The relationship between the belief in a deity, and the study of the natural world is a very long, and complicated argument where neither side can be proven wrong. However when presented with both sides, and their reasoning, your own conclusion can be drawn.

According to Oxford Dictionaries the definition of religion is “the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.” However the definition of science from the same source is “the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.” Now there is nothing here that would cause too much controversy between the two, however the key phrase in the above definition of science  is “the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.” Physical and natural, that is something that religion is strictly not.

Though religion has been around since recorded history, and science is something relatively new in comparison extreme controversy has come up between the two. This this is because the belief in an all powerful being or beings has been a commun way to explain supernatural, or unexplainable events until about 184 years ago when science started to explain these phenomenons. It was these exact explanations that angered, and insulted many religious believers, whose religion gave them very different explanations.

The controversy sparked a question, which is real the gods or the facts we know today? This is a question many are still trying to solve today, if only indirectly. However there is the ever present possibility that both can coincide together, that they are not mutually exclusive to  each other.

The possibilities could be endless, and the answers inconclusive. No one yet knows the answer and we may never know the truth, but there are still those who keep looking for the answer.