A ESSAY ON SCIENCE AND RELIGION

Science and religion are commonly perceived to be mutually exclusive-a contradiction in terms, as it were. Both the method and the aims of science and religion seem to be different. While Science is linked to the material, religion is concerned with the spiritual. On the face of it the scope, sphere and the method of science and religion are different and exclude each other. Science is objective while Religion is subjective; Science relies on experiment, Religion on experience.

Science deals with the world that we know, the material world that is comprehended by the senses; religion is concerned with a supra-mundane world, a world that we cannot be said to know. Science believes in things that can be proved; religion is pre occupied with ideas that have to be accepted without proof. Science depends on reasons; religion on intuition. The scientist works in the laboratory of the material world; the religious teacher works within the recesses of his personal experiences. Religion begins where science ends. Science says that the first cause is unknowable. Religion says that it can be known through the discipline of religion, for it is God who is not only self existent but self revealed. Hence, there is bound to be hostility between the man of science and the man of religion. Science end when matter ends. Over the ages the conflict has developed between science and religion. But science does not have the answer of everything. Science without religion gives rise to materialism and other ills of life.

As the words ‘experience’ and ‘experiment’ connote, the worlds of religion and science are pole apart. Science is concerned with ‘how’ of reality whereas religion is concerned with the ‘why’ of reality. Science takes up the tangible entities and analyses them into their minutest parts, and then comes to conclusions regarding the way in which tangible realities are organized. In brief, Science is analytical. On the other hand, Religion takes for granted the reality. The path of religion is metaphysical. The rationalists of religion pursuing the path of metaphysics postulate the concept of God: But even then, at the highest level religious consciousness, the concept of God is a matter of faith. This faith enables the religious man to attribute a design or meaning to the reality. 

Thus, Science is analytical in approach whereas Religion is synthetical. Religion is subjective, as religious enlightenment has to be felt by once own experience. Unless and until religious experience is felt by an individual himself, he cannot reap any pleasure out of it. The morale and religious rule are allied and have to be followed by individuals in appropriate ethical situations. Science, on the other hand, deals with the objective side of the life. Scientific discoveries are common properties. They are open to common man and not shrouded in mystery or haziness. They are truths, universally accepted and subject to scientific calculations. A systematic scholarship and concentration is needed to get at scientific truths which are subsequently tested and approved by hypothesis and experiment.

But so long as scientific knowledge is imperfect, the place of religion and God will continue to be highly relevant. So long as scientific theories do not reach perfections, humans have to fall back upon their own reasoning and secondary powers of their own sole and spirit. In this sense, Science and Religion actually converge. Both scientist and saints have to undertake solitary travels into the regions unknown and to depend on themselves only and nobody else. But once a line is drawn between them, their ways bifurcate and takes separate routes. Religious truths remain essentially the properties of the individuals who experience and realize them through their own inward soul and mind and not through external manifestation of things which have a physical behavior. Scientific truths, on the other hand, become the property of the whole world and goes out to inflate the store house of the human knowledge.

Religion is perhaps as old as mankind. Even in the earliest times man had some idea of the higher power, a superior unknowable force prevailing and controlling the universe. Science is of more recent growth. Earliest phases of science may not be more than four or five thousand years old, while modern science began only in the 15^thcentury.

The conflict between science and religion shows how truth has to suffer in order to establish its claims. Pioneers of science had to face numerous difficulties. Galileo, for instance, was thrown into prison for his new theories about heavenly bodies. No better was the fate of Copernicus who pointed out that it is the earth which moves around the sun. In the nineteenth century Darwin’s Theory of Evolution gave rise to angry opposition from the Christian Church, since his theories cut across the biblical version of the creation of mankind from Adam and Eve. But truth eventually prevailed and science held its ground. Before the nineteenth century had run its course, the triumph of science was complete.

The rapid progress of science changed the face of the world beyond recognition. It conferred unheard of comforts and conveniences on mankind. The wonders of Science bewildered man and he began to enjoy numerous blessings in life. Religion seemed to be unnecessary and began to lose the respect and power it had once enjoyed.

But the path of science did not ultimately proved as smooth as its worshippers had thought it to be. It turned out to be a mixed blessing. It did provide bodily comforts, but at the cost of man’s moral and spiritual development. It ruined man into a sceptic, a creature without any faith and lofty ideals to inspire and guide him. The loss of such faith brought the baser side of his nature into freeplay. Man became dishonest, selfish and proud. It destroyed man’s simple faith, fellow feeling, affection and kindness. Besides, the blessing of science gave rise to new social problems. The gulf between the rich and the poor became wide then ever before. The widespread use of machinery subjected millions of human beins to the evils of economic expoitations, unemployment, crowded congested citiesand the growth of slums. The average worker lost his

independence  and happiness and was reduced with the position of mere clog in the vast organization of modern industry.

        Thus, we notice that there is no anti thesis worth speaking between the two all through the ages. Besides, intuition plays a vital role in the apprehension of God or in any religious belief. Similarly, great scientists never plans what he is about to discover.

The conflict between science and religion is superficial. There approach towards life is ,ofcourse different but their goal is the same. Science follows the path of reason and intellect, religion travels the road of faith and belief. But both aim at the discovery of the truth. Science and religion have apparently different aims and objects, yet in fact they are closely related and act an react on each other.

Science and religion, the two terms have come to signify a contradiction in terms. On the face of it, it seems difficult to find a compromise between science and religion, for their scope is different and excludes each other.

written by -Ravi Sharma,