Composition | Science and Religion

It's really difficult to find a common ground between science and religion. Science deals with the physical world we can observe, while religion focuses on a higher power we imagine. Science relies on evidence and proof, while religion deals with ideas that can't be proven. Scientists use reason, while religious believers rely on intuition. Scientists study the material world in labs, while religious leaders explore the depths of our inner thoughts. Science aims for accomplishments, while religion seeks realization. Scientific truths can be proven to everyone, but religious truths are based on trust. This creates a natural hostility between scientists and religious people.

Whether or not God exists is something we can't prove. Tennyson expressed this dilemma when he wrote about embracing God through faith alone, even when we can't prove His existence. He said we have faith because we can't know for certain. This captures the confusion we face in the modern age when dealing with the concepts of God and religion. We have to trust these ideas because they can't be proven. Beyond the known world we see, there's an unknown world after death that we can't know about but can't ignore. Religion becomes a sanctuary for people when science fails to answer their doubts. As long as we have limitations in what we can know, religion will always have a place in human life.

In India, there's a claim that religion has its own science, knowing things beyond our senses through a sixth sense. Mystics and yogis make this claim. They believe that just as scientists understand reality through observation and experiments with physical objects, mystics apprehend the non-physical through a disciplined mind. Mystics claim to have knowledge of the divine and offer to teach us if we submit to their discipline. They argue that religion doesn't deal with the unproven or unprovable.

The weakness of this claim lies in the fact that scientific truths can be demonstrated to everyone, while religious truths have only been shown to a select few, whose word must be accepted without question. As a result, rational people continue to doubt the evidence presented by a few "esoteric minds" against the overwhelming evidence of material facts. However, these are deep questions that most people aren't concerned about. They feel the need for science in their everyday lives and use scientific knowledge to solve their material problems. Science is indispensable to them. But there's another aspect of their lives that can't be ignored. They don't know where they come from or where they'll go after death. The mystery of life and death troubles and scares them. In these moments, they turn to the idea of God and find solace in religion. That's why even scientists feel the need for religion.

It must be acknowledged that if people wholeheartedly believed in religion, they wouldn't take the material world seriously, and life would lose its purpose. Fortunately, a compromise is reached: people pay lip service to religion and God, but then focus on worldly matters. This leads them to unknowingly practice deception. They condemn material possessions but accumulate wealth. They preach non-violence but engage in warfare. They believe in immortality but fear death. Religion teaches them to worship God within themselves, but they put on a show of it. This contradiction between belief and action, theory and practice, would be unthinkable in science and can be said to permanently damage human character.

Despite the fundamental differences between science and religion, people will always seek religion when they feel helpless in the face of an uncertain future. In times of adversity and agony, humans turn to something for help and comfort. Therefore, science and religion will continue to exist side by side without converging. This has been the case since humans began seeking objective knowledge. The only change is that modern humans no longer persecute scientists as their ancestors did, although they may not appreciate a purely materialistic view of life.