How to Teach Science to the Pope made me think about the connection between science and religion and why I hadn't ever thought of them together before. "Science is incapable of supplying answers to ultimate questions about why things exist and what their purpose is." Nicola Cabibbo, an Italian physicist once said this. And I disagree. I have nothing against religion, but I'm not religious at all. Therefore, I don't see how the "questions of the universe" can be solved using only religion. However, I do see and respect why other people could argue the oposite.
As I research the relationship between science and religion, I feel like I may be the only one who feels this way. Even Einstein argued the strong impact that religion has on science: "...the cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research." So why am I arguing differently when I have all of these geniouses opposing my viewpoint?
Since elementary school, we have always learned theories like "The Big Bang." Never once was religion mentioned in any of my science classes. This might be because teachers weren't allowed to bring up religion in school, but nonetheless, without the mention of it or connection to science while I was learning about the creation of the universe, I never thought of it as having an impact.
I did find one person who seems to think a little bit like me. Unlike Cabibbo, Richard Dawkins believed that science can answer most anything. I think that I would have gotten along better with him! In fact, Dawkins thinks that if science can't answer something, nothing else can.
I can't imagine what it would be like to just sit around all day and try to answer all the "questions of the universe." My mind gets boggled just writing this! I think some things are just not meant to be known, and , even though it may be beneficial, maybe we're not meant to know how the universe was created. This kind of makes me wonder what would happen if somehow, sometime we were able to solve the mystery of whether or not religion or science played a bigger role in the creation of the universe. What would Cabibbo and Dawkins think?
Works Cited:
Einstein, Albert. "Religion and Science." New York Times 9 Nov. 1930: 36-40.
How to Teach Science to the Pope." Discover 18 Aug. 2008.
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