I'm always a little annoyed whenever people try to pit a religious person against a scientist. For some reason, certain people have concluded the two are mutually exclusive. "How could anyone who believes in God possibly be a good scientist?" vs. "How could anyone who believes science possibly believe in God?"
For me, science and religion are not mutually exclusive. I feel like each seeks to answer different questions of life. Science may be able to provide good answers to the hows and whats of human existence, but it doesn't even attempt to address whether our life has a purpose. Conversely, religion has not historically done a good job answering the hows and whats of existence, but it has a lot more to offer in answering the why-we're-here and who-we-are questions.
From science we gain a reasoned explanation of how the world came to be as well as a good description of what the world around us is like. We learn what to expect when objects interact. We learn what items in nature might benefit us and which to avoid. And we learn about the expanse of the universe and the microscopic nature of elements. All this knowledge is constantly evolving as we increase our capacity to dig deeper and see further into our past. Science also offers us a glimpse of what we might expect in the future if humanity pursues given paths.
In religion we explore the questions of our abstract existence. The fact that we are sentient beings, capable of abstract thought, leaves us asking questions such as, "Why do I exist?" or "Who am I?" Science is incapable of answering these questions in any meaningful way. Science might be able to explain how species have evolved over time and that it makes perfect sense that humans have evolved as a result, but it fails to answer--again, at least in any type of meaningful way--why (the purpose for which) any of this has happened, why the big bang occurred in the first place, or who we are.
To be fair, this discussion is based on the assumption that we do in fact exist for a purpose. It could be argued that each person is free to determine his/her own purpose (and may choose a purpose outside the purview of religious thought). Such reasoning could even explain the existence of religion to begin with: that, as a consequence of our improved cognitive abilities, humans began to grapple with existential questions and thus created religion to help answer them. (Even if this is indeed the case, this is not a reason to abandon religion. Humans also invented science to help answer questions.)
Religion also used to answer a lot of other questions. Wherever science fell short, religion stepped in to provide explanations. As scientific knowledge has developed and improved, religious explanations for seemingly supernatural phenomena have fallen out of style (read: have been debunked). In certain radical circles, however, religion continues to provide the definitive (and demonstrably erroneous) explanation to a host of questions science has much more thoroughly and convincingly answered.
It's hard to imagine, however, that science will ever be able to provide satisfactory answers to the whys and whos. Those aren't questions that lend themselves to the scientific method, and scientific instruments have a hard time measuring them. And so we're left to use our spiritual instruments to work out answers (or we can simply choose not to ask ourselves such existential questions, but I don't foresee this happening anytime soon).
Moreover, I think we do ourselves a disservice as a society when we discount what religion has to offer. To be certain, many horrible acts have been perpetrated in the name of religion. But much good has come of religion also. What strikes me most is religion's ability to motivate people to selfless acts contrary to their self-interest. This flies in the face of what economists would predict. After all, humans are supposed to be selfish, look out for themselves, and always act rationally. (That's what makes the market work!) Religion, however, often promotes acts of selflessness and looking out for others. It appeals to a deeper sense of who we are and has the power to inspire us to transcend our selfish, natural tendencies.
Such power as religion wields is important in creating a successful society's social fabric. It's the stuff good people are made of, and it can serve as a foundation for trust. I acknowledge competing arguments, including the Ayn Rands of the world who might argue that even when people act altruistically, they're doing so for selfish reasons. They're hoping to cash in on the social capital they've contributed at a later time when they need a favor from society. But there's also something to be said for crowding-in and crowding-out effects: if you provide an economic incentive for every good deed done, people stop doing good for the sake of doing good. This has the potential to effect all kinds of negative consequences.
I'm perfectly aware I'm not the first person to have these thoughts, or to have wondered what the purpose of my existence is (or even whether my existence has a purpose), or even to have been annoyed by the science vs. religion antagonists. These questions of why and who have faced humanity since we became clever enough to ponder them. Science may continue to offer increasingly detailed and accurate explanations of how and what, but I'm struggling to see it ever answering the why and who.
In my personal experience, the tools of religious exploration and spiritual epistemology have offered meaningful answers to the why and who. And until that's no longer the case, I see nothing to be gained from abandoning religion in favor of a science-only worldview. I'll leave both to science and to religion the questions they answer best and strive for both an empirically and spiritually enlightened existence.
