Science, Religion and fact

Part 8 of 8 in the series Who am I?

Everyone interprets factual evidence through the filter of our values, feelings, tastes, and past experiences.

Most claims about life are interpretations.

Opinion is a judgment based on interpretation of belief in facts.

Belief is a judgment based on interpretation of cultural or personal faith, morality or values.

Facts are information claimed to be true beyond argument.
There are facts that are not disputable, but even 1+1=2 can be placed in a context where this may not be considered true.

Science claims to be based on fact, however most science is based on assumptions, not fact. For example, theory about black holes is not truth, as there is no way of verifying the competing theories.

While there is increasing information and evidence base, the important issues of life are relational and/or metaphysical.

In this sense science and religion are both largely interpretational opinion.

The contention behind this song is the claim of those in the power bases of both science and religion that they hold some privileged position of interpretation.

Science critices religion and vice versa, because life is rarely black and white.
In both cases wherever someone claims they know for sure, they are dangerous to the endevour to seek individual truth.

Science should always respect that even in fields where it appears that undisputed claims are facts, they may not be in the future. History tells us that.

“As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.”

Albert Einstein

Series navigation
Interactive Enneagram |