Science vs Religion

 “Even since the dawn of civilization there has been much debate on the worth and dignity of Science and religion; the intellectuals, philosophers, thinkers are divided even today on the conflicting belief in the matter of supremacy of one over the other”.

With the rapid progress made by Science and technology in the  recent past, the conflict between the two has widened further. Science, on the one hand, concludes the theories on the basis of experiments and analytical logic, while religious theories are based on experience, meditation and blind faith. Science deals with these things objectively, while religion is a subjective matter. In the present age of rapid growth in scientific advancements in all walks of life, the future history would depend on the way of living of the new generation to reconcile the conflict between science and religion.

Religion is mainly a phenomenon of faith, a purely subjective matter while science is based totally on reasoning and analytically proving the  concepts based on laboratory or mechanical experiments. Science always speaks the truth in crude language and in absolute terms, while religion speaks in poetic and touching sentiment. Science has the credit of all the material progress made in the world; religion enjoys the credit for providing mental peace and solace in the world, where everyone is mortal. Through science one can amass endless wealth, unimaginable luxuries, all material and physical things that one needs to make life more efficient, more quick, more important in the eyes of others, but the mental solace, the self-respect, the internal peace, one can secure only through  religion. Science gives luxuries and materialistic living to a man, while religion gives him peace of mind.

 

Bernard Shaw once said, “Life will lose its charm, when faith is replaced by cold scientific reason.”

 

Many great scientists, scholars, political leaders, writers have given credit of their achievements to the almighty, a supernatural being. It shows that religion is not an unimportant concept to throw away. There is no weightage  for  moral  and  ethical  values  in  the  materialistic  world  created  by  scientific retention and discoveries, but without  moral  and  ethical  values,  the  world is a self destructive entity. By pushing a button of nuclear warheads the world or the whole civilisation may face destruction, science is not going to tell you the consequences of the act of pushing a button but it is the moral and  ethical values imbibed in a man because of his faith in a religion, which prevent him from pushing such a button as it can destroy the beautiful world created by the will of almighty.

 

The approach  of science towards  life is crude,  monotonous,  lifeless,  devoid of love, emotions, while on the other hand  the  religion approaches life with feelings of’ faith, love towards all human beings, faith in self and faith in Omnipotent, Omnipresent, a  Superbeing. 

According to the religion the existence  of man is by the will of 'God', all the bad or good happens only by the will of 'God' ,while science rejects all the concepts and believes that the birth of a child is the result of sexual relationship between the man and woman. Science has been able to cure several incurable diseases, but unable to conquer the inevitable death.

Swami Vivekananda in his speech at the Parliament of Religions held at Chicago in 1893 said, "Science is nothing but the finding of unity. As soon as science would reach perfect unity, it would stop from further progress, because it would reach the goal. Thus, chemistry could not progress further when it would discover one element out of which all others could be made. Physics would stop when it would be able to fulfil its services in discovering one energy of which all the others are but manifestations and the science of religion becomes perfect when it would discover 'Him' who is the one life in a universe of death, 'Him' who is the constant basis of an ever changing world, one who is the only soul of which all souls are but delusive manifestations. Thus, it is through multiplicity and duality that the ultimate unity is reached. Religion can go no farther, this is the goal of all sciences. All sciences are bound to come to this conclusion in the long run. Manifestation and not creation is the word of science today."

According to religious philosophy, "Everything that is in this universe has been created by the 'Almighty' and there lives a 'Soul' an invisible thing in the body of every human being. 'God' and soul are eternal and immortal. The body of man is mortal. On the death of a person, it is the body that is destroyed, the soul just takes charge of a new body in the womb of a lady. Science does not accept the existence of 'Soul' or 'God' and does not believe in ‘Rebirth’ Etc."

Organised war had taken place among the followers of different religions in order to satisfy the lust for power, killing thousands of innocent lives thus the basic concept of religion was totally betrayed. The religion is a pious concept, contemplated to infuse moral and ethical values in human beings to spread love, peace and fraternity among the civilised world.

Science and religion are altogether different concepts. Science deals with materialistic progress of the world, needed to arrange physical things for the comfort, convenience and luxury for man, while religion in true sense deals exclusively for the peace of  mind, for the internal solace, for advancement of man, for the good of all the concepts.