Quote:
Originally Posted by Matth
Religion exists in the unknown, and science is making the unknown a much smaller place and correcting mistakes in a way which was at one time called heresy.
The "heavens" do not revolve around the Earth. We have sent spaceships up and there is nothing up there, while "down below" there is a pretty good approximation to hellfire.
I think religious education, if trying to be inclusive, should also cover the perfectly valid points of atheism and agnosticism, after all, any religion is only someone else's interpretation of unreliable non-information.
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This is to assume (mistakenly) that the purpose of religion is to explain the material universe. It's a common misconception, and to be fair, religious leaders down the ages haven't helped their own cause. The medieval Roman Catholic hierarchy was particularly bad at this, but let's not forget that the Renaissance and the Christian reformation went hand in hand - Christianity began to re-focus on the actual teachings of the Bible and this freed up the arts and sciences to begin thinking and exploring, unencumbered by spurious notions of the forbidden.
The Bible establishes God as creator, his creation as fallen, and his intention to redeem (save, rescue) human beings from an eternity banished from his presence. Science has nothing to say about any of these things, nor can it. Science explains the mechanics of the material universe. It can say what happens, and how, in extraordinary detail, but it cannot say why. Sadly, some have come to the conclusion that anything science can't address is irrelevant, or non-existent. That, I think, is a real pity. However I agree that a programme of religious education should address that and attempt to explore people's reasons for believing it.