Scientific and Aesthetic Revolutions 210/220-16: Science, Religion, Say You're Sorry. Now Hug Each Other.

Throughout this class’s foray into the world of Darwin, I have been most fascinated by the struggle between science and religion. As someone who wrestles with religion myself, I feel a strong connection to this debate and everything it encompasses. Darwin himself struggled with reconciling his religious beliefs with his scientific findings, which is one of the reasons he waited so long before publishing his conclusions on evolution. However, in this course we learned about some people who have had no difficulty in melding their two beliefs, and it was learning about these people that led me to my revelation. My revelation this semester, such as it is, is best summed up by a quote from our textbook The West about Thomas Aquinas, a student of Aristotelian philosophy: “Aquinas believed that reason and faith were complementary methods for understanding reality. Reason began a journey that only faith could complete” (Frankforter, 274). To me, this way of thinking does not seem that crazy. It actually makes me very happy to think of these two historically opposed views finding a balance with each other after being so long at war. These days even the Catholic church is extending the hand of friendship to the scientific community, as we learned in the article “How to Teach Science to the Pope” by Michael Mason. One person Mason interviewed was Monsignor de Toca, whose ideas on science and religion embrace this dualistic approach. “I think religion and science are both part of human existence. You don’t have to choose one or the other – you can choose both… Science can purge religion of superstition… And religion can help science to remain inside its borders” (Mason, 3). This idea of a system of checks and balances is one central to the way in which America is run, and one that I think is very reasonable and logical. It makes sense to have the two there to keep each other in check.

I am reminded of the class discussion in which we talked about the need for scientists to answer the question “how do we do this?” and for humanists to answer the question “should we do this?” I realized this semester that, although my spiritual ideas are somewhat haphazard and vague, I believe science and religion do go hand in hand, and that they should to a certain extent. I know there are a lot of people in this class who would disagree with this, and I can understand that. I’m not saying I think that religion should be able to hold science back at all, I just think that there are things that science can’t explain, and I don’t think it’s such a bad thing for something to be there to fill in the gaps. Besides, with all of the religious quacks out there, I would take a Christian who acknowledges science any day.

I found a video on YouTube that pretty accurately explains my feelings on science and religion called “Can Religion and Science Coexist?” It takes quotes from various famous scientists and makes the point that ultimately science and religion have the same goal: to find the truth. One quote that I really take away from this video is that “Religion and Science are two opposing but complementary principles.” Even though I don’t have my religious views pinned down precisely, what I am sure of is that it doesn’t make any difference to me whether the mysterious workings of the world are those of nature or the divine, what matters to me is that we continue to question and explore them.