Do Philosophy and Religion conflict with one another?

Assignment No 1

Submitted By: Nabeel Riasat

Submitted To: Numan Ishrat

Roll No: S2F18BSEN0029

Subject: Intrduction to Philosophy

Topic: Is there conflict b/w philosophy and religion?

University Of Central Punjab Sheikhupura.

What is Religion? 2
Common Characteristics of Religions:..................................................................2

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 Do Philosophy and Religion conflict with one another?

What Is Philosophy?..................................................................................................4
Charateristics Of Philosophy:................................................................................4
What is the difference between Religion and Philosophy?...................................5
Relation Between Religion and Philosophy:.............................................................5
Do Philosophy and Religion Conflict with one another?..........................................6
1. Philosophy is all about taking something and thinking of it in a new way
and that something is sometimes God:..................................................................6
2. Religion is Resignation: Philosophy is Active.............................................6
3. Philosophy is willing to change as science advances and logic develops....6
4. Religion without bloodshed..........................................................................7
5. Philosophy is about asking questions, Religion is about blind faith............7
One is systematically false, the other is not:.........................................................7
6. Logic is the basis of Philosophy...................................................................8
7. Philosophy is the precursor to all of science.................................................8
8. They ask the same questions.........................................................................8
9. Religion in Harmony with Philosophy.........................................................9
10.Religion is part of philosophy..........................................................................9
11.Religion is a philosophy...................................................................................9
Philosophy of Religion:.............................................................................................9
The Meaning of Religious Beliefs:......................................................................10
Let us now turn to two prominent philosophical movements that challenged a
realist philosophy of God....................................................................................11
Positivism:.......................................................................................................11
Wittgensteinian Philosophy of Religion:.........................................................11
Religion and Science:..............................................................................................11
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................12

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 Do Philosophy and Religion conflict with one another?

What is Religion?
Religion is a belief; it has a set of code of conduct, principles, ethics and morals
to follow in one’s life. There are several religions in the world. It only means that
people of the world follow different kinds of religion that frame different sets of
principles, ethics, morals and codes of conduct to follow for the people that belong
to them.

Thus you have Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, and

Zoroastrianism to mention some of the religions of the world. Each of these
religions prescribes a separate set of principles, ethics and morals along with
customs to follow by the people of the particular religion.

Religion insists on the performance of rituals. On the other hand, if you are
religious you cannot do away with the performance of rituals and rites. They
become part and parcel of your life.

Common Characteristics of Religions:

In his book Religions of the World, Niels Nielsen presents 12 common
characteristics found in most religions.

1. Most religions include belief in the supernatural (spirits, gods, God) or belief
in some other Ultimate Reality beyond, yet connected to, human experience
and existence.
A. Hindus acknowledge 330 million gods and one Ultimate Reality, the
Brahman, which is beyond all names and forms.
B. Jews, Christians and Musslims (All originating from Abraham) consider
themselves Monotheists. Christians adopted the doctrine of the trinity
(Father, Son and Holly Spirit as three persons in one Godhead) but Muslims
reject it as a dangerous possible form of Polytheism.
2. Religions distinguish between the sacred and profane (or ordinary) in
terms of time, space, objects, and people.
A. Mecca is different from Milwaukee for Muslims.
B. Christmas and Easter are the most sacred days in the Christian
calendar.
3. Religions strongly encourage or require prescribed ritual activities for
individuals and communities of faith.
A. Rituals connected to birth and death frame the lifecycle in all
religions.
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 Do Philosophy and Religion conflict with one another?

