Clash of Religion with Science

Clash of Religion with Science

From hunting-gathering society to the civilized modern world of today, the rift between religion and science has been holding on. And every time it is the science that vindicates itself. The different religions, be it Islam, Christianity or Hinduism, had had a bitter row with science. Nevertheless, it is the Christianity that had an intensive clash with science, as it had been challenging the myths that were attached to peoples’ beliefs. Those myths are sometimes nowhere to be found, even from their sacred books. Yet, the so-called guardians of religions- call it Mullah, Pundit, Father or anything else- infuse them in the minds of the people. Sometimes, those myths and legends tend to be tribally or societally manufactured, largely fabricated to establish the authority of the powerful ones.

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In the 1630s,  Galileo Galilei, the Italian Scientist, who claimed the earth is round and propounded his theory of heliocentrism (sun-centered), was subjected to life imprisonment. Knowing how his theory will lower the standing of the church, the church waged a war against the eminent physicist and astronomer. It was just a matter of time that it took no more than 300 years for the church to admit that Galileo was actually right.

When Galileo presented his heliocentric theory, people mocked on this idea. Some people questioned how Joseph would land on the earth in that case? Will he have to do this on either side of the earth? And what about heaven? Will it be on either side of the earth? Ferdinand Magellan- the first one to circumnavigate the earth- had the best answer to these questions, that says, “ The church says the earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen the shadow on the moon, and I have more faith in a shadow than in the church".

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Today, everyone including the religious institutions is looking towards science to salvage them after the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus. Not very long ago, the same institutions called such pandemics ‘the wrath of God’.  They believed they were the punishments of their sins. When Edward Jenner invented the vaccine of smallpox in the late 18^th century, mitigating the death toll caused by the deadly virus; some religious segments termed it the intervention in the divine affairs. Soon, Edward Jenner’s home was set on the flames. It is the pity that after the passage of two centuries, these minds still exist largely in our society. Do you not notice how para-medical staff of polio is being targeted and sometimes killed in the tribal areas of Pakistan? Needless to say, the minds that sentenced Galileo and torched the house of Dr. Edward Jenner are the same minds that oppose the polio vaccination.

Whenever unnatural things happen, the religious genius people try to link them with divine affairs. During the time of Carl Linnaeus, the water of rivers seemed a bit reddish. People said it was the blood of Joseph and he is angry with us. Carl Linnaeus through microscope concluded that it was nothing but tiny red warms. Very soon, he was labeled as the infidel. Carl was as brave as Galileo and knew the fate of Galileo; therefore, he apologized from the church.

Similarly, the same was said for the lightning striking. The devastation of churches in the USA had just become the norm of the day, precisely during the latter half of the 18^th century. The church maintained that God had been enraged with our transgressions. Benjamin Franklin negated these claims, and was of the opinion that lightning we see in the sky is the same which we produce in the lab as electricity. For this reason, he conducted a demonstration. During thunderstorms, he flied the kite and attached a key with it. When lightning struck, it collides with that metallic key. In this way, he succeeded in his claims. He suggested lightning rods (conductor antenna) be used at the top of buildings to escape the lightning strike. The church did not listen to this. One day, when lightning struck, another church was again demolished. However, the opposite wine shop that had lightning rod remained safe and sound. Now it was essential for the church to admit the scientific claims of Benjamin Franklin.

Quite paradoxically, when such inventions come to the fore, the same religious circles claim that these scientific truths have already been mentioned in their sacred books. One may frequently find such claims from the Muslims. Indubitably, Muslim scientists had an amazing past and excelled in science and knowledge. It was not until 1258 that their downfall nose-dived at breakneck pace after the Mongolian invasion of Baghdad. Likewise, Johannes Heinrich in his 1887 book, “The Scientific Vindication of Christianity”, avouches that Christianity and science go hand in hand. The Hindu religion is not far away in this contest. Mohan Roy’s work on “scientific origin of Hinduism” is the testament of the fact that the Hindus also link many discoveries with their sacred text. No surprise, this trend still goes on.

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On the whole, it can be argued that after having revolutionary and scientific inventions that falsified some of the religious myths, yet the science and religion do not go hand in hand. There are yet considerable contradictions in many debates. However, despite the fact that some of the genuine minds of science happened to be orthodox Christians, one may ascertain to a great extent that Christianity has adopted a great deal of rationality. The names of Issac Newton, Nikola Tesla, and Dmitri Mendeleev are conspicuous ones in this regard. They never blended their fundamental beliefs with scientific truths.  However, after some bizarre comments from the religious scholars regarding the COVID-19 and their persistent opposition to scientific inventions, one may aptly remark that Islam, once had a glorious past, has to travel a lot to restore its lost prestige in this particular field.