Can Science and Religion Coexist?

BY SOFO ARCHON

Do science and religion have to clash, or could they peacefully coexist?

Watch this video to find out.

Transcript

For thousands of years, science and religion have been viewed as antithetical to each other. As a result, science and religion have been constantly fighting against each other. But I don’t think that has to be the case. In fact, I think that science and religion can harmoniously coexist, or even complement and enrich each other.

The reason I’m saying this is that, ultimately, at their very core, both science and religion share the same goal: to find truth.

Science is outwardly oriented. It helps us discover truth about the “outside” world—what scientists tend to call the material world. And it does so through the use of the scientific method: through analysis, experimentation, observation, reasoning, control, and so on and so forth. It is because of the scientific method that science has allowed us, as a civilization, to make tremendous progress when it comes to our understanding of the world.

Religion, on the other hand, is inwardly oriented. It helps us find truth about the world within us, so to speak. It helps us understand who we truly are, the nature of our consciousness, the nature of our being, and how it relates to the greater being we are a part of—the cosmic being. And hence how we can best relate to it—how we can live at peace with each other, and in harmony with nature.

The methods religion uses are primarily practices and rituals. One such practice is meditation, which allows us to dive deep within ourselves and shed light on parts of our being that we were previously unaware of.

The problem starts when religion becomes organized, institutionalized, and dogmatic—when it claims to contain the absolute truth. When it tells you, “This is the truth; you just need to believe it. You don’t need to question it or look elsewhere. You don’t need science.”

For example, some religions believe in the cosmologies offered in their scriptures. They view them not symbolically, but literally, and they say, ” This is how the world was created, or this is when the world was created.”

In other words, when religion starts making scientific claims, it forgets its domain. And when that happens, conflict between science and religion is bound to arise.

Science can also become dogmatic. At its core, science is humble. It says, “I don’t know, and I’m willing to learn. I don’t have all the answers, and I’m willing to ask new questions.” True science—even if it has found truth—never claims that it is absolute. Even the theories it holds are open to examination, questioning, and revision. This is how scientific progress is made.

But when science—or I should say, scientists—call everything that is found in religion “superstition,” when they reject anything related to consciousness or spirit as silly, and when they view the scientific method as the only path to truth, then science becomes dogmatic too.

In other words, when either science or religion forgets its domain and becomes closed off to the other, conflicts are bound to arise. And when that happens, humanity suffers. Because religion has so much to give to science, and science has so much to give to religion. I think it was Einstein who said, “Science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind.”

Science without religion is not going to benefit humanity. Science can give us tremendous power. But if we are not wise, loving, and compassionate, if we don’t view the world as sacred—things that religion helps us do—then we risk using that power destructively.

And we have been doing that so much. Look at the world around you, and you will understand what I’m talking about. We have so much knowledge in our hands that we could live in abundance, at peace, joyfully, happily. Yet look at how we’re living. Look at the poverty that exists in the world. Look at the environmental destruction we are causing.

Religion without science, on the other hand, is blind. Because religion without science means ignorance. It means blind belief. It means claiming to know things that we don’t really know, or doing things without knowing whether they serve our well-being. This is why so many religious people suppress themselves or are afraid to seek truth outside their religion.

Religions are also constantly fight with each other because each claims to know the absolute truth. Science and religion are fighting with each other, but religions among themselves are fighting way, way more. But this does not have to remain the case—if we view science and religion for what they truly are.