General paper question: "The more science advances, the more religion will decline." How far do you agree?
This is a complex question that is riddled with many factors such as time, political condition, place, what idea of science is at stake and what religion we are considering. For example, in the 16th century, the roman Catholic Church in Italy was so powerful that they could prosecute anyone convicted of crimes such as heresy and blasphemy against Christianity. The Galileo affair demonstrates to us how Galileo with his scientific findings stepped onto such a mine with the consequence of life imprisonment. Today however we see that science has advanced very far but, still, many people adopt religions. In this limited essay, I shall confine the word "decline" to refer to two areas, political power over science and number of religious believers.
Decline in power over science and/or number of religious believers...
It was in the past in Europe where verses in the Bible were taken literally. Galileo through observations of heavenly bodies concluded that some planets orbit around the sun disproving the religious notion that everything including the sun revolves around the earth. He strongly adhered to his stand and refused to yield to the demands of the church to modify his results and suit the Bible. We know the sad outcome of his refusal. Today, many people including scientists practice science and yet they can be religious Christians without being affected by the Bible. The Big Bang theory is a recent creation which goes in contrary to the Biblical notion of genesis but, thank god, the scientists involved were not burned to death. It must be mentioned there are still some applications of science such as in-vitro fertilisation, cloning, genetic modification that are sensitive to religions which may view these "playing god" acts as unnatural. But religions can no longer effectively impose on these scientific research.
Religion no longer has control over science...
The Islamic Ottoman Empire which gave rise to many great scientific and mathematical discoveries tells that not all religions are at serious odds with science. Incidents involving conflicts between science and religions are not heard of in eastern countries such as India and China too probably because religions in the east were more spiritual and less explicit in discussing about the natural world. Then the 20th century sees the rise of the abstract world of molecules, atoms right down to sub-atomic particles. Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism tell about the cycle of creation and destruction. Fritjof Capar, at the beach, meditated and came to a spiritual realisation that marries Hinduism and quantum physics. He then authored the famous Tao of Physics that describes the parallel between the dancing goddess of Shiva and the dynamic quantum world of particles engaged in constant interactions of creation and annihilation. Even Niels Bohr wore the symbol of yin and yang when he received his Nobel prize in physics. I can't say that eastern religions teach about quantum physics but we certainly don't see any conflict between them whether in the past or present. And there will not likely be any conflict in the future.
Not all religions are at odds with science...
Today's advanced technologies are a result of centuries of scientific research and discoveries that were the fruits of the perseverance and determination of individual scientists. A few of the stories involve science-and-religion conflict. But the consumers who use the end products of science in their contemporary lives would be totally ignorant of the science and their histories. Being deeply religious does not seem to prevent one from using technologies regardless of whether the science behind agrees with their religions.
Deeply religious people will still use the applications of science...
Religions might have declined in their political power over science but there could be many more believers around the world given the rapid increase in world population. Whether religious or not, scientists continue with their research free from the oppressive clutches of religion, and people from all walks of life continue with their lives with the aid of technologies. It sounds schizophrenic but that is how it is. I can't resolve that. On the other hand, religious institutions continue with their theological search and expand though they have less political influence over science than in the past.
The number of religious believers has not declined...
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Here's a short video of David Attenborough speaking about religious people who asked him to acknowledge God when he shows the beauty of nature.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfa88SeNohY
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