Essay on Faith and Reason

Submitted By aprice818
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Though my public school education would argue, faith and science have had an unbreakable bond from the beginning of the universe’s existence. It’s been proven that some of the world’s greatest scientist looked to greater beings to give meaning to their profound work. The idea of science being interconnected faith is one that even those who do not believe have acknowledged readily. With that being said, it is clear that the world of faith has given purpose to those great minds. Because of this, I whole-heartedly believe that science is the driving force behind the great scientific movements from ancient Greece to modern day.

The beginning of this fortuitous and beautiful relationship goes all the way back to the beginnings of western thought. When the great philosophers of ancient Greece roamed the earth, the idea of faith was one that every person in the Senate wrestled with. The question that must be asked, are faith and religion related? Thought most in America think of Christian sects when the word “faith” is used. One important distinction that must be made is that the word “faith” does not equate to the word religion. These Greek Senators surely believed in something, but that something was not the Americanized, Mel Gibson-esk, white Jesus Christ that most of us have come to visualize when we think of the word faith. Faith to them was something much deeper than that. Whether it was in a plethora of Greek gods that lived a few thousand feet above in the clouds, or that the emperor himself was their savior, the word faith must be distinguished from the thought of religion.

Now that this distinction has been made, I think that it is very fair to argue that these Senators believed in something. Whatever that something may be is up for debate, but when Aristotle said that things fell to the ground at different speeds because of their composition, there must have been a reason behind it. If it fell to the grounds that a slower speed, it must have been composed of air, like a feather. Oppositely, if it fell faster, it must have been made of the earth and needed to return to it. Even though he may have been proven wrong by Newton’s gravitational laws, the idea behind the theory was similar. There must be a reason for these things. Our creator endowed us was an insatiable hunger for knowledge, and these scientific studies are proof. Though I am not arguing that scientists must have believed in a creator, I must believe that this urge was felt by every one of them. This “faith” in whatever drove them was just a shadow of their created conscience.

When Newton worked to discover the laws of gravity, he was quoted saying “We account the Scriptures of God to be the most sublime philosophy. I find more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history whatever.” This gives us a clear indication that he did indeed believe that there was a order to be discovered in this world. This “faith” in a greater order showcases the previous point that there must have
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