Science and religion aren’t contradictory
By Lethbridge Herald on August 7, 2024.
Editor:
I felt sick a few days ago. I took a COVID test. It was positive. The interesting thing is I felt better finding the nature of illness though I was still feeling unwell unlike cats.
They hide when they feel something is wrong with them. My guess is: they don’t now what’s wrong but don’t feel the need to know. So they need to hide from predators.
Wanting to know the unknown is uniquely human. We contemplate, imagine, and hypothesize to find what is hidden. That’s how humans have become engaged in art, religion, and science trying to imagine and to uncover what’s behind the invisible and the unknown.
In religion we begin such a pursuit by “faith” or “belief” but not by cognition. We trust despite ignorance. Faith is not knowledge.
We say we believe because we don’t know but we trust. A practical result of such trust in our daily life is money, for example. Money has value only because of the trust we hold in the promise of the existence of value. Otherwise it’s merely words on a piece of paper.
God is the Absolute Other (the words were by a Swiss Theologian Karl Barth) and is by definition the unknowable, and exists only in imagination and in trust. When religious fundamentalists claim they know the divine being, they are lying or contradicting themselves.
Nobody has heard nor seen God. But we believe.
I get negative reaction every time I speak or write about religious subject. They come mostly from Christian fundamentalists. I am totally in sympathy with people who no longer identify themselves with any organized religion. It is not only because of what the fundamentalist Christians do and say, but also because of the abuse of power in the past and the present by many religious institutions and by those who called themselves “believers.”
Far too long, religions have been the tools for those seeking power and wealth. They turned faith into doctrines of dead letters that were used to exercise power. Taking advantage of people’s fear of unknown to blackmail, exclude, intimidate, and threaten to oblige them.
True messages of many religions such as charity, compassion, forgiveness, justice, love, mercy, and peace were ignored or denied. Salman Rushdie said, “When power becomes a part of religion, it has become instruments of fascism.” (My paraphrase.)
At the same time, I disagree with people who profess atheism and declare there is no God. I reject such an arrogant certitude. It is the same as the Christian fundamentalists’ use of the definitive and often exclusive language.
Certitude is an act of making oneself absolute, as bad as the notion of “Infallibility” of pronouncements “Ex-Cathedra.” The scientist who refuses to accept a new discovery because it contradicts one’s hypotheses is a bad scientist. Fundamentalists claim every word of the Bible (or the Holy Scriptures) is the Word of God and the true and factually correct record of history.
They claim they have knowledge of, therefore represent God. Fundamentalists in other faith traditions are equally as guilty as the Christian variety. Their sometimes murderous actions against opponents and heretics are criminal acts against humanity.
My religion begins with the respect for the invisible and the unknown. The universe is vast and we are tiny. We are almost insignificant by comparison.
We know so little, so we imagine. We have belief not knowledge. Every human reference to the Absolute Being is an imagination. It is one tentative step we take in search of the perfect ideal. It is the search for the unknown absolute other. Waste of time? Up to you. Cats are content in such innocence.
It is important for us to recognize and appreciate our instinctive desire to want to know what is unknown. We fear the darkness so instinctively we want to find what is thus far unknown in stead of avoiding it, hiding from it, and trying to be happy in ignorance. That’s why we engage in art, science, and religion.
I used to think that homo sapiens was the only one who did that. However, through my recent reading about quantum physics, I am not sure if the life forms we call homo sapiens are the only ones in the universe who yearn and are in awe of the unknown.
Recently Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari published a few books introducing a word “imagination” in stead of “belief” and “faith.” The word is very helpful by removing any notion of “knowing.” It eliminate any notion of factual knowledge in the narrative about faith. We don’t know therefore we believe.
It is very important to me to acknowledge that there is unfathomable vastness out in the universe that are totally unknown and beyond human capacity to reach, billions of galaxies billions of light years away. We will never reach them, ever. We must not be so arrogant to claim we know the universe. We don’t. There is a good reason why the Roman Empire accused Christians for being atheists, because the Christians rejected the worship of all artificial images as divine.
