Some Random Thoughts on Science and Religion

Of course we know there is no conflict between true religion and true science. In fact, there is no difference between true religion and true science. 

Whenever we have two words for the same thing (in this case, our attempt to understand and explain the world), we must ask ourselves why they appear to be different. That is, what is gained by using different words for the same thing, and who is it that gains this?

In the past, religion was ascendant over science, and both were far from explaining much of anything. Arguments about how many angels could dance on the head of a pin were pointless, of course; as were arguments about vapors and ether.

Nowadays, science, or, as I should write this, "science," is ascendant, and it's good at explaining some of the facts of life in this world, but the problem is that it relegates everything it can't explain, and every attempt to explain everything it can't explain, to a very dusty dust-bin which it labels "religion."

I even read an excerpt on Salon.com of a book titled “WeAre Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, From the Womb to Alzheimer’s” by D. F. Swaab. 

I sincerely hope that this excerpt does not do justice to the major content of the book, because it is jumbled and chaotic and full of contradictions and misunderstandings.  

The Salon headline for the article explains what is happening here: "This is your brain on religion: Uncovering the science of belief."

The implications are obvious: first, your brain "on religion" is somehow defective, and the comparison to the old public-service announcement with the graphic "your brain on drugs" is not a positive one; and, second, that the "science of belief" using the brain's anatomy and the research done by scientists on belief, delusion, and psychological states of mind will somehow shed light on true religion.

The author is obviously confused. To ask why so many people are religious is indeed an interesting question, but he seems to believe that the fact that there are more than 10,000 (according to the author) religions around the world means that God does not exist or that all these religions are incorrect.