Science without Religion
Science and Religion both are an inevitable part of human life. As in a living being the body and the soul cannot be separated, the same way science and religion cannot be separated from human life. Whereas science aims at rationality, religion is based on set beliefs. Science is necessary for the development of mankind in society. Religion is also important because the tendency of the average man has always been to dwell on the emotional and ethical side of a case rather than on facts of the somewhat dull kind which interest the scientists.
Science affects the average man and woman in two ways already. He or she benefits by its applications, driving a motor car or omnibus instead of a horse-driven vehicle, being treated for disease by a doctor or surgeon rather than a priest or a witch and being killed with an automatic pistol or a shell in place of a dagger or battle-axe.
Science also affects his or her opinion. Almost everyone believes that the earth is round, and the heavens nearly empty, instead of solid and we are beginning to believe in our animal ancestry and the possibility of vast improvement in human nature by biological methods. Science has brought revolutionary changes in thinking of people. The creations of science -- its mathematical synthesis, its proven generalization, its fruitful concepts and theories -- are neutral. Science has capacity to arouse a particular form of aesthetic response. The pleasure which is induced by those products of creative effort in which discreet elements of matter or experience are brought together in a meaningful organization. Science attempts to subdue a multitude of incidents to a grand generalization which until challenged by new events is universal in its application. Scientific generalization is capable of accurate prediction with reference to all future events that belongs to the category of incidents with which it deals.
In the pre-scientific world power was God’s. There was not much that man could do even in the most favorable circumstances, and the circumstances were liable to become unfavorable if man incurred the divine displeasure. Man decided that the things most displeasing to the deity are a lack of humanity. If you wished to slip through life without disaster, you must be meek; you must be aware of your defenselessness and constantly ready to confess it. In the scientific world, all this is different. It is not by prayer and humanity that you cause things to go as you wish, but by acquiring knowledge of natural laws. The power you acquire in this way is much greater and much more reliable than the power you acquire by prayer.
Religion is that which concerns us ultimately. Religion can be defined as a system of beliefs and practices by means of a group of people struggle with these ultimate problems of human life. It is the refusal to surrender to death, to give up in the face of frustration, to allow hostility to tear apart one’s human association.
This religion is and seems likely to remain and inevitable part of human life. Although the ways of struggling with these ultimate problems are enormously diverse, and seem destined for continuous change, the problems themselves are universal. Life without science cannot be imagined. Besides the all round development of mankind, we know better today and demand the general adoption of the scientific point of view because in its absence human efforts are largely devoted to conflicts. Hence science is also an inevitable part of human life.
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