion, so why confuse people as to which forum they're supposed to post these matters in?

[dr2005]

Originally Posted by Serenity.

Well, most arguments against religion are based from a Scientific point of view so maybe that's why?

Ironically science has very little to say on the topic of religion or the existence of God, simply because it has no impact upon its work. What you get is people trying to use scientific discoveries to disprove religion by supporting their own philosophical views with it, and that is a different matter altogether. The perception of a conflict between religion and science is one put across by a certain brand of extremists, both religious and non-religious, for whom it suits their purposes to have such a conflict.