Science and Religion | Social Issue Essay, Article, Paragraph for Class 12, Graduation and Competitive Examination.

Science and Religion

Scheme of the Essay

Exposition: Religion is the oldest institution of human beings.

Rising Action: With the passage of time religion became rigid.

Climax:

(1) Religions and scientific approaches came in conflict with each other,

(2) Religion is orthodox and science is progressive,

(3) Science discovers material truth and religion the ultimate truth.

Falling Action: Science and religion can reconcile.

Ending: Religion and science ultimately come to the same conclusions.

Religion is one of the oldest institutions of human beings in the world. In earlier times it embraced the whole life of man including his actions, his behaviour, and his thinking. But with the passing of time, religion became quite rigid. The Church people made religion the voice of God. So, everything which was not compatible with the religious principles was considered to be untrue. That is why the scientific activity which based itself on rationality came in conflict with religion. Most of the principles of religion were based upon what is called divine inspiration but science gave a materialistic interpretation of everything. It is this conflict between religion and science that resulted in the burning of the scientists like Copernicus. So since then, people started believing that science and religion are basically opposed to each other.

Nobody can doubt that methods of science are different from the methods of religion. Scientific investigation emphasises experimentation and the violation of the religious principles. These are supposed to be eternal and binding upon human beings. Religion thus is based upon rational investigation. If the methods of the two are different there is no possibility of their adjustment.

Religion has been associated with a number of superstitions which have stood the test of time. As a result of it, the orthodox people start thinking that there is no departure from these principles. No doubt there may be some sort of faith even in the case of science, yet we cannot say that science is based upon any type of superstition, rather science dispels baseless fears and useless superstitions. It also makes the people to have confidence in themselves. Man thinks that he himself can manage his affairs. On the other hand, faith in God and in the ultimate truth are the basis of religious faith. In religion, emphasis is laid upon spirituality, salvation, fear of God, etc. On the other hand, science emphasises materialism, and love for the earth and earthly things, whereas some of the religions recommend complete renunciation of the worldly desires. In this respect also science comes in conflict with religion.

Some people say that science and religion investigate truth; religion tries to discover the ultimate truth whereas science discovers material truth. Ultimate truth is something abstract and it is difficult to define it in precise terms. On the other hand, material truth deals with the concrete things which can be seen or understood. In other words, the truth which the two discover are completely different. So, their domains are also different. It is wrong to say that the scientific truth is the real truth. In fact, it is the visible truth.

It is wrong to assume that science and religion can never reconcile. Rather both of them have much in common with each other. We know that it is extremely difficult to work out all the points of resemblance, but still many common factors can be discovered. For example, most of the religions say that there will be the doom’s Day and after that, the universes will be re-organized. Modern science has also come to the same conclusion. With the discovery of the blackholes, the scientists say that all the stars will be changed into black holes and as a result of it, the universe will have to be re-organized. Recent researches in para-psychology have proved that there is life earlier than the present life. Religion became somewhat rigid and was handed down from generation to generation without giving any rational explanation for its thesis whereas science remained alive and lived in tune with the times. Even today nobody can doubt that science and religion are complementary. Without religion, people will become dehumanised and without science, they would be blind believers in scientific things. Both situations are not conducive to the progress of man. At one or the other stage science and religion will be integrated.