B. Most religions celebrate and reenact sacred stories through annual

rituals.
4. Religions commonly promote a moral code or ethical principles to
guide individuals and communities.
A. The Ten Commandments anchor legal and moral requirements in
the biblical tradition, while shari'ah ("Islamic law") should ideally
govern Muslims in an Islamic state.
B. Following the path of the Buddha includes vows of poverty and
chastity, as well as dietary restrictions, for monks.
5. Religious life engages and incorporates common emotional and
intuitive human feelings.
6. Religions both encourage communication and provide ways to
communicate or connect with the divine.
A. Individual and corporate prayers are visible among Christians,
Muslims, and Jews.
B. Hindus and Buddhists refine meditative techniques in order to
discover the truth that is accessible within.
7. Through sacred stories, the religions provide a coherent worldview.
A. The meaning of creation has to somehow fit into a logical pattern
that explains how we get from where we are to where we hope to be.
B. Stories about the lives and teachings of the great religious leaders
underscore the nature of the human predicament and offer guidance
on how to realize the fullness of a hopeful future.
8. Religions organize life for individuals--including dress codes, personal
sacrifices, and appropriate occupations--in the context of their
respective worldviews.
A. A Buddhist monk wears a saffron robe and has a shaved head.
B. A Muslim woman wears the hijab, a traditional, loose-fitting
covering that may include a veil.
9. Religions require and promote social organization and institutional
forms to carry out the necessary functions of worship and leadership,
preserving orthodox teachings and practices.
A. Protestant Christians don't have a pope, and Sunni Muslims don't
have ayatollahs (supreme religious leaders) as Shi'ite Muslims do.
B. All communities, however, have religious functionaries and
institutional structures.
10. Religions promise an inner peace and harmony despite the
vicissitudes of life.
A. Discovering meaning that transcends physical existence enables
people of faith to overcome the challenges posed by disease, evil, and
injustice that permeate life and society.
B. The religions that have stood the test of time have offered hope and
meaning that move beyond mere physical survival.

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 Do Philosophy and Religion conflict with one another?

What Is Philosophy?
Philosophy, on the other hand, speaks about the realization of the supreme truth. It
deals with the topic of life after death. It speaks about the existence of the soul and
life hereafter. Philosophy establishes the divine nature of man. It questions the
absolute truth that each soul is potentially divine. This is philosophy associated
with religion. Philosophy can also mean, according to the Oxford English
dictionary, ‘the study of the theoretical basis of a particular branch of knowledge
or experience.’ An example is the philosophy of science. While religion insists on
the performance of rituals, philosophy does not emphasize the ritualistic aspect of
life. Philosophy is, in fact, construed to be a way of thinking. This is the reason
why philosophers are called as thinkers whereas propagators of religions are called
leaders. If you are philosophical then you need not perform rituals and other rites
connected with religion.

Charateristics Of Philosophy:
An astute scientist or engineer who has filed a patent, might observe that the
four elements of a sound patent appear inside this feature set (Numbers 3, 4, 5
and 9).
1.  Distinct – serves in an incremental or discrete critical-path role
2.  Cogent – is focused, concise and meaningful
3.  Novel – has not been fairly addressed before
4.  Non-obvious – not readily obvious to the average philosopher
5.  Leverages Prior Art – continues or fairly modifies prior philosophical
work
6.  Not Sophistry – not developed to feature nor protect an agenda
7.  Clarifying – decreases the entropy of knowledge and understanding
8.  Useful – bears incremental utility inside a specific context domain
9.  Teachable – Can be effectively communicated and sustained

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 Do Philosophy and Religion conflict with one another?

What is the difference between Religion and Philosophy?

Religion is a belief in a supreme power and worship of it as the creator and
controller of the universe without reasoning whereas philosophy is a pursuit of
wisdom by intellectual search and logical reasoning.

• Philosophy of religion questions the very existence of the supreme power.

• Religions discipline the people through a set of code of conduct, principles and
ethics whereas philosophy relies on the moral self-discipline.

• Religion is all about practices and customs whereas philosophy is all about
metaphysics.

• Philosophers are called as thinkers whereas propagators of religions are called

leaders.

• Religion insists on the performance of rituals whereas philosophy does not

emphasize the ritualistic aspect of life.

This is the basic difference between religion and philosophy. Hence, it can be said
that religion and philosophy are mutually exclusive and they cannot co-exist.

Relation Between Religion and Philosophy:

 Both religion and philosophy are normative in nature.
 Religion and philosophy are complementary.
 Philosophy is helpful in the development of religion.
 Philosophy interprets assumptions of religion.
 Religion broads the scope of philosophy.
 Both make man optimistic.
 Philosophy and Religion are related as theory and Practice.
 Philosophy renders Religion more intelligible by explaining it.
 Religion provides religious data to Philosophy.
 Religion can complete the philosophical explanation of life

Do Philosophy and Religion Conflict with one another?

Actually not yet, but they will soon As a planet we tend to treat them rather
differently. Philosophy is significantly more embedded within governments, even
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 Do Philosophy and Religion conflict with one another?

more so than religion. The difference is that religion, being "separate" from the
government, tends to get much more buzz, simply due to its nature. However,
philosophy is nowadays (and previously) just the nature of social conformism, and
the general populace tend to deviate very little from it. Point is, religion and
philosophy, while really similar to one another, are treated very differently by
society, and wont be in too much conflict with one another if it stays that way.
Once philosophical doctrine is taken more prominently than religion, which I
suspect it may eventually (and has in the past), religion will likely fight back, for
religion is just a branch of philosophy.