Science and religion do not contradict each other. Science begins with hypotheses which begins with imagination. It is the same position as the Judeo-Christian belief in one God coupled with the prohibition of idol worship. It is the rejection of any absolute being created by the human mind. That is the same as Socrates’ dictum of ultimate wisdom which is a recognition of ignorance. “The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing.” I believe his greatness comes from the recognition of human imperfection.
As Einstein said, “arrogance is more dangerous than ignorance.” When you admit that we know nothing, the whole world of the unknown is wide open to imagination. Don’t think it is knowledge. The basic falsehood of both atheists and fundamentalists is their insistence that they know. That’s a lie.
Tadashi (Tad) Mitsui
Lethbrige
25-24
Tad, as usual, you speak so much wisdom – if only our leaders world wide would listen and act upon your insights, the planet we call home would be a better place.
I do however disagree with your assertion that atheists are “arrogant” . Many have actually thought long and hard about the existence or not of a divine power , deity call it what you will, but their conclusion is equally valid . Unlike the religious fundamentalists who profess that their’s is the way and the only way (or else), the atheist simply rejects the notion of a superior entity friendly or otherwise. That there are many beliefs ranging from the zealots entrenched in their divine interpretations to those embracing nature and Agnostics , is likely a part of the human condition, one being no more superior to any other and that would include those who choose to reject the notion of a God.
i suggest, like tad, that one cannot possibly know with any reasonable certainty that there is not a divine or creator entity. we are, in our physical form, greatly limited by our simple senses, physicality, and rather simple and tiny brain. in this body we lack the capacity to understand anything near as complex as what a more light energy is all about. consider, as well, that this universe (is it the only one, even?) is ever more massive than we ever imagined, and it is so far more likely than not to have far more evolved light energies than humans. put another way, if we are the top of the heap, it is most likely the perfect physical realms of this universe will have broken down many times over lol well, i do not mean to laugh at that, given how we are doing such a poor job interacting with respect, compassion and understanding of our own little speck of a rock we call earth. then, there is the question of what happens to the energy that gives our physical bodies “life” here – even our simple understandings of all things science show us that energy does not die, it transfers.
thus, if there are more evolved entities in our universe (and, there may be more than just one universe), if there are entities that are far more light than physical constructs, there is indeed a chance that there is ever higher evolved light energy…not merely intelligent, but wise, and if wise, then loving, for what is wiser than pure love? one cannot say for sure there is a “god”, but as per tad’s sharing, one cannot, here, on planet earth strait-jacketed by significant physical and mental limitations, say with any certainty, that there is no “god.” that is arrogance, not merely ignorance.
mind you, if we were compelled to live in our bodies as we do on this planet, never able to “die”, that is, to move on from here, to “pass” as we seem to prefer to term it, then i would be far more inclined to say there is no loving, higher energy; for, to be condemned to this level of ‘evolution” forever would be not too removed from our imaginative hell.
tad-ah! another wise sharing, tad. thank you
Tad: I agree with BigBrit. Based on your own conclusions, atheists don’t insist that they are “right”. They are only stating their own beliefs like any other person that may have a different belief system. Where all the problems happen I believe, is when people take their beliefs to another level and decide that they are the only ones that are right and therefore, they must shun and kill all others that don’t believe as they do. Over my 77+ years, a mere youngster in your eyes Tad, I have searched for the meaning of life and for the possibility of a Supreme Being. I identified as agnostic for many years and now lean more towards an atheist. Does it mean I’m right? No. It is just what I personally feel which is my choice. I believe part of the reason I feel this way, is because I have watched humans use all sorts of religions to gain control over others for their own purpose. Of course as I always say; “The love of money is the root of all evil”, so there is that in the picture as well. Hopefully you have fully recovered from your Covid by now and keep writing. Many of us enjoy your letters.
