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Essay on Religion and Science!
Religion is concerned with a world beyond the senses. Belief is its essence.
Such beliefs can neither be proved nor disproved. Science, on the other hand, is concerned with a world known to us in terms of our sense-perception. A scientist refuses to accept anything which cannot be tested. There is thus an apparent conflict between religion and science.
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This apparent conflict does not concern those who look at science and religion from a different perspective. If one holds the view that religion deals with first causes and science with immediate causes, there is no possibility of any conflict between the two. Seen from this point of view, a scientist can be a devoutly religious man, and, at the same time, a good scientist.
Thus, a biologist may see the facts and principles of biology as so many manifestations of God’s handiwork. He may meticulously pursue scientific investigations in the laboratory and, at the same time, marvel at the grand design of creation in the manner of a devotee.
There is apparently no feeling of inconsistency or incongruity in an individual who deals with facts in the laboratory and behaves in a totally different manner outside the laboratory. Many eminent scientists, including Nobel Prize winners,, belong to this category.
Conflicts between religion and science, however, arise when religion seeks to explain natural or physical phenomenon and such explanations are proved to be devoid of any meaning and without any basis whatsoever. Science insists that a theory can survive only if it passes rigorous tests of its simplicity and predictive powers. Thus, as science expands there will be conflict between religion and science.
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An illustration would be illuminating. “Only a short while ago, the origin of man on the earth was unknown to the human intellect. Religious belief filled in the gap by giving a very precise account of man’s origin. The account was believed because it was thought to be divinely revealed. Eventually, however, scientific investigation began to bring the earthly origin of man into the factual domain. Here, then, there was serious conflict. The scientist could not accept the religious account as literally true and still be true to his science.”
The conflict may also be illustrated by theories about planetary movement. In the past, it was thought that each planet was guarded and propelled by its own God or ‘guardian angel’.
The people were not, therefore, able to predict the behaviour of planets in terms of such religious explanation. Eventually, such religious explanation was replaced by a less complex scientific theory based on the action of a small number of inanimate forces obeying simple uniform laws.
Thus, the scientific theory provides us with much greater powers of prediction. Thus, as science and technology advances, there is a decline in the worship of God as explanations of and as instruments to control natural forces.
In simple societies, people use religion as an instrument primarily in situations where they feel they are at the mercy of the environment or other outside forces.
Often, the result of any given activity of a society remains uncertain even when the people’s skills have been used to the utmost. For example, such a simple operation as deep-sea fishing requires great skill in order to yield results. But even where such skill is available, some natural calamity like storm may bring disaster.
Similarly, in the event of disease, famine or drought, a simple community is quite powerless to affect the outcome. But with the growth of technology and advance of scientific knowledge comes an ability to control at least some natural forces. The importance of religion as explanations of and as instruments to control natural forces has naturally declined in modern times.
So religion becomes concerned with other, less worldly matters, matters concerning the meaning of life. “The religious ideology grows more and more vague, more and more philosophical, and less and less anthropomorphic. It changes from fundamentalist to liberal, from dogma to philosophy”.
Commenting on this aspect, Kingsley Davis states that as religion loses its buttle with science, it retreats to higher level. Obviously, the question of conflict with science recedes into the background. In the past there have been conflicts of eminent scientists with the institutionalized religious order.
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The roots of such conflicts lay in the fact that scientific investigations unraveled the mysteries of the universe and found explanations in empirical terms which were different from those prevailing in the then prevailing religions.
People turn to religion today not for explanation of worldly matters, but as a source of love and emotional security. Science has taken over the role of religion to explain and influence events. But science cannot become a substitute for religion in its role of providing emotional support to people who need it.