On the everyday level, many people are comfortable practising both science and religion. They take their medications, use analytic methods in their workplaces and pray to God.They find no contradiction and experience no dissonance. At the philosophical and intellectual levels, however, the science versus religion/spirituality debate rages on unabated.
People of faith may preach from the self-righteous pulpit about the dangers of leaving "godless" materialistically inclined scientists to pursue their agenda unsupervised as they will continue to trespass on the rights and responsibilities some ascribe to God. Scientists and their riding partners, mathematicians and engineers, from the shaky platform of certainty, will point to the even greater dangers posed by people of faith and the destruction that has occurred and continues to be wrought as a result of faith-based intolerance.
The evidential reality is that they are both double-edged swords. Science used for exploitation of the natural resources has brought about great advances, on many fronts, to the benefit of mankind. It has also been a destructive agent with regard to the environment and in matters of warfare.
Religion has brought great comfort to countless in times of bereavement, loss and uncertainty and a sense of constructive good to mankind. It has also been used as the instrument in, or provided the rationale for, some of the greatest crimes committed against humanity.
It would appear then that both would benefit from some sort of oversight, but by whom? As there appears to be mutual disdain and hostility, a joint venture might be the only way forward. But for this to happen, a greater spirit of open-mindedness, harmony and mutual respect needs to be practised.
The book War of the Worldviews; Science vs. Spirituality sets the tone. It is series of essays by Deepak Chopra and Caltech physicist Leonard Mlodinow and provides fascinating reading, setting the basis for fruitful discussions on the way forward to harness these two great institutions for the benefit of mankind.
It is markedly different from books like God and the Folly of Faith by Victor Stenger and The God Delusion by Oxford Professor Richard Dawkins. Stenger indicates, quite unambiguously, that science and religion cannot be reconciled. Dawkins, the Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, is entertainingly mocking.
They both seem to subscribe to the Law of Excluded Middle, incredibly ironic for that law is identified with the binary approach that predominate Judeo-Christian and Islamic thinking and beliefs.
It would appear that their view and understanding of religion is confined to the Judeo-Christian traditions and is a continuation of the battle between science and the christian church that started in Europe during the middle ages. Again tragically ironic, in that it stands, consciously or unconsciously, on the omniscience of christianity and Europeans.
This dichotomy in thinking and approach is not universal. In the book Universe in a Single Atom-The Convergence of Science and Spirituality, the Dalai Lama is supportive of integrating scientific insights into the Buddhist worldview.
The tension that exists between science and religion in the western world is not evident in the eastern world where, in the cases of Hinduism and Buddhism, science and spirituality have co-existed peacefully and synergistically for ages. This may have occurred due to the approach these eastern religions have adopted.
They are not what are referred to as "organised religions" with their attendant dogmas but rather systems and processes for spiritual development. For the way forward to be useful and fruitful, a more universal, detailed and granular look at the issue needs to be adopted.
�2 To be continued