Once again you have written a well-reflected piece filled with wisdom and shrewd discernment Tad. My personal musings and life experience have me agreeing and identifying with your observations and reasoning.
A couple of years ago at coffee we saw a senior seating by himself and invited him to join us, and he did. Somehow the topic turned to COVID and we told him that 7 members of our group after receiving 4 COVID shots had developed COVID. He said “ that’s the whole problem isn’t it. If you can still get COVID after getting the shots why bother getting them.” “ I responded “ Because we are still alive and the fools who didn’t are dead. Does that answer your question”. A retired doctor in our group certainly agreed with me. I bet Tad has received all the shots, he is obviously a very intelligent man, isn’t he?
how do you get to this topic? and, just so you know, the vast, vast, vast majority of those that did not vax are also alive. must be by the grace of a god that may or may not exist?
Or is it a case of you not travelling the world and mixing with people that has saved your life? I prefer to get vaccinated, I got another shot today, and not let it destroy our plans to see the world with our children and grandchildren and enjoy our remaining years of life helping them create life long memories, what’s wrong with that?
With the way polio effected people in our early lives we know that if our parents hadn’t gotten us vaccinated there would have been a huge amount of deaths and all my friends and I appreciate what they did for us.
you are free to your choice with your body, as we all should be. i do not in any way support serial animal torture. as that is the case with stuff coming from pharm cos, my choice is to never take anything pharm until decency and compassion make animal torture for any reasons a serious crime, and whatever meds we heretofore create do not come from current disgusting methods
You remind me of the two seniors in Edmonton who told me that they had received one shot and that was good enough and it was until they began curling again in the fall and mixing with a lot more people.
They both got COVID and are dead.
Your lame excuse doesn’t impress any of the seniors in my world we prefer to live our lives like normal human beings and enjoy the remaining years of our lives without having to hide under a rock to protect our lives.
Since COVID was no longer an issue we have been on three cruise ships, and made a trip to Ireland to see where my Great Grandparents were from. Our daughter is talking about another cruise this fall to the Caribbean. It will be the third one there and has been a lot of fun.
The nine trips on cruise ships in total, including one to Russia was a real eye opener. We have never seen so many depressed sad people. 8 trips to Hawaii, 3 to Las Vegas, 3 to Disneyland , 4 days in Rome, 4 days in Copenhagen Denmark where real highlights.
Friends are presently on a cruise to Greenland, Iceland, and British Isles and like us got COVID after four shots but the shots protected them and they have no intention of hiding under a rock and not in joying their retirement like you do. We know there is no greater place of catching COVID than on a cruise ship if unvaccinated.
it is disheartening to be reminded of why the majority took the nasty shots – so they could travel, so they could pretend they were the heroes govts suggested the were, so they could be allowed out to play, while a second class of disenfranchised folk were told they were grounded…unless they gave up their right to their body to the state.
and, despite the ongoing ruin of our planet, here are the likes of you folks traveling great distances to play…only, it leaves a nasty footprint on our sustainability. planes, cruise ships – oh, so green.
as for your contention that i have a “lame” excuse for choosing as my conscience allows, and for maintaining that my body is my final say – it is sickening that you have such a lack of conscience and compassion. surely, you know exactly how pharm creates its products, via significant misery inflicted 24/7 upon sensitive and sentient creatures. untold multi-millions of them through just several decades.
but, as you and yours behave selfishly – along with far too many others – gallivanting about, using whatever fancies you without much in the way of real concern for anything else….well, you underscore here why the human is race remains so stuck in its gross issue-ridden behaviours and consequences.
question: what is it that separates those that willfully support animal cruelty from those that willfully inflict it?
answer: nothing.
as for pharm meds, i feel what is done is done. cannot go back, and nothing to be gained by taking all meds off the market because of how they have been derived. however, it would be a great show of compassion and decency to say no to anything new that comes from the pharm torture chambers of horror. as consumers, our power resides in not buying into – as in not buying – anything new that is borne of serial abuse of sentient life.