Question

In what way are religion and science brought together, could this exploration of the creation of the universe serve as a religious meditation? In what way can the natural world reveal the divine?

Answer 1

Science and Religion

Since Western science makes universal claims, it is easy to assume that its encounter with other religious traditions is similar to the interactions observed in Christianity. In Hindu traditions God is usually not entirely distinct from creation, unlike in Christianity and Judaism), and because science has had distinct historical trajectories in other cultures, one can expect disambiguation in the relationship between science and religion in different religious traditions.

Science and religion in Christianity

To examine the relationship between Christianity and science is the two books metaphor (see Tanzella-Nitti 2005 for an overview). Accordingly, God revealed Godself through the “Book of Nature”, with its orderly laws, and the “Book of Scripture”, with its historical narratives and accounts of miracles. Many Historians believe that Christianity was instrumental to the development of Western science. Authors even go as far as to claim that Christianity was unique and instrumental in catalyzing the scientific revolution. According to Rodney Stark (2004), the scientific revolution was in fact a slow, gradual development from medieval Christian theology. As further evidence for a formative role of Christianity in the development of science, some authors point to the Christian beliefs of prominent natural philosophers of the seventeenth century.

For example, Clark writes:

Exclude God from the definition of science and, in one fell definitional swoop, you exclude the greatest natural philosophers of scientific revolution—Kepler, Copernicus, Galileo, Boyle, and Newton (to name just a few). (2014: 42)

Religious Americans, particularly evangelical Christians, care deeply about maintaining an active role for God in the world.

Science and religion in Islam

As the second largest religion in the world, Islam shows a wide variety of beliefs. Core creedal views include the oneness of God (tawḥīd), the view that there is only one undivided God who created and sustains the universe. The relationship between Islam and science is complex. Islamic countries are also in acceptance though being unwelcome for pseudoscientific ideas, such as Old Earth creationism, the creation of human bodies on the day of resurrection from the tailbone, and the superiority of prayer in treating lower-back pain instead of conventional methods (Guessoum 2009: 4–5). Since the Qurʾān explicitly mentions the special creation of Adam out of clay, most Muslims refuse to accept that humans evolved out of hominin ancestors. Nevertheless, Muslim scientists such as Guessoum (2009) and Rana Dajani (2015) have advocated acceptance of evolution.

Science and religion in Hinduism

Hinduism is the world’s third largest religion. Hinduism does not draw a sharp distinction between God and creation. Many Hindus believe in a personal God, and identify this God as immanent in creation and there is no sharp ontological distinction between creator and creature (Subbarayappa 2011). The relationship between science and religion on the Indian subcontinent is complex, in part because the dharmic religions and philosophical schools are so diverse. For example, Cārvāka proponents had a strong suspicion of inferential beliefs, and rejected Vedic revelation and supernaturalism in general, instead favoring direct observation as a source of knowledge. During 1757 to 1947 Hindus came into contact with Western science and technology under British colonial rule. Mahendrahal Sircar (1833–1904) believed that God used evolution to create the current life forms. Hinduism and science are in harmony: Hinduism is scientific in spirit, as is evident from its long history of scientific discovery (Vivekananda 1904). Sri Aurobindo Ghose, a yogi and Indian nationalist, who was educated in the West, formulated a synthesis of evolutionary thought and Hinduism. He interpreted the classic avatara doctrine, according to which God incarnates into the world repeatedly throughout time, in evolutionary terms. God thus appears first as an animal, later as a dwarf, then as a violent man (Rama), and then as Buddha, and as Kṛiṣṇa. During the twentieth century, Indian scientists began to gain prominence, including C.V. Raman (1888–1970), a Nobel Prize winner in physics, and Satyendra Nath Bose (1894–1974), a theoretical physicist. These authors were silent on the relationship between their scientific work and their religious beliefs. Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887–1920) was open about his religious beliefs and their influence on his mathematical work. He claimed that the goddess Namagiri helped him to intuit solutions to mathematical problems.

Relations between science and religion

Current work in the field of science and religion consists of an array of topics, including free will, ethics, human nature, and consciousness. Contemporary natural theologians discuss fine-tuning, in particular design arguments based on it (e.g., R. Collins 2009), the interpretation of multiverse cosmology, and the significance of the Big Bang. For instance, authors such as Hud Hudson (2013) have explored the idea that God has actualized the best of all possible multiverses.

Natural world and the divine :

Western cultures already had an elaborate doctrine of creation even before scientists developed their thoughts on cosmology and origins of the world, based on Biblical texts (e.g., the first three chapters of Genesis and the book of Revelation) and the writings of church fathers such as Augustine.

Divine actions in real world:

If we have a cow we definitely have an expectation to get milk. This promotes good thoughts to create good actions and to feel joy, which is Divine love. Spirituality is something which teaches us about real life.

Looking at a pig or buffalo may remind us of Beef or Pork but to save one’s life would be a Divine experience.

Helping a road side beggar in need of food or shelter would be a divine experience.

Helping a blind cross the street would a divine experience in real life.