Conflict or the Dialog Between Science and Religion

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleRazdor ili dijalog nauke i religije
3. Language term Serbian
4. Alternative title Cognitive Apartheid: Inevitability or Solvable Problem? (en)
5. lemma author Stevanovic, Aleksandra
6. Publication date 27-01-2019
7. lemma work Jeftic, Andrej [Author]. Cognitive Apartheid: Inevitability or Solvable Problem?. 138–143
8. lemma manifestations Serbian Theology in the Twentieth Century : Research Problems and Results - Belgrade: Faculty of Orthodox Theology, 2015.
9. Keywords
   1. Faculty of Orthodox Theology
   2. Stojković, Biljana
   3. Jeftic, Andrej [Author]. Can we believe in God and have faith in the theory of evolution?
10. Keywords Evolution - theism - cognitive apartheid
11. Url 27/01/2019
12. Lemma body

    1. American physicist and theologian Ian Barbour distinguished four types (models) of the relationship between science and religion:

       (1) conflict,

       (2) independence,

       (3) dialogue

       (4) integration.

       According to the first type, religion and science are in inevitable conflict, since both tend to truthfulness, and the truth can only be one. According to the second model, science and religion pose different questions, have a distinct and separate field of study and methods and therefore cannot even come into conflict. Science deals with empirical reality and religion is the question of meaning and moral values. The third model relies on this one but goes a step further, searching for conceptual parallels and space for dialogue between religion and science. The fourth type implies the possibility of integrating scientific and religious knowledge into a comprehensive scientific or metaphysical system. Each of these models of relationship may be found in the perspective of both scientists and theologians, as well as outside academic circles – in the domain of public opinion.

       Probably the most popular – in that it attracts supporters or attention – is a model of conflict. One of the promoters of this model is Biljana Stojkovic, Professor of the University of Belgrade. The author of the paper therefore offers a brief overview of one of the papers by professor Stojkovic in which this type of relationship is presented as inevitable when it comes to the concrete relationship between the theory of evolution and theology. The author finally states that the basic problem of the discussed text is that it does not offer any solution. More precisely, it seems to offer a solution that the religious worldview should be eradicated in every way, even in the education system. On the contrary, the author of the paper believes that the path of reconciliation between the theory of evolution and the religious worldview (and science and theology, in general) is the way in which the cognitive apartheid may be overcome and states that its consequences are primarily at the expense of science.