The Sunday Mail
MANY people today question where religion fits in an age of science. Some believe that there is conflict between science and religion, that one should choose between being a religious person and follow God’s teachings. Or a scientist and be a follower of reason.
Science and religion, in the Bahá’í view, complement each other, like two wings of a bird.
And the advantages of both need to be used together, if we are to build a progressive and peaceful society. Religion, without science, can degenerate into superstition and fanaticism, while science without religion can become an instrument of crude materialism.
“Religion,” according to the Bahá’í writings, “is the outer expression of the divine reality.
Therefore, it must be living, vitalised, moving and progressive.”
“Science is the first emanation from God toward man. All created things embody the potentiality of material perfection, but the power of intellectual investigation and scientific acquisition is a higher virtue specialised to man alone. Other beings and organisms are deprived of this potentiality and attainment”.
Religion and science together provide the fundamental organising principles by which individual, communities and institutions function and evolve.
Scientific method is our tool for understanding the physical side of the universe and is the key to new technologies.
Teachings of God offer to humanity a basis for values, and a life-purpose. They provide answers to moral questions and our relationship to God that science cannot provide.
Religion in its purest form (the way it was revealed through God’s Messengers) is not opposed to scientific facts. God, who has given us the gift of the intellect, does not expect us to lay it aside when investigating religious truth.
Although scientific theories have not always proved to be right, this does not mean that we should accept ideas contrary to all logic and reason because they are advanced in the name of religion.
Religion and science have both been greatly abused at times; but true science, which discovers the laws of the universe and helps our material and mental advancement, cannot be opposed to religion in its purest form, free from human misinterpretation and misrepresentation.
The Bahá’í Writings state, “All religions teach that we must do good, that we must be generous, sincere, truthful, law-abiding, and faithful; all this is reasonable, and logically the only way in which humanity can progress.
All religious laws conform to reason, and are suited to the people for whom they are framed, and for the age in which they are to be obeyed”.
Furthermore, “In divine questions we must not depend entirely upon the heritage of tradition and former human experience; nay, rather, we must exercise reason, analyse and logically examine the facts presented so that confidence will be inspired and faith attained”.
Science provides us with tools and means, and religion teaches us how to use them to the best advantage of all humanity. For example a knife is a useful tool, but it can also be used to kill someone. Religion teaches us to put this tool to good use and not to use it to hurt anyone.
According to a statement of the Bahá’í International Community: “In the quest for truth, science and religion – the two systems of knowledge available to humankind – must closely and continuously interact.
The insights and skills that represent scientific accomplishment must look to the force of spiritual commitment and moral principle to ensure their appropriate application.”
The independent investigation of reality, whether scientific or religious, is strongly encouraged in Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings. Individuals should strive, He said, to free themselves from prejudices and preconceptions. According to the Bahá’í Writings
“… in the search for truth man must weigh religious questions in the balance of science and reason. God has given us rational minds for this purpose, to penetrate all things, to find truth.”
At the same time, “… the principle of harmony between religion and science, while it enables us, with the help of reason, to see through the falsity of superstitions, does not imply that truth is limited to what can be explained by current scientific concepts.”
The harmony between science and religion acts as a unifying factor. As stated in the Bahá’í Writings, “Put all your beliefs into harmony with science; there can be no opposition, for truth is one.
When religion, shorn of its superstitions, traditions, and unintelligent dogmas, shows its conformity with science, then will there be a great unifying, cleansing force in the world which will sweep before it all wars, disagreements, discords and struggles – and then will mankind be united in the power of the Love of God.”
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