Science and Religion cannot overlap.

[Jenny A]

Jenny. You say the question of whether there is a God is a scientific one. What experiment do you think you could do that would test that?

Sorry, that was broader than I really had in mind. My apologies. The question is scientific only if god is assumed to have done certain things in a physical way in the past or present. In other words the existence of god as defined in some particular ways is a scientific question. For example, fundamentalist's view of the god as described in Genesis is within the realm of science. For example, we can ask what marks would be left on the world after Noah's flood, and conclude that there being no evidence of a world-wide flood and considerable evidence to the contrary that no such flood happened.

The more abstract and unconnected to particular events, the definition of god, the less testable until you reach the point where the existence of god would have no discernible affect on the universe at which point god would be absolutely untestable.

Many scientists have worked on the presupposition that God exists, and that science serves to understand the natural world that God created.

That approach contains no contradiction between science and religion provided that the god presupposed is not also presupposed to have created the world in a particular way or the run it in a particular way. Presuppose an order of events from Genesis (or any other creation myth), a separate and special creation of man, or any presupposition about the way the physical or worlds or has worked, and you get conflict. ----- I agree that many Christian, Jewish, deist, or other god-believing scientists do make this separation quite successfully and operate without conflict between science and religion.

So, as a scientist and Christian, I love how science helps us explore 'creation', and have no problem with letting science inform me about all aspects of God's creation. There is no conflict in my own experience. (But I do accept that there are some forms of Christianity, who have a particular view of the bible, who do have problems with science. That form of Christianity is pretty rare in the UK and Europe, but I get the sense it is much more common in the US).

I was taught as a child that science answers the how questions about the world, and religion the why questions. Viewed this way there is little conflict between science and religion. But conflicts are very common here in the U.S. due to a very literal view of the Bible taken by both fundamentalist Christians and Mormons.

I do have some questions about particular areas of study where science and religion appear to me to be in almost inevitable conflict. These have mostly to do with psychology and neurological function. It is possible to analyze, why we have particular moral instincts both scientifically and historically. Does looking at why we have particular moral instincts scientifically trouble you? What about looking at brain function when doing particular kinds of problems, such as reading, math, determining one's own feelings, ascribing feelings to others, meditating, and praying? Why do people believe in a god, can also be tackled scientifically--does scientific inquiry in the area trouble you? I'm not suggesting that these questions should necessarily trouble you, only asking if they do.