Phoenix
by Dale J. Sprague
Reveries
2.2005
There is a popular myth that science breeds atheism and dismisses religion as something akin to superstition. Most of the clash between science and organized religion is traditional religious views negotiating the view of reality as revealed by science where religious myth is interpreted literally as factual truth, and that truth or belief contradicts what science reveals. As science evolves, spirituality becomes more profound. Already, many Christians belonging to organized churches regard the stories of the Bible as parables. Perhaps most of them are scientists, or work for scientists, or a business dependent on science, and believe that what science reveals is of the divine as much as it was when that "what" was a mystery.
There are some people in science, a small minority, perhaps only a few who hold that "since I cannot prove the existence of God, God does not exist." The reason why this is probably of a few is because most know that the first law of physics, the law of energy conservation, cannot be proven either. All we know is that if we maintain the faith that it is true, science will always evolve.
Both scientific and religious beliefs systems undergo change. For the past 500 years, science gave power to anyone willing to learn it, and has been growing in popularity because of its relevance to improving the living condition. Historically, the preponderance of religious organizations dole out power only to its ministers, the shepherds as it were. Religious belief systems entrench themselves in tradition, which change slowly by new generations, where science changes more readily by discovery. The popularity of science will reach a critical point in society, and within a generation or two, will sweep the rest of the population away from literal interpretation of holy texts, and perhaps clear the way to fathoming its spiritual gifts. This will happen at a time when visions of the divine become more profound and their authors, not at odds with science as traditional religious belief systems are.
From the divine point of view, there is no separation between science and religion. From the "being" point of view, there will always be a separation because there will always be the "unknown" to science, which, un'like science, is also the territory of religion.
This critical point may have already been reached with all the head butting going on between traditional religious views and science'minded people. The news media is catalyzing this process. They love controversy and do not have far to reach to find it here.