1. Philosophy is all about taking something and thinking of it in a

new way and that something is sometimes God:
 The God Paradox states asked, "Can God make a rock he can't lift?" The answer is
of course yes. He is God and can do everything but no he can't because if he can't
lift it he is not all mighty. This shows that Philosophy and Religion can and have
worked as one however many thinkers challenged their own faith.

2. Religion is Resignation: Philosophy is Active

 Religion is just resignation when faced with the horrors of the world. Instead of
solutions, religion just says "life after death". Philosophy seeks first to understand,
and then to propose any needed solutions. The religious demand acceptance of
their beliefs without questions. Philosophers welcome dissent and questioning.
Religion seeks to declare dissent a thought crime, Philosophy calls dissent the
jewel of Liberty.

3. Philosophy is willing to change as science advances and logic

develops.
While they ask the same fundamental questions, Modern and true philosophy and
religion need to be in conflict with each other because while philosophy has
developed as knowledge of the world has, Religion hasn't. In philosophy, Thomas
Aquinas began the hunt for morality by attributions to God. But Socrated and then
Aristotle found loopholes, So did Kant, So the philosophical world moved on to
more refined and sophisticated theories. Religion stayed behind harping up the
same old stories at the same old tree while science in a multitude of ways have
proved it wrong. Religion is avoid the question and try and twist what exists to

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make it all work-- question any deeper and the system breaks. Philosophy is
attacking questions head on, Ready for conflict and contrasts, And always deeper
questions. 

4. Religion without bloodshed.

 More peaceful, efficient, productive. Philosophy has a better roster of contributors.
More open-minded, diverse, inclusive. Smarter, cheaper, generous, moral, logical,
practical, humane, wiser, far less evil. The ideas generated are less repetitive and
useless. Philosophy has more jurisdiction within human affairs. It affects human
activity in a better way. Lol.

5. Philosophy is about asking questions, Religion is about blind

faith
 The basis of all religion is having faith and belief in whatever you are worshiping.
Philosophy asks questions about anything and everything. There is no "why" in
religion, it just is.Philosophy will never be able to accept that type of answer, and
religion tends to take offence to those who question their beliefs.

One is systematically false, the other is not:

 Firstly,"religion" needs to be clarified... If we are talking about "religious studies"
then both fields are more likely to gain insight from one another rather than be in
conflict with each other. However, if we are just talking about the study of
philosophy (at least Analytic philosophy anyway), and of "religious beliefs and
doctrines in general," then there is something interesting to say here. Philosophy
and the philosopher has always aimed (i think anyway) at the goal of discovering
what is true with the hopes of thereby gaining knowledge (yes i realize I am
making some assumptions in value epistemology with that claim). If this is the
case, then philosophy will, in a sense, be in in conflict with any system espousing
anything factually or logically incorrect. Now, if you take the view that all
religious beliefs are false (that is all religious belief referring to anything
supernatural are false), then it follows that philosophy will be in conflict with
religion. Philosophy should, by definition, seek to correct any systematically false
belief system.

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 Do Philosophy and Religion conflict with one another?

6. Logic is the basis of Philosophy

 Philosophy would be practically impossible if techniques for discerning
consistency and validity didn't exist. Without logic, one is completely adrift upon a
thrashing ocean of confusion. Philosophy discovers truths and evaluates
propositions through a logical lens. Even in philosophies like solipsism or nihilism,
these stances have arisen due to convincing logical argumentation.  

Religion crashes into this due to it's inability to question its own fundamental
beliefs. Science has axioms which go unchallenged however, these axioms are
necessary for progress. Religion inherently disdains progress and change in any
form. It's concerned with power, control and subservience not truth, freedom and
strength which are the bedrocks of logic. Logic enables us to understand and thus
manipulate reality to accomplish our desires through strategy, planning and
experimentation. Religion offers idiocy, submission and arbitrary morals, some of
which are either preposterous or psychologically damaging!

7. Philosophy is the precursor to all of science

 There is a reason why a PHD is a doctorate in the philosophy of a field.
Philosophy is about critical thinking, logic. Regardless of what the colloquial usage
has become, the actual field breaks down into how and why we consider things the
way that we do. So, given that religion is a faith based position, not a reasoned one,
they are necessarily in conflict

8. They ask the same questions

 Philosophy and religion both ask the big questions; is there a God? Is there a life
after death? What is human nature? How are we to live our lives? What differs is
their method of finding the answers; philosophy uses reason and religion relies on
faith. Thomas Aquinas said that faith and reason never contradict each other when
both faith and reason are used properly, the result is truth, and truth can never
contradict truth.

