Review: Sacred Matters-Chapter 5 Science

The place of science in religion has been a long debated issue. For over a thousand years now scientific discoveries have challenged both previously held religious beliefs as well as worldviews through which human beings understood their place in the universe. These challenges have not gone over smoothly, I'm thinking here of Galileo Galilei and Charles Darwin. These encounters which pitted organized religion against scientific advances have led to a popular belief that science and religion are incompatible. In this chapter of the book Laderman argues that science may not be regarded as a religion but it often fulfills a very religious function the lives of scientists.

Laderman's first exploration of this phenomenon is in the work of Ursula Goodenough who calls herself a religious naturalist; a view of nature that does not succumb to reductionism but instead finds mystery and meaning among scientific discoveries which do not included god. Laderman contrasts Goodenough's position to evolutionary fundamentalists who often rival the most outspoken Christian fundamentalists in their demonizing of their 'opposition' and their charged rhetoric.

This chapter also recognized that some scientists see religion and science as partners being able to benefit from one another while also opposing each other at times. These scientists include the likes of Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr. Even though science and religion can help one another I believe they are both myth-making systems of thought. Science is not always purely secular, and this may be the true source of conflict between science and many of the established major religions. The myths of science may conflict with the myths of a particular religion. The question is which myth will you allow to interpret the other? In our society where scientific conclusions seem to be the ultimate measure of authority the seemingly lesser myths often told by religious texts and traditions are subjugated and sometimes thought to be discredited.

Many Christians fear the influence of scientific discoveries on their religious beliefs and yet science has so much to offer when it comes to discovering new experiences of the sacred in the world which surrounds us. Fear only prevents us from having a good conversation, instead fear drives us to demonize the other and entrench ourselves in our positions unwilling to have our minds opened to new vistas. Science is not the enemy of religious belief; in fact it may encourage its own kind of religious devotions and doctrines, quite possibly sensed as a threat by many people in more traditional religious communities.

Here's a clip from the movie Nacho Libre which makes light of the tension between belief in science as opposed to belief in traditional religion. You can ignore the baptism announcement info at the end; it was the only clip I could find on YouTube.