[dropit_sphere]

That's not the important distinction. Religion is also trying to figure out reality. If science thought it could detect fairies, then science would study fairies. The distinction is rather in method; science uses (hopefully) well-designed experiments and peer review; religion uses...other methods.

[louthy]

This is an important point which I think many miss. I'm not remotely religious, and I see the errors in the so called truths of each religion. I used to consider people of faith to be either stupid or brainwashed, but then I watched The Day The Universe Changed[1], a beautifully written BBC documentary by James Burke from 1985. It's much easier to watch it[2] than me try to replicate everything said on there. But the essence is the point that dropit_sphere made, and that is both religion and science are trying to figure out the truth. But use different methods to acquire it.

The difference is that the scientific truth is always changing. The scientific truth today is different from the truth 300 years ago. And will be different again in 300 years time. So how true is that 'truth'? If the things we believe to be true today are untrue tomorrow, then how can people of science be so hostile to the 'truths' of religion? And what's the end-game? When will we finally know the truth?

People of faith get their absolute unchanging truths from their religion, not that the religions themselves are truth seeking in the same way as science.

Anyway, it's definitely worth a watch and very thought provoking. He also predicts the potential totalitarian use of the internet, along with the ideas of global communities sharing knowledge and ultimately each person's own truths.

I have since stopped being quite so brutal in my opinions about people of faith.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Universe_Changed

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QgNpYg0IOU

[janvidar]

Well, religion tells you the answer, so there is no point in looking.