9. Religion in Harmony with Philosophy

 Religion is not a refusal to deal with matters of fact or to ask relevant questions
about the nature of the world--instead religion is an acknowledgement that there
are certain areas where philosophy and science come into conflict. Asking to prove

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 Do Philosophy and Religion conflict with one another?

the existence of God scientifically is like trying to prove that Ghandi was Indian
linguistically or that 1+2=3 historically. 

Furthermore, many, such as Aquinas and Anselm, place certain beliefs of religions
under a philosophical microscope, such as through analysis of God's existence. 

The claim that conflict exists among the two is a result of a narrow-minded attempt
to discredit those who hold religious beliefs

10.Religion is part of philosophy

 It's an attempt to solve certain questions. Where exactly is it is said that religion
cannot be questioned, aside from the picture used in this post, created by someone
who isn't even grammatically advanced enough to put "are" instead of "is" when
referring to multiple subjects. So, "ladiesman," I suggest that you stop putting your
opinions out on the internet as a legitimate discussion, especially while including
media that'll only cause bias. Your entire thread is a joke.

11.Religion is a philosophy
 Philosophy in my book, is critical thinking and deriving a explanation through
logic. A persons logic can be based on religion, so their explanations can be
supported by religion. Therefore religion is a way of thinking, making it a
philosophy. Praying five times a day may not make sense to a atheist, but for a
religious person it makes sense, because it is common knowledge that there is a life
after death. Of course there is also philosophy in conflict with religion, but to say
philosophy is directly in conflict with religion, is wrong. If in doubt I will refer to
some of the works of Pascal.

Philosophy of Religion:
Philosophy of religion is the philosophical examination of the themes and concepts
involved in religious traditions as well as the broader philosophical task of
reflecting on matters of religious significance including the nature of religion itself,
alternative concepts of God or ultimate reality, and the religious significance of
general features of the cosmos (e.g., the laws of nature, the emergence of
consciousness) and of historical events (e.g., the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, the
Holocaust). Philosophy of religion also includes the investigation and assessment
of worldviews (such as secular naturalism) that are alternatives to religious
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 Do Philosophy and Religion conflict with one another?

worldviews. Philosophy of religion involves all the main areas of philosophy:

metaphysics, epistemology, value theory (including moral theory and applied
ethics), philosophy of language, science, history, politics, art, and so on. Section 1
offers an overview of the field and its significance, with subsequent sections
covering developments in the field since the mid-twentieth century. These sections
address philosophy of religion as practiced primarily (but not exclusively) in
departments of philosophy and religious studies that are in the broadly analytic
tradition. The entry concludes with highlighting the increasing breadth of the field,
as more traditions outside the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam)
have become the focus of important philosophical work.

The Meaning of Religious Beliefs:

Prior to the twentieth century, a substantial amount of philosophical reflection on
matters of religious significance (but not all) has been realist. That is, it has often
been held that religious beliefs are true or false. Xenophanes and other pre-Socratic
thinkers, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Epicureans, the Stoics, Philo, Plotinus
differed on their beliefs (or speculation) about the divine, and they and their
contemporaries differed about skepticism, but they held (for example) that there
either was a divine reality or not. Medieval and modern Jewish, Christian, and
Islamic philosophers differed in terms of their assessment of faith and reason. They
also faced important philosophical questions about the authority of revelation
claims in the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Bible, and the Qur’an. In Asian
philosophy of religion, some religions do not include revelation claims, as in
Buddhism and Confucianism, but Hindu tradition confronted philosophers with
assessing the Vedas and Upanishads. But for the most part, philosophers in the
West and East thought there were truths about whether there is a God, the soul, an
afterlife, that which is sacred (whether these are known or understood by any
human being or not). Realism of some kind is so pervasive that the great historian
of philosophy Richard Popkin (1923–2005) once defined philosophy as “the
attempt the give an account of what is true and what is important” (Popkin 1999:
1). Important philosophers in the West such as Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) and
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), among others, challenged classical realist views
of truth and metaphysics (ontology or the theory of what is), but the twentieth
century saw two, especially powerful movements that challenged realism: logical
positivism and philosophy of religion inspired by Wittgenstein.

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 Do Philosophy and Religion conflict with one another?

