Religious studies

Religious studies
The relationship between religion and science has been filled with tension, particularly in the West, primarily since the Enlightenment. The persecution of some of the scientists by the church in the pre-Enlightenment era is partly responsible for that negative relationship. In other words, it is that particular historical context that produced the adverse relationship between the two in the ensuing centuries. In other parts of the world, the relationship between religion and science has been more collaborative. There are many scientists here in the U.S. and abroad with a religious affiliation. The issue, then, whether there is an inherent and inevitable conflict between science and religion or rather the conflict is between some scientists and some religious people with their particular understanding of religion. There are those who argue that religion and science are inherently in conflict with each other while there are others who disagree with that assumption and think that the differences between the two are reconcilable. Do you think religion and science are inherently in conflict and mutually exclusive? Explain why? Are the differences reconcilable on issues such as the origins of human species about which there is great disagreement between those who defend creationism and those who defend the theory of evolution?