The ABC current affairs TV show The Drum also hosts an opinion site - The Drum Opinion.In December 2011, the scientist and religion writer, Alistair McGrath's headline was: 'Science is about explanation. Religion is about meaning'. What do you think this implies? Does one system take precedence over the other? Why?
McGrath quotes the significant Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, saying 'science takes things apart to see how they work. But religion puts them back together again to see what they mean.' Can both systems exist in harmony? Can you present an example of a religion-science system of meaning?
Source:
ABC. 2011. 'Science is about explanation. Religion is about meaning'. The Drum Opinion. http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3745688.html
Image source:
http://themagicsinyou.blogspot.com.au/2011_12_01_archive.html
Science is about the explanation of things that can be "proven" time and time again according to certain rules. Something becomes "true" because of many repetitions of something doing the same thing each time it is tested. This can be seen as objective in that if the experiments are done the same way, this is independent of which person conducts the experiments as it does not change.
ReplyDeleteOnce things are "taken apart" to see how they work, their individual parts are separate and simplified down to basic forms. Once it is attempted to put these basic forms together to create a bigger picture and meaning, subjectivity arises as there are almost an infinite number of ways to put things together to create meaning because meaning arises out of people's values, emotions, thoughts, moods, memories and experiences.
In my opinion, both systems can exist in harmony. An example of a religion-science system of meaning would be one that had a "possible" meaning that does not involve much of a supernatural element i.e. meaning is derived from explanations that are seen as plausible by scientists in line with what we have already discovered.
Such a religion may be more along the lines of seeing everything as being connected by an "energy source" which gives meaning to life as it connects us all (and which could be seen as valid by scientists) rather than the concept of an all-powerful, all-knowing God who created the universe for which there is no evidence and which is in contrast to scientific explanations about the universe.