Valerie over at spoken-for has written a bit about the movie Mission to Mars, which I agree was complete trash. But she talks about the origins of the universe and stuff, and in that I think we have a difference that needs to be addressed, not necessarily directly to her but in general. (So, Valerie, if you happen upon this, I’m not “calling you out”, I was just inspired to write this after reading your post.)
I don’t understand why people think that science and religion are mutually excusive. It’s always creationism versus evolution. Why can’t we have God and evolution? I think it’s perfectly reasonable to use the possibility of a supreme being to fill in for the answers that science simply doesn’t have.
The whole universe didn’t evolve in the Darwinian sense. There are atomic, chemical, magnetic, and gravitational reasons why things in space are as they are. Similarly, there are reasons why animals and plants evolved the way they did. It’s seems more a question of philosophy, but really our appreciation of the elegance and beauty of things is the product of being created in that same process. Science explains these things. What science doesn’t explain is where science itself came from. Who made the rules? Science doesn’t know.
I’m more impressed by the way the foundation that God (or whatever cosmic force started this “universe” thing) has laid has created everything, and has provided reason for how, if not why. That is to say, sure, the stuff is impressive, but the rules are so simple, elegant, and fantastic that if you choose to believe in “God or something”, that is where you would find him - Not in the beauty of a flower, but in the simple complexity of science that allows it to exist at all.
Science and religion are not mutually-exclusive.
So if you see God everywhere because God made science, that’s cool by me. But don’t discount something as proven as evolution, since you’re missing an opportunity to attribute something as beautiful as evolution to the almighty - certainly more impressive than the construction of a mere plant.
Incidentally, I started on a little project to write down some of the rules (specifically in the context of astronomy) in a simple way that everyone could understand. It’s grossly unattended, but this might be a good kickstart. Check it out at Indoor Astronomy.
