I read with interest with regards to the recent construction of the "Creationism" museum – a museum in Cincinnati USA which showcases the evidence for creationism in an attempt to provide a more balanced account on the origin of species. "Now where have I heard such a story before?" I asked myself. "Probably in 1001 Arabian Nights", my cynical side remarked. The reality is, this "war" has gone on for centuries. From the incarceration of Galileo Galilei in the Middle Ages to the recent banning of Darwinism in American Schools, this war is far from new, and equally far from over.
Science and religion has always been mutually exclusive, made worse by the centuries of prosecution from those who oppose science. In the past, persecution has been the form of denial through the creation of non-violable dogmas. Excerpts from an ancient tome bandied about as the absolute truth and any thing not in accordance with it must automatically be false. Now, with time, it has progressed to lobbying and political pressure on the educational system and as the "creationism" museum will attest to – the use of science in religion.
Science has always been the unbiased study of nature. The key to science is to never stop questioning, to ask, to seek and to answer. Theories in science are rarely carved in stone. It can be verified over and over again through experiments. Old theories are discarded as new one emerges. Progress is readily observable, from the likes of the gramophone to the current shiny ipods so many of us own.
Religion on the other hand, as its synonym suggests, depends on faith. And from sayings such as "leap of faith, have some faith etc", it is easily deducible that faith is the unquestionable belief in a concept or thing regardless of the nature of its truth. We must believe that God created this world; we must believe that the Red sea once existed as two entities and that lepers were cured and feet once trod on the surface of body of liquid water. Faith is the only ingredient required – no more, no less.
Back to the soon to be functional Creationism Museum, this museum shall fly in the face of the "truth" it so yearns to protect. Faith does not need evidence, it does not need proof. Worst of all, it does not need a concrete monument displaying evidence that mainstream science has not validated. Monuments and the money funding it cannot constitute evidence, constant experimentation and questioning does. It is the ultimate tragedy - attempting to validate faith thru science, for both cannot co-exist. Forcing this unholy union leads only to the loss of integrity on both sides, and while new scientific theories can emerge to replace the old, the same thing cannot be said about the other.