For me, science and religion are not mutually exclusive. I feel like each seeks to answer different questions of life. Science may be able to provide good answers to the hows and whats of human existence, but it doesn't even attempt to address whether our life has a purpose. Conversely, religion has not historically done a good job answering the hows and whats of existence, but it has a lot more to offer in answering the why-we're-here and who-we-are questions.
From science we gain a reasoned explanation of how the world came to be as well as a good description of what the world around us is like. We learn what to expect when objects interact. We learn what items in nature might benefit us and which to avoid. And we learn about the expanse of the universe and the microscopic nature of elements. All this knowledge is constantly evolving as we increase our capacity to dig deeper and see further into our past. Science also offers us a glimpse of what we might expect in the future if humanity pursues given paths.
In religion we explore the questions of our abstract existence. The fact that we are sentient beings, capable of abstract thought, leaves us asking questions such as, "Why do I exist?" or "Who am I?" Science is incapable of answering these questions in any meaningful way. Science might be able to explain how species have evolved over time and that it makes perfect sense that humans have evolved as a result, but it fails to answer--again, at least in any type of meaningful way--why (the purpose for which) any of this has happened, why the big bang occurred in the first place, or who we are.
To be fair, this discussion is based on the assumption that we do in fact exist for a purpose. It could be argued that each person is free to determine his/her own purpose (and may choose a purpose outside the purview of religious thought). Such reasoning could even explain the existence of religion to begin with: that, as a consequence of our improved cognitive abilities, humans began to grapple with existential questions and thus created religion to help answer them. (Even if this is indeed the case, this is not a reason to abandon religion. Humans also invented science to help answer questions.)
Religion also used to answer a lot of other questions. Wherever science fell short, religion stepped in to provide explanations. As scientific knowledge has developed and improved, religious explanations for seemingly supernatural phenomena have fallen out of style (read: have been debunked). In certain radical circles, however, religion continues to provide the definitive (and demonstrably erroneous) explanation to a host of questions science has much more thoroughly and convincingly answered.
It's hard to imagine, however, that science will ever be able to provide satisfactory answers to the whys and whos. Those aren't questions that lend themselves to the scientific method, and scientific instruments have a hard time measuring them. And so we're left to use our spiritual instruments to work out answers (or we can simply choose not to ask ourselves such existential questions, but I don't foresee this happening anytime soon).
Moreover, I think we do ourselves a disservice as a society when we discount what religion has to offer. To be certain, many horrible acts have been perpetrated in the name of religion. But much good has come of religion also. What strikes me most is religion's ability to motivate people to selfless acts contrary to their self-interest. This flies in the face of what economists would predict. After all, humans are supposed to be selfish, look out for themselves, and always act rationally. (That's what makes the market work!) Religion, however, often promotes acts of selflessness and looking out for others. It appeals to a deeper sense of who we are and has the power to inspire us to transcend our selfish, natural tendencies.
Such power as religion wields is important in creating a successful society's social fabric. It's the stuff good people are made of, and it can serve as a foundation for trust. I acknowledge competing arguments, including the Ayn Rands of the world who might argue that even when people act altruistically, they're doing so for selfish reasons. They're hoping to cash in on the social capital they've contributed at a later time when they need a favor from society. But there's also something to be said for crowding-in and crowding-out effects: if you provide an economic incentive for every good deed done, people stop doing good for the sake of doing good. This has the potential to effect all kinds of negative consequences.
I'm perfectly aware I'm not the first person to have these thoughts, or to have wondered what the purpose of my existence is (or even whether my existence has a purpose), or even to have been annoyed by the science vs. religion antagonists. These questions of why and who have faced humanity since we became clever enough to ponder them. Science may continue to offer increasingly detailed and accurate explanations of how and what, but I'm struggling to see it ever answering the why and who.
In my personal experience, the tools of religious exploration and spiritual epistemology have offered meaningful answers to the why and who. And until that's no longer the case, I see nothing to be gained from abandoning religion in favor of a science-only worldview. I'll leave both to science and to religion the questions they answer best and strive for both an empirically and spiritually enlightened existence.
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