Science and religion: Will it blend?

December 4th, last day at my first international science conference.

I am waiting for my uncle to pick me up from the university, when I overhear an interesting conversation between a student from the university and a guest.

The student says "My family is a family of pundits (Hindu scholars of religious scripture). We've been pundits for the last ten generations, and I'm the first to break the tradition and venture into science. My father's never impressed with my work. He just says "His (God's) power still holds, where science reaches it's limits." I don't think he'll ever appreciate what I do."

Similarly, my uncle asked me about stem cells at the dinner table that night and after listening to me talk for the next 10 minutes, he laughed it off ,saying "Great! But I'm not impressed until they can make a soul."

My neighbour's daughter, 12 years old, asks me "Our theology teacher at school says that science is a bad thing. And learning science is wrong. Do you think so?"

My reply, of course, was that her dear teacher is wrong. And if she is right, she should immediately stop using anything that is the product of science. Which, I know for a fact, isn't possible.

So, are science and religion compatible?

The answer is not simple.

So, what's the issue?

Religion has long been portrayed as the enemy of science and reason, supposedly due to lack of evidence of a higher power, and the failure of religion to solve mankind's problems.

This idea of incompatibility between science and religion, I believe, arose in the West prominently due to famous incidents such as the case of Giordano Bruno, who was burned at the stake for being a heretic. His fault? To conjecture that the stars are like our sun, each having their own planets, and that the universe is infinite.

Galileo Galilei is famous for being labeled a heretic by the church for advocating the heliocentric model of the solar system, rather than the Aristotelian geocentric model.

The Muslim world, once flourishing in the sciences, went downhill after the Islamic scholar Al-Ghazali, who claimed that falsafa (which literally meant philosophy, but included logic, mathematics and physics) are fundamentally incompatible with Islam. The Islamic world hasn't recovered from that downfall, ever since.

This scares the scientists, who believe that religious indoctrination necessarily implies the loss of one's scientific inquisitiveness. Which is not necessarily so.

The situation is very similar to the West being so afraid of Islamic terrorism, they began to abuse and insinuate Muslims who are looked at with suspicion for no fault of their own.

The theophobia associated with scientific thought these days, is disturbing.

To me, my religious beliefs are a very, very personal thing. And I do not bring them up unless I need to. It is the same with science. I do not try to mix the two aspects of my life. My spiritual life is my own, and I believe no one has the right to question my belief in anything, Just as I do not question theirs.

As I've mentioned earlier, I believe we are all a collection of belief systems, and so, I believe I cannot and should not force my opinions on those who might have a different worldview.

My suggestion?

Atheists condemning and ostracising religious people as non-scientific based solely on their religious beliefs is ridiculous. Of all the people, I believe scientists should be the ones to have an open mind, and be more tolerant towards different belief systems, regardless of whether they appeal to you or not.

Nevertheless, I also believe that religious leaders from all major religions should embrace science, just as they have embraced it's various offerings. And I encourage religious people to learn science, even if it is to know the mind of God.

I'll end with a quote from one of my favourite characters, Mr. Rzykruski from the film Frankenweenie. This quote beautifully explains the reason behind the rejection of science by various religious fundamentalists.

Pretty neat, right?

I don't believe in superstitions. They're bad luck.

So, recently my maternal uncle had a daughter.

Once, when I was visiting her, I just sat there rocking her empty cradle. And my father asked me not to do so. I asked him why? He replied "I have no problem, some people in this room may object." Turns out, rocking an empty cradle or a rocking chair is a bad omen, and people believe it invites demons to come and rest in the cradle or chair.

My aunt was basically locked up in her mother's house for forty days, because, apparently it's a bad omen to let them out of the house before that period. So, let's see, whatever evil forces were there, ready to pounce on her, just gave up the minute the clock struck midnight on the 40th day? Were they like "Oh, screw it!".

We've got stupid superstitions.

When my aunt was pregnant, my grandmother was worried that a lunar eclipse was approaching.
Supposedly, pregnant women should not be allowed to work during a lunar eclipse. Or else it will have a bad effect on the developing child, and may lead to deformities. So, the cells, nicely dividing and re-arranging themselves in the fetus are just going to be like "Wait! The Earth and the moon have aligned! And, the mom's working! Let's screw up the baby!"

Also, recently my paternal aunt (dad's sister) had a granddaughter. Now, when her daughter was rushed to the hospital, my grandmother rushed to the kitchen and took a weird twig that looked something like a tumbleweed. It's called "Maryam ka phool" here, in India. Literal translation: Mary's flower. She kept that thingy in a bowl of water, and upon soaking water, the rosette opened up into a woody flower, revealing seeds inside.

Now, doing this, somehow, according to my grandmother (paternal), will help the pregnant woman in easily delivering the baby. So, now the baby that is on it's way out, is going to be like "Oh! My great-grandmother placed a tumbleweed in water seven kilometers away. Great! Let's make this easy on my mom."

I later read about the tumbleweed, and found out it was from a plant called Anastatica hierochuntica. And one simply doesn't immerse the tumbleweed in water seven kilometers away, but rather the pregnant woman should drink the water in which the tumbleweed was immersed for some time.
It contains number of elements useful for pregnancy and labour, including calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc. Calcium and magnesium, particularly, work together to coordinate and regulate smooth muscle contraction.

I don't know why my grandmother just kept it in water, and made it look like a stupid superstition.
Ignorance is better than half-baked knowledge, I think.

There are plenty of other stuff like black cats crossing your path is a bad omen, cutting fingernails after dark is wrong, spilling salt is a bad omen, not allowing widows to take part in wedding ceremonies because they're bad luck (Which is very offensive, btw. And it got me mad.), etc.

Now, who is to be held responsible for propagating such non-sense?

Our elders, of course!

We're not born superstitious, we're made superstitious through years and years of mindless indoctrination. The only way to break the cycle is to question "why?" every time you come across a stupid superstition.

Dr. Tyson puts it nicely, here.

Do not blindly accept anything just because your elders said so. Your elders are not infallible.

Question everything. Boldly.

After all, that's what makes us human!

So, do you have any annoying local superstitions? Leave your answer in the comments below, or see me on twitter. :)