The God debate (1)

Some correspondents have been debating the compatibility of science and religion. Science is the truth by definition while religion is just a belief.

There is but one science accepted globally while on the other hand there are over 100,000 different religions. The difference is that science to be accepted has to be proved universally while religion relies on belief. One can choose to believe in the tooth fairy or Father Christmas but that is a personal choice. Of course belief can be complementary to science but on different levels.

What science did over time was to discredit certain religious beliefs. When primitive tribes did not know the cause of certain events such as earthquakes, volcano eruptions and disease epidemics they attributed them to one god or another. God was the easy way to explain the unknown to primitive man. Science explained the reason for such happenings.

Ancient civilisations named the solar planets after their gods. In Egypt, it was the pharaoh Akhenaten that abandoned polytheism to monotheism some 1,300 B.C.

In the past, the study of science was likened to evil witchcraft and was discredited by the Church. Even Leonardo da Vinci had to perform dissections in secret. Centuries ago, it was only the clergy who had the time and money to carry out scientific experiments. Of course, this had to be in conformity to the established teachings of the Church.

Copernicus only published his thesis on his deathbed for fear of repercussions while Giordano Bruno, another cleric, was burnt at the stake for the sake of science that went against the then teachings of the Church. The Church also frowned upon Darwinian evolution even though at that time no one knew that man shared 98 per cent of his DNA with that of chimpanzees. Today science is leaping forward by leaps and bounds. It has created a living organism out of inorganic matter. We might not even be alone in the universe and yet we pretend to be unique.

Some people fail to distinguish between a personal God and a God as a first cause. Man’s spiritual attributes have evolved alongside with the evolution of his physical body.

The question is, can his spiritual side survive the end of his body? Can motion survive independently of a moving car? Einstein denied the existence of an immortal soul.