THE RETURN TO RELIGION
Role of Science
THE nineteenth century was the century of atheism. But with the arrival of the twentieth century, the whole course of history changed and religion again became a major force in human life. The obvious causes of this fact were discontentment with science and the continuing existence of religion as an inherent part of human nature
A hundred years ago even thinking against science was considered a sign of ignorance. At the end of the 19th century a well-known scientist said that he was not able to understand anything unless he could make a scientific model of it. But now, at least at the academic level, man’s conviction of the usefulness of science has been shaken. The spate of books on this subject, published after the second world war, was an indication of the extent of the human dilemma. The article on the History of Science in the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1984) begins with these words:
Until recently, the history of science was a story of success. The triumphs of science represented a cumulative process of increasing knowledge and a sequence of victories over ignorance and superstition; and from science flowed a stream of inventions for the improvement of human life. The recent realization of deep moral problems within science of external forces and constraints on its development, and of dangers in uncontrolled technological change has challenged historians to a critical reassessment of this earlier simple faith.
Modern science has offered man innumerable facilities, but along with this it has brought in its wake, such problems as have rendered many of its gifts meaningless. The greatest menace is that of a third world war. In the event of this happening, it will be a nuclear war, which will reduce most of the big cities to ruins in a matter of hours. Moreover, the whole atmosphere will be engulfed in a thick nuclear smog prevent -ing sunlight from reaching the earth. This will in turn produce a terrible nuclear winter, which will bring all human, animal and vegetable existence to the verge of the most tragic annihilation. The progress of science has not only produced material problems, but has also created intellectual and spiritual problems of a very grave nature.
Science and scientific resources have vastly expanded human knowledge. It has not only given man microscopes and telescopesto observe things which had till then remained unseen, but has also opened up innumerable new ways and means of making it possible to add greatly to information in every field.
All this gave man the self-confidence to feel certain that he could arrive at the final reality through science alone. But the only thing that the increase in knowledge has given man is that he has now entered into a new phase of ignorance. In the words of a scientist: “We know more and more about less and less.”
By the end of the 19th century scientists believed that with the increase in knowledge they had been heading towards the final reality. But new research proved that man cannot reach the ultimate reality unaided. His limitations are decisive obstacles in his path. It is now an accepted fact among the scientific community that science gives us but a partial knowledge of reality.
With the emergence of modern science it had become fashionable among intellectuals to hold that the universe could be explained without God. Therefore, every fact that came to light was explained in a way that would prove that there was no mind or consciousness behind the universe. But this bid to explain the universe atheistically failed.
The expansion of human knowledge gave man the confidence to feel certain
that he could arrive at the final reality through science alone
The Indian scientist, Dr. Subramaniam Chandra Shekhar, who won the Nobel prize in Physics (jointly) in 1983, is a self-avowed atheist. He has briefly stated the present position of science on this subject:
There are aspects, which are extremely difficult to understand. A famous remark of Einstein—and other people have said similar things, Schrodinger in particular—that the most incomprehensible thing about nature is that it is comprehensible. How is it that the human mind, extremely small compared to the universe and living over a time span microscopic in terms of astronomical time, comprehends reality in ideas, which spring from the human mind? This question has puzzled many people from Kepler on. Why should mathematical description be accurate? Mathematical description is something the human mind has evolved. Why should it fit external nature? We don’t have answers to these questions. One is not saying the world is orderly and therefore must be ordered. But why should we understand the world in terms of the concepts we have developed? The British poet, T.S. Eliot has said: Where is the wisdom that we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge that we have lost in information?
A book called Wisdom, Information and Wonder, (published in 1989) by Dr. Mary Midgley, elaborates—as its title suggests—on the above rhetorical questions, and makes a significant contribution to the new thinking of the latter half of the 20th century.
In his book, The Secular City, (published in 1965) Professor Harvey R. Cox (published in 1965 in the U.S.A.) showed that people had lost interest in religion. But the same writer in another book titled, Religion in the Secular City, published in 1984, has shown that religion in the U.S.A. has seen a revival. The same has been found to be true in the other western countries.
In this search for truth, Islam a preserved and historical religion deserves to be considered for understanding it through its original sources. However, an important principle to follow while considering it for serious study should be that the seeker should separate Islam from Muslims.
Ungratefulness
A great disadvantage of an ungrateful attitude is that it
produces a mentality of non-acknowledgement. Failing
at first to acknowledge the favours of one’s fellow men,
leads one to failure to give wholehearted credence to
the Lord of the Universe.