Religion and Science

Religion and Science

1. Creation of the Universe

   • Religion (Genesis)
     • Earth created in 6 days by God
     • God created the world and everything in it perfectly
     • Only fundamentalists beleive this word for word
   • Science (Big Bang Theory)
     • Purely coincindental that everything happened and formed the universe
     • A mixture of hot gases quickly cooled down and expanded in the Big Bang
   • Many religious people will take there own twist on a mix of religion and science

2. Darwin's Theory of Evolution

   • This theory suggests that everything slowly evolved since the beginning of life to gradually adapt to their environment and beat the competition in their ecosystem
   • Some Christians wouldn't believe this because this means God didn't create humans specially
   • Survival of the fittest is a theory that suggests that only the animals that were particularly good at hunting and therefore surviving would pass on their genes for survival
   • This theory would debunk the story of Adam and Eve

3. Humans and Animals

   • Stewardship
     • A Christian belief that humans are here to care for the environment
     • Humans can make moral decisions and therefore need to take care of the other animals
     • God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to look after it as Stewards
   • Dominion
     • This is sometimes interpreted that we should be stewards
     • Also can be used to say that humans can do whatever they can do with the world, they rule over it
     • God gave humans dominion over the world

4. Christians Responses to Environmental Issues

   • Supporting Charities (CAFOD and Christian Aid)
   • Watching their carbon footprint
   • Recycling
   • Teach other people to look after the environment
   • Buying Fairtrade
   • Many Christians believe that is it their duty to look after God's world