Religion has always had an undeniable arm in the world. “God might not be dead, but God sure leaves a lot of people dead” This was one social science professor’s response to Nietzsche’s famous proclamation that “God is dead”. Evidently, he is trying to point out the influence of religion upon our views and decisions in society. Religion affects every society on a personal level because it also affects every aspect of our lives. At the same time, today’s society is also influenced heavily by advanced science and technology. Human actions, if based on either science or religion, may result in grave consequences. However, scientific fact is definitely more trustworthy and reliable than religion for it can explain and manipulate the physical world.
Scientific fact ensures that the decisions we make are rational and always to our best interests after taking into account the cost and benefits of the decisions we are making. Today, we see apps and software with the ability to provide us with the most advantageous or the profitable choice we can make, be it for business level or personal level decisions. Furthermore, we can see the emergence of apps that enables us to make decisions based on our heart. “Choice compass”, an application, use our smartphone’s camera to analyse changes in our heart rhythm while we consider each of two choices: such as ‘buy’ or ‘don’t buy’. It then tells us which of the choices returned heart dynamic associated with positive rather than negative decisions, allegedly tapping into our innate ‘body wisdom’, giving a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘follow your heart’. Another app, “Best Decision” claims to take the emotional agony out of making a decision by helping us arrive at the best conclusion objectively, grading potential outcomes under various criteria. With technology being advanced enough to read our minds and provide us with the most practical solution that will only benefit us, there is no need to base or actions on religion which in today’s context is becoming an out-dated concept.
On the other hand, science cannot explain everything in the universe and it certainly cannot be perceived to be precise when it comes to deciding what the heart wants. Science does not claim to offer a full or complete understanding of the universe but merely hopes to move closer to the truth. Science cannot prove certain things like moral and experiential truth. Science can help us learn about terminal illnesses and the history of human and animal rights and that knowledge can inform our opinions and decisions. But ultimately, individual people must make moral judgements for their own lives like euthanasia. Science helps us describe how the world is but it cannot make any judgements about whether that state of affairs is right, wrong, good or bad.
This does not necessarily mean that we can act based on our religious faith because history has shown us the consequences can be very grave such as genocide. By its very nature, religion can make different groups of people disagree and the quintessence of religion is faith in something that can neither be seen nor proven, cannot be debunked as well. Holocaust and crusades exemplify how desensitizing feelings of hatred can hypnotise individuals and blind them to common sense. In absence of common sense, a Hobbesian nightmare of ‘war of all against all’ does not seem far away if we were to act based on our religious faith. Science, on the other hand, is able to provide us with common sense and the ability to make logical decisions, unlike ones that are heavily influenced by the blind faith of religions.
Religion, however, provides a group of individuals common mortality and decisions made as a form of community-based on religion will not lead to any form of harm as all religions encourage love and kindness. Buddha’s words, “All beings long for happiness. Therefore, the extent thy compassion to all. He, who wishes his own happiness, let him cultivate goodwill towards all the world”. While the Bible reads “Love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. For if you love only those that love you, what reward have ye?” Furthermore, mot believers across the globe belong to one of a few major religions and most of these religions, although practised in various forms preach the same kind of moral values.