Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD. PhD

India Herald

Houston, USA

13th January 2010

 

 

“Science and Religion”

 

Those to whom religion is a profession and the majority to whom religion is not a profession do not accept the scientific theory of evolution, for religious reasons. To the religious God is the creator, who is loving and compassionate, yet He has created man, who is expected to be loving and compassionate. By and large this is contradictory to the religious claim.

 

Those to whom science is a profession and the majority to whom science is not a profession do not accept religious theories of creation by intelligent design, for scientific reasons. To the scientists evolution is ultimate, yet they do not consider the religious to be part of the evolutionary process. By and large this is contradictory to the scientific claim.

 

Scientists claim that controversies do not exist, whether evolution is right or wrong, among the scientific elite, and so too the religious claim of a supreme creator has no sign of controversy of creation being right or wrong among the religious. So both camps are right and this cannot be refuted.

 

Scientists are interested in evidence, while the religious are interested in God’s intelligent design, and each attitude is unacceptable to one of them. This is natural behaviour for scientists are evidence-driven, while the religious are driven by beliefs devoid of logic. Neither can ever meet at a common point of consensus. The evolutionists should view religion as a part of evolution and the religious should accept science as willed by the creator.

 

A scientist’s strong point is that theories explain and surround facts, supported by logic, which should not be denied, and so he needs to be taken seriously by the religious. Fair enough, point taken, but should not scientists, who support and encourage theories, take into consideration the theory of a creator by intelligent design? Scientists, being scientists, should endeavour to investigate the theory of a creator by intelligent design in order to find facts and explanations and never say die until proof is found.

 

The religious man’s strong point is that the world, man and mind are created by God. which should not be denied, and so he needs to be taken seriously by the scientific. Fair enough and point taken, but should not the religious, who support and encourage trust, accept the scientists as a creation too? Religion certainly would entail the religious realising that science too is a creation by God that has happened to scientists and was not made by a scientist.

 

The religious refute the scientific theory of evolution religiously, while the scientists refute the religious theory scientifically. Both camps need to consider their claims that have prevailed for centuries more deeply.

 

The religious theories encompass ideology, theology, mythology and philosophy. The scientific theories navigate the shores of evidence strewn with indisputable facts and figures. Each camp is expert in its own field of study and who can deny that. If any one does, he will be refuting evolution or religion, and there is no escape.

 

The evolutionary theory would mean that religious knowledge is evolutionary too, and so it is to be admired to the same degree as any other evolutionary process by the scientists. Similarly, any scientific theory ought to be a process of creation by intelligent design too, and so it is to be revered to the same degree as any other creation by the religious.

 

The scientists, for lack of evidence, discredit religious theories, but evidence, scientific or religious, needs time to exist and scientific evidence for time is relative and not absolute. The enlightened beings have been saying all along: life is timeless and thoughtless.

 

Science declares that energy exists everywhere, with no sign of time, but still claims cause and effect; this is contradictory. This scientific declaration would, in fact, make any theory, religious or scientific, energy as well. Therefore, anything of substance that exists would just be energy.

 

Man needs to understand that from the micro- to the macro-end of life only energy exists, and this means that both the scientists and the religious can only be energy, but appear as scientists and the religious.

 

Both the scientific and the religious point to the same fundamental source of the world, which is energy or light, but they are not aware that they do. Instead, they appear to be in constant opposition for supremacy over the other.

 

Man needs to understand that nothing of substance exists, neither does time. The world, man and mind are an optical and auditory illusion of light and sound, including evolution and creation, whether anybody likes it or not.

 

 

© Copyright 2009 V. S. Shankar

 

 

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