Science and Religion Need to Take Each Other Seriously

[cbayer]

31. I realize that my experience is greatly skewed by having been raised in some

of the most progressive, socially activists churches that exist in this country, but I never heard any of the preachers I had contact with talk about a direct connection to god for truth. However, I acknowledge that those people exist.

I was raised in a religious milieu where questioning was not only accepted, but encouraged. There was a scientific rigor in the way these theologians explored their and others beliefs. They dialogued extensively with people from all faiths, as well as non-believers. I was not exposed to the "one way" argument or those who felt they held the ultimate truth.

I recall being shocked when I began to understand the racial bigotry being led by some churches and by the Ku Klux Klan in particular. This was not the way I understood religion at all.

In order for people to understand that there are different kinds of religion and *areligion*, and that some are used for good and some are not, we most definitely need to dialogue.