Science and Religion - Chapter 3 b (St. Luke of Simferopol)

Chapter 3 (a)

Chapter 3 (b) 

 

If we consider religion in its essence — that is, as an inner experience, as adoration of God and communion with Him — we must agree that science not only does not contradict religion, but, moreover, science leads to religion. If we do not limit ourselves to the painstaking collection of facts, like the learned specialist Wagner in Goethe's work, but, like Faust, give free rein to the entire human thirst for knowledge, which strives to comprehend the mysteries of existence and to possess these mysteries, then we will inevitably arrive at religion. And it is precisely science that proves its necessity. It poses the very same questions that religion answers. By the law of causality, science leads us to the First Cause of the world, and religion answers who is this creative First Cause not only of the world but also of man. It tells us that we descend from God (and not from apes). Science reveals the eternal Logos of being, which conditions this harmony. Science leads us to the need for some rational meaning in life, some higher purpose for life. Religion answers – it is GOD.

Science and Religion - Chapter 3 a (St. Luke of Simferopol)

Chapter 2

Chapter Three: Sources of Prejudice

Where does the widespread opinion among students, and educated people in general, that science contradicts religion come from?

Its cause lies in superficial knowledge in both science and religion, which confirms the idea: "Knowledge leads to God, half-knowledge leads away from Him." Half-knowledge is the scourge of our time: it is precisely this that creates the prejudice just mentioned. First, we know little about philosophy, especially the branch of philosophy that specifically addresses this issue — that is, epistemology, or the theory of knowledge.

By credulously accepting as scientific the evidence presented in support of the proposition that God does not exist, we forget the propositions already clarified by Kant that theoretical reason is equally powerless to prove or disprove the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, and free will. These objects and these questions are therefore called transcendental (beyond the bounds of science).