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Recently in America, science and religion have come into conflict over a number of issues. Issues such as the development of stem cells, homosexuality being natural or unnatural and the theory of evolution have created an invisible line in the sand between Americans' religious beliefs and their accepted science.
While these issues are divisive by nature, the situation is exasperated by the sensationalistic media, with each side demonizing the other's argument without fully understanding, or attempting to fully understand it.
Stem cells are special cells taken from the early stages of human embryonic development capable of molding themselves to many different types of cells that the body may need. These cells offer much hope in the fight to treat crippling diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
Religious groups and leaders deplored the use of potential human life, no matter what the medical and scientific community stood to gain, holding fast to the idea life begins once the egg is fertilized.
In 1998, Dr. James Thomson developed a technique to isolate and grow cells, which is currently being used to experiment on stem cells.
Three years later, President Bush set the country's national policy on stem cells, allowing research, so long as the embryos were created before a specific date and originally created for reproductive purposes.
This is a positive step forward for the scientific community and gives hope to people suffering from crippling diseases for which there are no cures.
Within the American system, however, there is still fierce resistance to stem cell research.
Over the past five years, there have been repeated occurrences of many groups calling for a national ban of the experimentation on cells from human embryos, such as the Lambkin Resolution in 2007.
Also, in 2005, the bishops of the Catholic Church launched an advertising campaign attacking proposed stem cell research advances claiming "science does not have to kill in order to cure."
This opposition continues within Congress and the religious communities, largely limiting the funding available to researchers and effectively slowing the research process.
Another conflictive issue between science and religion is the nature of homosexuality.
Many conservative religious groups think homosexuality is unnatural and a conscious immoral choice made by people.
While science cannot confirm the morality or immorality of homosexuality, National Geographic reports documented cases of wild animals participating in same-sex attraction and intercourse.
These results indicate that homosexuality is indeed naturally occurring within nature and is not necessarily a choice.
In the midst of this debate, Pope Benedict XVI has held to his decidedly anti-gay theology, saying that homosexuality is immoral.
Other religions such as Islam and Judaism also have very firm views on homosexuality, classifying it as a sin in their most prominent denominations.
There are cases of openly gay Orthodox rabbis, however, and there are several active gay Imams in Iran and South Africa who continue teaching the Quran. The views of all these religions deal directly with the hot-button issue of gay marriage and will surely be an important factor in the eventual federal ruling on the issue.
Possibly the most publicized and prominent conflict between modern science and religion, however, is the theory of evolution.
Many conservative Christian groups adhere to the Bible's verses, stating that God created people as they are now and humans did not evolve from animals.
There has been controversy in many states, such as Pennsylvania, over whether schools should be allowed to teach evolution, which states that humans have evolved gradually from primates to Homo sapiens through the process of natural selection.
However, with clear evidence to support the theory of evolution and its wide acceptance throughout the world's scientific communities, it is largely undisputed throughout the world.
Many Islamic scholars, as recorded on IslamOnline, believe while there are references to the Quran of several stages of development in man's creation, he was never a mere animal, from which humans have evolved.
Some religions have accepted and even originally incorporated the idea of evolution into their faith, without completely abandoning the ideas of religion, stating evolution does refute the concept God created humans, but rather he created them through a means humans are just beginning to understand.
It is disappointing science and religion are coming into conflict in American society, because they do not inherently contradict one another.
In fact, they are similar, both with goals of explaining things humans don't understand, and with the methods of learning from teachers and books.
Perhaps if the moral guidance of religion were involved in past sciences, humans would not have created some of the world's more unfortunate inventions, such as the atomic bomb or biological weapons.
Contact Francisco Rendon at frendon.advocate@gmail.com.
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