So my manager (yes this is sad) said she can't trust science because it's always changing but proceeded to tell me she believes in god, guardian angels, ghosts and aliens..... Anyone got any knowledge I can send her way?
Knowledge will just bounce off her FundaShield of Determined Ignorance, I'm afraid. I wouldn't invest too much in it.
Science is not "always changing". It is always refining its understanding of reality, but that's a feature, not a bug. The real difference with religion though is the theory of knowledge (epistemology) that's deployed.
Science: examine evidence, draw conclusions (scientific method)
Religious faith: make assertions, cherry-pick facts and information that support (or can be tortured into supporting) the assertions. (presuppositionalism)
Diametrically opposed opposites. Never the twain shall meet.
You might ask for a couple of examples of how she thinks science is "always changing" and I'd bet money it's some comparison between prescientific understanding vs modern (flat vs spherical earth) or some conflation of association with cause (shifting dietary best practices, etc).
You might also ask her about her understanding of what science is and how it works. I'm guessing she has no idea.
You might also ask her why she has a cell phone or a TV or goes to the doctor or drives a car if she doesn't "trust" science. You'll get hand-waving rationalizations or even some non-sequitur like those things aren't science (well technically they're applied science -- technology -- but the point is, these things come to her via the allegedly "unreliable" methodology of science). Science has a superb track record of demonstrated success. Reilgious faith has NEVER invented anything or corrected an error in science.
Fundashield...excellent
@Freespirit64 Full disclosure: not my invention, borrowed from someone on another site. I do like it though.
Tell her that that’s the purpose of science, to be constantly proven wrong. If something happens and you’re proven right, then stick with it and see if it happens in every situation similar to it. Also tell her that the only things related to Christianity that have stayed the same are that Jesus existed and that Mary was a Virgin. Other than that, the doctrine is not the same as it was 2,000 years ago.
Why try? Folks will believe what they believe. The only "knowledge" that YOU can pass on is the example of how you are living. Be THAT example of knowledge and you will be true to yourself and the world you live in.
To me, science should change. We evolve, we learn, we develop new technologies. Religion however, has not changed in thousands of years. Humanity is not the same as we were when the bible was written. Besides, doesn't science provide "evidence" of aliens and ghosts? Seems contradictory to trust and not the other.