Science and Religion

Science has a particular approach for getting at the truth of something that involves the development of hypotheses or theories about how some part of the world works and then gathering data and analyzing it to see if the hypothesis or theory is supported. It involves the use of evidence to confirm a theory or if the theory is not supported discard it and start over. Scientific findings can be replicated by others to see if they hold up under further examination. The peer review process assures that a claim to truth by some scientist is thoroughly vetted so that one can have confidence in what is being claimed. There is no place in science for some authority to proclaim that something is true without supporting evidence. The way we think about the world reflects the dominant intellectual influences of our time which in our country and Western countries in general are largely scientific and technological in nature. This scientific and technological culture we live in involves a certain way of viewing the world that shapes our language and concepts and the way we relate to the world. This way of thinking influences everything we do and is reflected in every aspect of our lives including ethics, economics, politics, and the way we relate to nature. In this kind of world, the tools and techniques developed by science and technology are used to manipulate and shape the natural world in our interests. This manipulation is based on a certain understanding of the way in which the world works and functions. This scientific worldview is based on the assumption that the world is made up of individual elements that relate to each other through laws that can be discovered in scientific inquiry. The behavior of the world is not random but operates according to laws that function in nature which produce regularities that can be counted on to continue. These laws allow us to send shuttles into space to dock with the international space station and land people on the moon. They enabled us to develop the atomic bomb and nuclear power plants. They exist in all parts of our physical world and form the basis of our ability to understand how the physical world works and allow us to manipulate it to accomplish our own goals and objectives. Science deals with the natural world and involves a search for natural causes and explanations of things that happen in the world. It does not deal with supernatural explanations or beliefs but concerns itself solely with the natural world and assumes that everything can be explained on the basis of natural causes without an appeal to the supernatural. Science is materialistic in assuming that there is a real external world out there that can be accessed through the scientific method. Science is a way of knowing this reality, it involves a method that systematically investigates and organizes aspects of this reality that we can access through our senses. Knowledge that comes to us in other ways is not scientific knowledge. The mythological worldview that science largely, but not completely replaced, consisted of a collection of stories that expressed the beliefs of a particular culture relative to the world in which they lived. For thousands of years people associated objects in the sky, the earth, and aspects of their physical world with supernatural beings. Myths often tell the story of ancestors, heroes, and gods or goddesses with special powers over the world and human existence. These stories sometimes contain mythical characters such as mermaids, unicorns, dragons, or angels that play certain roles in the stories. Myths were used to explain certain things that happened in the world and provided an understanding of complex natural phenomena that helped people cope with their existence. Nature can be terrifying to humans. Imagine how primeval forests appeared to early peoples who populated the earth. These forests contained many unknowns such as animals and other things that posed a threat to human existence, much the same as jungles appear to us in today’s world. There were hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, and other forces in nature that posed major threats just as they do today. And there were diseases that could strike at any time and wipe out many people, as they can today. Nature can be quite terrifying and arbitrary and beyond the control of humans. Mythology helped people cope with this tenuous existence and provided a means of understanding what was happening in their world. The idea of God, for example, puts nature under the control of a supernatural being. One can appeal to this being through prayer or other means to look favorably upon the petitioner. This helps reduce some of the anxiety involved in living in such an uncertain world. Science, on the other hand, demythologizes nature and provides another way of understanding the world that allows for greater control and manipulation of nature to reduce the anxiety and make it less terrifying. Science gives us the means to predict where hurricanes might strike so we can prepare for them. It allows us to develop medicines to combat diseases that threaten to wipe out vast numbers of people. It enables us to understand how tornados form and predict where they might develop.