Religion and Science…..

Many people view religion and science as opposed to each other. A very religious person puts all his or her faith in the All Mighty to determine the course of his or her life while a worldly man or woman puts his or her trust on worldly knowledge, technology and science to guide and determine his or her future. Many see the Muslims as belonging to the first category while westerners belong to the second category. I say westerners,not Christians, for there certainly are many devout Christians who believe the good Lord determines everything. Man proposes God disposes. Followers of other religions in the east tend towards the first category, giving emphasis to prayers and God's blessing to achieve their ends, over and above their humble human efforts.

We even see religion and Science as two factors pulling people apart. When you believe more in science (secular knowledge, technology etc) as the determinants of life, you rely less on faith and religion. You rely less on prayers and humble appeal to God to help you achieve whatever you want to do and depend more on planning, research and applying modern technology to accomplish what yuo desire. But the easterners, the Muslims especially, will pray harder and appeal more humbly to God (Allah) to fulfil their hope and ambition. The Muslims even hold special prayers to request Allah for rain during a spell of dry season, to end the senseless war and killings in some Muslim countries like Syria and Egypt, and even for the return of lost relatives as what had happened in the case of flight MH370.The prayers are, of course, accompanied by continuous efforts and actions to make their hope a reality.


Based on the existing views of the apparent conflict between Religion and Science, must we therefore see people and the world being torn apart, one group allowing religion to dominate everything while the other allowing science to determine everything?
Must the youths of today face the problem of becoming more scientific or religious, trusting science more than the will of the Creator? Must the advancement of science and technology push religion to the back seat as it seems to happen today among the young people of the world, and religion is 'reembraced' as one gets old and faces the uncertainties or fear of death?

I think there's a better way of examining ourselves and our nation in terms of religious and scientific proclivity or inclination. We can create a graph charting our religious or 'Belief in Faith' and 'Believe in Science" mix by presenting the first on an X axis and the latter on a Y axis, starting with 0% and rising to a full 100%, as in Fig. 1 Figure 1.


We can then place ourself or our nation at the most appropriate spot or reading along the X and Y axis. For example a devout Muslim could be placed at 95% along the X axis (belief in faith/religion) and, maybe only 10% on the Y axis (belief in science. An eminent scientist could be placed at maybe 10% or less on the X asia and 99% on the Y axis. This will give us a graphic presentation of their religious-scientific standing in determining the direction of their lives. Fig 1.

If we agree that both religion and science are important in out life, we should then aspire for a more comprehensive mix as in Fig 2. Otherwise we or our nation can become a lopsided kind of entity which can cause a lot of problems in choosing the priorities of life as a common goal.
Figure 2