Let us now turn to two prominent philosophical movements that

challenged a realist philosophy of God.
Positivism:
“Positivism” is a term introduced by Auguste Comte (1798–1857), a French
philosopher who championed the natural and social sciences over against theology
and the philosophical practice of metaphysics. The term “positivism” was used
later (sometimes amplified to Logical Positivism by A.J. Ayer) by a group of
philosophers who met in Austria called the Vienna Circle from 1922 to 1938. This
group, which included Moritz Schlick and Max Planck, advanced an empirical
account of meaning, according to which for a proposition to be meaningful it
needed either to be a conceptual or formal statement in mathematics or about
analytic definitions (“triangles have three angles”) or about matters that can be
empirically verified or falsified.

Wittgensteinian Philosophy of Religion:

Wittgenstein’s early work was interpreted by some members of the Vienna Circle
as friendly to their empiricism, but they were surprised when he visited the Circle
and, rather than Wittgenstein discussing his Tractatus, he read them poetry by
Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), a Bengal mystic (see Taliaferro 2005b: chapter
eight). In any case, Wittgenstein’s later work, which was not friendly to their
empiricism, was especially influential in post-World War II philosophy and
theology and will be the focus here.

Religion and Science:

This view of science and religion seems promising on many fronts. If the above
statement on science and religion is accepted, then it seems to insure there is
minimal conflict between two dynamic domains of what the Academies refer to as
“human experience”. The National Academies do seem to be correct in implying
that the key elements of many religions do not admit of direct scientific
investigations nor rest “only on empirical evidence”. Neither God nor Allah nor
Brahman (the divine as conceived of in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and
Hinduism) is a physical or material object or process. It seems, then, that the divine
or the sacred and many other elements in world religions (meditation, prayer, sin

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 Do Philosophy and Religion conflict with one another?

and forgiveness, deliverance from craving) can only be indirectly investigated

scientifically. So, a neurologist can produce detailed studies of the brains of monks
and nuns when they pray and meditate, and there can be comparative studies of the
health of those who practice a religion and those who do not, but it is very hard to
conceive of how to scientifically measure God or Allah or Brahman or the Dao,
heaven, and so on. Despite the initial plausibility of the Academies stance,
however, it may be problematic.

Conclusion:
Philosophy is the precursor to all of science , There is a reason why a PHD is a
doctorate in the philosophy of a field. Philosophy is about critical thinking, logic.
Regardless of what the colloquial usage has become, the actual field breaks down
into how and why we consider things the way that we do. So, given that religion is
a faith based position, not a reasoned one, they are necessarily in conflict.

Religion crashes into this due to it's inability to question its own fundamental
beliefs. Science has axioms which go unchallenged however, these axioms are
necessary for progress. Religion inherently disdains progress and change in any
form. It's concerned with power, control and subservience not truth, freedom and
strength which are the bedrocks of logic. Logic enables us to understand and thus
manipulate reality to accomplish our desires through strategy, planning and
experimentation. Religion offers idiocy, submission and arbitrary morals, some of
which are either preposterous or psychologically damaging! 

They ask the same questions, Philosophy and religion both ask the big questions; is
there a God? Is there a life after death? What is human nature? How are we to live
our lives? What differs is their method of finding the answers; philosophy uses
reason and religion relies on faith. Thomas Aquinas said that faith and reason
never contradict each other when both faith and reason are used properly, the result
is truth, and truth can never contradict truth.

 It's
an attempt to solve certain questions. Where exactly is it is said that religion
cannot be questioned, aside from the picture used in this post, created by someone
who isn't even grammatically advanced enough to put "are" instead of "is" when
referring to multiple subjects. So, "ladiesman," I suggest that you stop putting your
opinions out on the internet as a legitimate discussion, especially while including
media that'll only cause bias. Your entire thread is a joke.
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 Do Philosophy and Religion conflict with one another?

Philosophy in my book, is critical thinking and deriving a explanation through

logic. A persons logic can be based on religion, so their explanations can be
supported by religion. Therefore religion is a way of thinking, making it a
philosophy. Praying five times a day may not make sense to a atheist, but for a
religious person it makes sense, because it is common knowledge that there is a life
after death. Of course there is also philosophy in conflict with religion, but to say
philosophy is directly in conflict with religion, is wrong. If in doubt I will refer to
some of the works of Pascal.

Philosophy can and is commonly used to justify and reason through religious
belief. Arguments like the Kalam, the argument from contingency, and the
ontological argument are all philosophical in nature but they answer questions that
are inherently religious, so no, philosophy and religion do not come into conflict
with one another.

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