A Scientific Religion - V Raghunathan
1. Marrying Religion with Scientific temper
Need :
Religion –
based on faith – rock to which humans cling to in times of stress – holds sway
on the majority of population – politicians use this religious card to play to
their tunes – hence we need to see to it that our religious beliefs should be
scientifically tempered
There is a
link between religion and science – science helps us to understand the universe
– similarly religion helps us to understand the philosophy of life in the universe – so religion evolves as our understanding of
the universe grows.
2. Scientific
Temper in Everyday life
Points –
what is scientific temper – one should have the mindset to bring a scieintific
method of thinking in all aspects of life
How do we develop
this – examples – given in the text – page 40 para 2 and 3
3. How
do we develop a scientific temper?
Through
education – a) start with our education system education should promote
scientific temper and critical thinking
- using everyday science to answer everyday problems b) Teachers need to
teach how to question – teach students how to find answers to these questions –
examples – Ganesha sipping milk – effluent water becoming sweet – why? find
answers to these through science- everything must be questioned and nothing
accepted without questioning c) choose texts that teach rationality d)
education must protect old people and women alike - object to witch hunting and exorcism e)
education should distinguish between history, mythology and religion – retelling
the epics should not cause a riot – not be turned a political case f) the educated among us must be aware of the
need for scientific temper g) Media
should be enlightening and educative and not sensational i) introduce the broad tenets of all
religions in the education system – expose the child to all of them – idea of
secularism to be inculcated in the mind of the young – perhaps a child should
be allowed to choose his/her religion at the age of 18 or 21 making religion an
informed choice (the above point
itself can be debated on) j) Enlightened religion must be
disassociated from all kinds of dogma, superstition, myth and meaningless
ritual – religious leaders should bring scientific temper among the people –
avoid non-scientific practices of invoking God for rains, launch of missile etc
Convergence
of Religions
All
religions have some basic innate truths – but this has not cut across all
religions and formed a unifying theology of humans
Science has
cut across barriers – religion has not. – if there is convergence of religions,
it can result in an improved spiritual life and thinking of mankind.
There is a
need for the 21st century citizen to think beyond narrowly defined
religious beliefs, faiths and practices – Most of the international disputes
today are based on religious –hate – religions have not found a common theme to
work together for the greater good of
humanity – through assimilation of a scientific temper
The Responsibility of Ushering in Scientific Temper
Nature of
Science – constant questioning its hypothesis – reject the wrong and accept the
right through objective, reliable and scientific methods to understand the
Universe better – can’t the same openness to questioning the assumptions and
assertions be emulated in religion t create a more scientifically tempered
society? Why can’t logical and analytical methods be applied to aspects of
religion to render more clarity? Should be possible with Hinduism with its all
encompassing nature - Our caste system – a strong example – shouldn’t we
question this aspect of our religion and use the genetic knowledge to do away
with the caste system?
The
hypothesis of rebirth, multiple lives and the immortality of the soul to
justify our misfortunes, heaping injustice on another fellow human beings
(honour killing, treatment of widows) opposing inter-religious, inter –caste
marriages – can’t all these be approached with a scientific temper?
A More Evolved Religion
What would
be a more evolved religion like?
1.
Faith
– the foundation of all religions- in times of extreme stress, we fall back
upon our faith in God – forgetting that God will help only those who help
themselves – become fatalistic – the universal religion would repose 100% faith
in human efforts - not passive and
fatalistic faith
2.
Such
an evolved religion would be based on the realization that we are born with
certain god-given potential, it is up to us to use that potential
3.
Third
feature – logical reasoning, systematic deduction and continuous learning by observing the
Universe and the cause –effect phenomena
4.
No
resorting to ‘god of the gaps’ – the working of God can be seen in all things
that science cannot explain. – no room in the religion to explain random events
as godly interventions – the religion will recognize, as science does, that at
any point in time, there could be questions but no answers. Or are
unanswerable. – but the mind would be open and continue its search for answers
to such questions (Examples – text page 45 and 47) - No belief in the karma theory
5.
No
belief about punishments in the hereafter for transgression committed in this
life – religion and civic education to be interwoven so that behavior maximizes
the benefit for mankind – education in ethics – not based on arbitrary precepts
but on logically reasoned conduct in the best interests of the society.
6.
The
universal religion may provide for meditation on the ‘almighty’ with 2
conditions a) Answer to Einstein’s question and the quotation (Page 47, 48)
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