The Divorce of Religion and Science

There are kernels of truth in most religions, but critics focus on the inconsistencies that plague any attempt at describing that which underlies language itself. Religion occupies that space beneath rational thought, hence its ceaseless brushes with science, which is an exclusively rational tool. Though religion and science could live side by side, our civilization has somehow divorced them from each other. I think the scientists simply got disgusted with how things in the church were going, and in retaliation, the church became even more dogmatically rejecting of verifiable observations of science. They have their own spheres and shouldn't be fighting, but unfortunately they are. The attrition has weakened both parties, and now both the scientific community and the religious are more dogmatic than ever.

Without a humane framework, science becomes a tool for lifeless corporations bent on extracting value from people and the earth and not really replenishing them. Sure, there are scientists working on clean fuels and higher yielding agriculture, but without the context afforded by spirituality, their only measure of success is money and other quantifiable things. Human happiness and well-being aren't quantifiable as even economists admit, so applying science this way can never produce happy humans. Without tools for investigating that which can be measured, religion degenerates into fact-denying superstition, witch hunts, outright war.

I believe we need to salvage spirituality from war-worn religion and reintroduce faith into the scientific community. Not faith that God exists as a bearded sky-daddy, but faith that kindness and humanity to others will prevail. Our vision manifests as physical reality, and without a positive vision, we will create a dark world no matter how shiny our tools are.