Many are giving way to the pestilential tide of the trending science vs. religion ideology instead of the science and religion mindset, and in the words of Dante, a single message is worthy: Abandon hope all ye who enter here.

Polarized debates between people of religion and scientists have turned the relationship between science and religion into the newest battle royal of civilization.

Believing in science vs. religion, or vice versa, often involves believing in one at the expense of the other and unfortunately serves as one of the most commonly traveled highways to narrow-mindedness.

Nothing has ever been a more serious threat to the safety and intelligence of the world than the ongoing epidemic of intolerance.

A large percentage of the populace can find common ground between various religions and the advances in science.

A survey of 10,000 people from various backgrounds revealed that only 27 percent of respondents found science and religion to be at odds, according to the National Journal.

This statistic gives hope to the remaining 73 percent of individuals who can reconcile their religious beliefs with scientific facts, but those 27 percent place themselves in both intellectual jeopardy and physical danger.

With the recent debate between Ken Ham and Bill Nye about creationism and evolution, the gap between faith-based and evidence-based arguments has become relatively well known. Many creationists want U.S. schools to teach creationism either in lieu of, or side-by-side with evolution, according to The Guardian.

Creationism is the Christian belief that God created the universe, the earth, and all of the life within the past 10,000 years, according to the article from the National Journal. However, there is scientific evidence that contributes to the theory that the world is billions of years old.   

Faith by definition is unprovable whereas science is not accepted by the scientific community unless it can be quantified, retested and peer-reviewed.

According to CNN, a piece of a mineral called zircon was found at a sheep ranch in Western Australia. The zircon dates back 4.4 billion years.

Unfortunately, ignorance can’t always be cured.   

A Pennsylvania couple from a small Pentecostal community is facing 20 years or more in prison after the death of a second child who was not seen by a doctor, according to The Huffington Post. Their first child, a 2-year-old boy, died in 2009 due to untreated pneumonia. 

The refusal of modern medicine treatments by certain faith systems that are proponents of the so-called ‘faith-healing’ is a ghastly demonstration of using religion as a justification to denounce science.

Religion can be a dark force under the right circumstances. Proponents of faith healing believe that medical treatments are against the word of God, according to the Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine.

William Shakespeare once wrote hell is empty and all the devils are here. His prose perfectly captures the mentality required to sacrifice a child to a dogma in an age where medical treatment can solve health problems that were considered a death sentence 100 years ago.

Science and religion can coexist without problems, but large scale propaganda denouncing one or the other helps no one, and especially those who have figuratively ‘drunk the Kool-Aid’ of their preferred culture.

Being close-minded is a choice, and the fate of your immortal soul, whether the spiritual or moral manifestation, is completely up to you.

-Corrine Harris is a senior animal science major from Edmonds. She can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of Student Publications.