Religion Vs Astronomy

Religion and science has always been in direct competition with one another. Religion, broadly speaking ,is a way of life or belief based on a person's ultimate relation with the universe or a God. In this sense such diverse systems such as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judiasm may be considered as religions. In a more commonly accepted sense, however, the term religion refers to faith in a divenly created order of world, agreement with which is the means of salvation for a community. Astronomy is a science dealing with the celestial bodies in the universe including the planets and their satelites, star and the intersteller matter, meteors and comets, galaxies and cluster of galaxies. Modern astronomy is divided into several branches : astrometry , the ovservational study of the positions and motions of the bodies; celestial mechanics, the mathematical study of their motions as explained by the theory of gravitation; astrophysics, the study of chemical composition and physical condition from spectrum analysis and the laws of physics; cosmology, the study of the universe as a whole.

The ultimate goal of science is to prove the existance of God with facts, while the existance of God is simply based on belief and faith. While 96% of the people believe in the superior being of some sort, some might say that religion clouds the mind of otherwise logical individuals and makes it impossible for them to pursue the truth of the universe.

While the debate on which view is right continues, somewhere in the middle stand religious followers who are also scientists.

Many people claim that the belief in religion does simply from the need "to believe in something". However it is difficult to argue against the fact that religion does include its followers on something greater, than just a " need". It alows for an identification with a greater body of religious believers and for inclusion in the love of God. The only thing religion asks for return is the faith in its teachings which is made up of the morals and the existance of the God which they cherish and worship.

In the movie "Contact" , Ellie Arroway represents a large number of scientist in the world. She is torn between science and religion , however she is unable to rely on the assumed truths of the teachings of religions.

Science is the quest of truth , it allows her to discover the truth for herself. Technology isn't the God that science seeks , for it tries to create no God, science does not believe in any sort of God.

As religion accepts the truth as what written in its texts and taught in its teachings , science continues , through experiments and research, to search for " the truth of the universe". Both seek to fulfill the same thirst ; a desire that mass number of indviduals have to understand and be a part of something so vast that it includes everything, everywhere.

Religion and science may be in direct opposition to one another but the fact is they have the same goal ; to find the truth, whether it be based on faith or facts.