Supplements to each other

The modern world has taken science to new levels because of all the advancements in technology.  Whether you stay here on the Earth or go into outer space, science has advanced in every area.  I'm thankful that I live in this world on the threshold of quantum leaps in science advances.

But, it has set up a battle in the minds of those who decide religion needs to be a priority in their lives.  I try to understand some of the religious viewpoints, but they elude me most of the time.  I don't understand, for example, why people refuse to believe that the history of the world only goes back to around 4500 BCE when it is so clear that humans arrived late on the scene and that many other animals current and extinct preceded them.  I don't get it when people think that stem cell treatment and perfections in medicine and food are "playing God."  I find it hard to comprehend that people say we have never been to the moon (or Mars) and that the vast, immense, unlimited amount of space cannot hold other life.

So, for a person living in the modern world to accept some of the tenets of religion is many times not to consider what is helpful and possible for humanity in the advancement of becoming better as a civilization and, therefore, better as an individual.  Not everything in religion boils down to a bottom-line, but it seems to me that the main force of religion is to live decent, respectable, respectful lives benefiting ourselves and our posterity as a society.

That's a little off the beaten path for the rule keepers among us.  But, I think religion has less to do with keeping rules and more to do with living in harmony with others and in contentment with our own inner peace.  Rules for societies vary and take care of themselves.  So, religion is not needed for that function in the modern world.  But, decency and contentment are always needed .  Part of decency and contentment requires progress to be made in every realm of life.  Science is a really necessary ingredient for that to happen.  What both religion and science yield to humanity are not at cross-aims.  They are supplements to each other.