Most answers to this question focus on the compatibility of scientific findings and theistic beliefs. By pointing to a large demographic of theistic scientists, that some sets of beliefs are compatible with some scientific facts, but beliefs can be compartmentalized and religious beliefs come in all forms and sizes, which is why I think this is a poor way to show their compatibility.
However, I think this misses the point. Science is not a particular belief. Scientific findings overturn old ones, but science is not the current state of knowledge, it is a method of discovering how the world works. When we compare these two methods of discovery, at a minimum, we can conclude that science is a philosophy of discovery and religion is a philosophy of ignorance.
Science is a philosophy of discovery. Intelligent design is a philosophy of ignorance. You cannot build a program of discovery on the assumption that nobody is smart enough to figure out the answer to a problem. Once upon a time, people identified the god Neptune as the source of storms at sea. Today we call these storms hurricanes. We know when and where they start. We know what drives them. We know what mitigates their destructive power. And anyone who has studied global warming can tell you what makes them worse. The only people who still call hurricanes “acts of God” are the people who write insurance forms.” — Neil deGrasse Tyson : The Perimeter of Ignorance
Religion operates on a wholly different set of epistemology, an epistemology that is incompatible with that of science. The methods that religion uses to discover how the world works, divine revelation and sometimes tradition, is incompatible with the philosophy of science. Absolute truths are not present in science. Nothing held to such a standard because each finding must be supported by evidence, and if evidence is discovered in the future that overturns the present paradigm, that is what is dictated by science. However, divine revelation is not meant to be changed, because that would indicate that the source was in error, and an omniscient being cannot by definition be incorrect. Also, the method of how we discover scientific facts are available to anyone who wishes to learn; however, the methods of divine revelation are only viewable from the messenger. These small differences of discovering the world conflict with each other, demonstrating that the scientific method and theistic method of discovering the world are incompatible with each other. Simply summed, "In religion, faith is a virtue. In science, faith is a vice."
Religion and science are both in search of truth – as such they will have things to say to each other. For that to happen we need to listen.Its not a discussion, its a lecture given by science to religion and religion better take notes or it will be laughed out of the arena for good reason.
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