[Podgajski]

If you look at religion, folklore, mythology, as metaphors, then you really can’t exclude anything as a religion, that includes science, which is also a metaphor. All language is a metaphor. Science as you practice it today, to me, is also a religion. I don’t mean that to denigrate science in anyway. We need metaphors to make the infinite more manageable.

And by metaphor I mean a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else, especially something abstract.

[edgyquant]

You’re definitely correct about the religion part. That people want their religion to have “modern physics” shows just how religious science has become in the last century.

Religion is supposed to be about guidance for people and how to live a good life as a part of the whole. Dealing with ethical codes, coping with the human condition of stress and suffering, familial and social bonds etc. Science on the other hand, at least hard science, is focused on making predictions about the material world. The two have very little overlap in general and trying to mix them I fear will not result in good science or good religion.

[kiba]

Religion is supposed to be about guidance for people and how to live a good life as a part of the whole. Dealing with ethical codes, coping with the human condition of stress and suffering, familial and social bonds etc.

It's all just mythology that also have some moral guidance, some of which is incompatible or purported to be incompatible with existence of people I care about.

It isn't made for you and me today. It's made for people who lived thousand of years ago with their concerns and values.

Science on the other hand, at least hard science, is focused on making predictions about the material world. The two have very little overlap in general and trying to mix them I fear will not result in good science or good religion.

Science is one of our most valuable and most reliable way to answer questions about reality. As such, it will always be a useful tool to help inform our moral questions, even if it's basically mostly silent on that question.

[int_19h]

Religion is basically faith + ritual. If you have faith in the scientific method, and you have some rituals that are meant to reinforce that faith either in individuals or in collectives (say, peer review), I don't see why that couldn't be packaged as religion if desired. It's just... why?

[Podgajski]

> Science on the other hand, at least hard science, is focused on making predictions about the material world.

This was a purpose of the I Ching, divination!

What else is science, but only a more refined method of this practice?

And your definition of religion is very limited. Science can also guide us. I had to live a good life as part of a hole. It can also help cope with stress and suffering. Science gave us air-conditioning, and that reduces a lot of our suffering!