Science vs Religion ("and" or "or")

In response to a test question about the balance and intermingling of science and religion, and how we cope with that today, this was my response. How do you balance? or Do you?

I think there needs to be better and more education created for the coexistence of religion and science. While in academia in high school and college these two ideas were as compartmentalized as possible because when tried to place together many people did not have a great answer to many questions that others had. This led I believe to mass confusion I think on more parts than understanding. I think that science and religion are two different ways of looking at the world around us. They both are interrelated and they share common themes. Just like the gospels we see four different perspectives on the life of Jesus and that is how I currently view the relationship of science and religion.

            Science is always searching for the answer to the “how” questions’ wanting to have answers that precipitate out of the scientific method and to be proven “beyond a shadow of a doubt”. Yet many times science is perplexed, confused or even lost as to how things happen. Religion on the other hand, look for the answer of “why” questions. Questions such as, “Why do I have a yearning to be loved?”, and others consistently come to mind. The two mix when they are trying to explain the same thing in different ways, tragedies, storms, deaths, life, creation, and many more.

            I believe that the perception of science and religion needs to be a “both and” mentality, knowing many times we may know the “how”, but not understand the “why” and vice versa. As I still read scientific reports to this day, I am brought many times to a more reverence of my God, than I am caught up in the results. The same goes for reading scripture, it is often looked at with a scientific lens as how did the sun stand still for Joshua and what made the grass greener for Lot and not Abraham. These questions are constantly in my mind but do not cloud my vision for the need for my religion nor the validity of science, knowing that my God created them both, I am appeased to continuously look for a balance of the two and be inspired.