The Power of Religion & Science

In January, I made a post about questions I had on the scientific method and its relation to religion. Now, eight months later, I'm doing an independent study with the president of NYU related to the subject and have begun to dive into the subject more thoroughly. The two books that I would most recommend to others are:

Religion and Science by Bertrand Russell
First published in 1935, this book talks about where science and religion have come into conflict over the past few hundred years. More specifically, he goes into detail on the following conflicts:

• Sun vs. Earth (as the center of the solar system)
  
• Evolution vs. Creationism
  
• Demonology vs. Medicine
  
• Soul vs. Body
  
• Determinism vs. Free Will
  
• Mysticism (experiencing truth) vs. Scientific Method (proving truth by replicable experiments)
  
• Cosmic Purpose
  
• Limits of Science (how ethics/values can never proven by science)

The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan
If you've ever been skeptical about the power of science, this book will lucidly explain why science is extremely important and is a fairly recent phenomenon in the course of world history. Sagan believes that the scientific method is the best method the world has ever known for understanding reality and predicting the future. He also brought up many arguments against science and cogently refuted each one (although I didn't agree with all of his arguments).

Major Take Aways from the Books

1. The Old Power of Religion. I've gained a more thorough understanding of how dominant religion was in people's lives. For example, Aristotle believed that the speed of which objects fall is proportional to its weight. In other words, he believed that a ten pound object dropped at the same moment from the same height as an one pound object would reach the ground ten times more quickly. Surprisingly, this easy-to-test idea wasn't even tested until 2,000 years later when Galileo tested it by dropping objects from the Leaning Tower of Pisa and observing the results.

   Over time, the power of religion is also demonstrated by the fact that millions of innocent victims have painfully died as a result people using the Bible as a guide to conduct. In fact, Russell says that, "It is estimated that in Germany alone, between 1450 and 1550, a hundred thousand witches were put to death, mostly by burning. (95)". Interestingly, the most common accusation against witches, at the time, was that they caused bad weather (i.e., tempests, hail-storms, thunder, and lightning). After accusations, women (who obviously pleaded that they were innocent) were brutally tortured until they admitted that they were witches. According to Russell, the last burning of a witch occurred as recently as 1722 or 1730. Wow!

2. Religion will Always Exist. While the trend for the past few hundred years has been for science to take over parts of religion, it seems that religion will always exist where science has not proven itself yet or where science can't make conclusions (i.e., values, ethics, questions that ask why, etc.).

3. Religion Isn't Innately Bad. I've come to the conclusion that religion isn't innately bad or useless (which is what I've thought for a large part of my life). In fact, I think it can be very useful and practical for people. I'm exploring this ideamore, but when religious diversity is accepted and used synergistically and when religious creeds and ethics evolve with culture and science, I think they can be powerful.

4. Like Democracy, Science isn't Perfect, but is the Best that We Have. It is hard to argue with many of Sagan's points. Some that I thought were interesting are:
   • In Western Europe in Medieval Times, the human life expectancy was about 20 to 30 years. Today it is approaching 80 in the United States.
     
   • "Advances in medicine and agriculture have saved vastly more lives than have been lost in all the wars in history. (11)"
     
   • Communication, transportation, entertainment, and other technologies, which have drastically changed the way we live our lives.
     
   • If prayer is so powerful than why didn't kings and queens live longer when all of its citizens were constantly praying for his/her health and praying, "God save the Queen".

Posted at August 24, 2004 07:00 PM | TrackBack