Rob,
Obviously you would expect me not to agree entirely:)
Religion and science are not really asking the same questions.
Science deals with the practical issues of living in and exploring this universe and everything within it, including ourselves.
Religion asks whether there is anything existing outside the boundaries of our natural experience and whether that something could or does interact in any way with us.
If anything outside does break in and interact with this universe it would be on an ad hoc basis (our conception of the miraculous) and would therefore not be open to falsification or verification by empirical research - especially if for some reason it did not wish to place itself under the microscope.
Religion intersects with science when it tries to understand the nature of humanity - why do we perceive beauty around us? Why do we have a concept of justice? Why do we sometimes do that which we do not want to do? Why do we have such great strengths, but also such great frailties?
It is my belief that science can answer many of these but not all.
It is my belief that religion may hold the key to these questions.
You said that science and religion ask the same questions but science actually answers them.
Well where they do ask the same questions it is not clear to me that science can answer all of them - and in this life we will never know for sure if religion has the answers. But it is possible by my reckoning that religion may be answering them, but we just cannot verify it.
Regards,
Blacknad.
