The battle between philosophy and religion – many philosophers throughout the ages have been hung up on this issue. Some doubt that this conflict even exists.

Thales of Miletus is the father of philosophy. He thought the gods were in everything and so everything was in a sense alive, and thus filled with the spirit of (the) god(s). He thought that by understanding the fundamental properties of nature, you would get closer to god(s).

Then there’s Socrates. He was sentenced to death mostly with being a nuisance, but one of the 3 offenses he was officially charged with was not believing in the official religion. He did believe in god – just not the the ones that were sanctioned by the state. His god was perfect and wise, not a bickering set of gods like the Athenians believed.

Confucius was very religious and believed in a strict moral code. He predated the whole Abrahamic religions (Muslim, Judaism, Christianity, etc), by millenia, so his gods included dead ancestors, spirits, and emperors. He believed that you should respect these gods, but part of this respect meant that you must hold them accountable and call them out on their shit.

Descartes, is known as the father of metaphysics. Metaphysics is the study of the nature of reality. Basically, what we now call science. He the guy that was famous for saying “I think therefore I am.” He was a devout Christian and thought reason and religion go hand in hand. He used doubt to prove the existence of a Christian god.

Averroes was a Muslim that thought that science and religion were separate non-competing tools used for different things. Philosophy and religion are both great ways to get at the truth. To him, philosophy was superior, but if you don’t want to spend your whole life contemplating deeper truths because say, you had a life, then religion was good enough. Even though he didn’t believe in god, he thought it was irresponsible to get too philosophical and make religious people question god because it could give them an excuse to be immoral.

Francis Bacon had a really interesting take. He was a devout atheist but he wasn’t completely against religion. He thought that religion was good for instilling morality, but science would eventually do away with the need for morality altogether. For example, there would be no greed because you would have everything you need so sins like lying and coveting would be completely unnecessary.

Saint Thomas Aquinas was a priest and philosopher who sort of invented natural theology. He believed that you could use scientific inquiry to prove the existence of a Christian God. He was given sainthood for this work and also for writing a bunch of hymns that Catholics still sing in church today.

The Big Bang theory was first proposed in the 1920 by Georges Lemaître. Lemaître was a Catholic priest, physicist, and astronomer. He called it the “hypothesis of the primeval atom” or the “Cosmic Egg” theory. He saw no conflict with philosophy, science, and religion and did all three professionally.

Nietzsche’s views on religion were complicated. He hated Christianity and thought it was destroying society because it instilled people with self-loathing and false morality. He saw Christianity as a tool used by the strong to manipulate the weak. He was atheist, but religious. He believed in god, but he thought god completely ignores us so may as not exist. After his death, his sister released his unpublished work, but secretly added a whole bunch anti-semitic stuff and claimed it was his original work. Hitler then used this distorted version of Nietzsche to justify the holocaust. A very weird, dangerous, and incorrect interpretation of his work.

Oh boy did Karl Marx hate religion! He said religion is the he opiate of the masses. He thought the only reason for religion was to distract you so that powerful people could do horrible stuff and get away with it.

These are very over-simplified descriptions of some of the thoughts of some of the major philosophers, but there are many more ideas by many more deep thinkers both dead and alive. Each one it’s own PhD. I hope it gives you a taste and opens your eyes to the possibility of a different way of thinking about it. I have thought about this alot, but not nearly as much as any of the people mentioned above.

Here’s my take:

I think religion and philosophy are both great for figuring out how to live a moral life. Philosophy is the long way round and religion is the Cliff Notes. Both are flawed and we can never hope to understand even the slightest notion of absolute truth. If you feel like you need truth though, religion works pretty good. If you can live with uncertainty, philosophy will open your mind. If you take the drive-through and order the combo meal so you can just eat and get on with your day; religion. If you prefer to pop the hood and adjust your own transmission I would suggest philosophy. If you want to get along with your neighbors, religion. If you want to understand them but not necessarily get along with them, philosophy.

Or both! I dare not judge. Your truth doesn’t have to be my truth. There are many truths. Pick one, or a few, or invent your own.