Albert Einstein once famously stated that “Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.” I for one agree with him completely. Religion and science, regardless of what you read about in the newspapers as it relates to these conflicts, can very much co-exist quite well.

The above quote comes from Dr. Thomas Plante’s great little post at Psychology Today. You should definitely go read the post, but I’m going spoil it here by citing a few of his final lines (only because I agree so much with them):

Rather than attacking and insulting those who have views different than ours, perhaps we should focus more on how we all struggle to make sense of our world and being without having all of the answers that we desire. More compassion and less passion for our beliefs might be called for.

As I came to appreciate very long ago, the more you learn the more you realize how much you don’t know. The more knowledge you have of both science and religion the more humbling it is to realize that there are so many more questions than answers out there.

This sentiment is similar to that expressed by folks like John Thatamanil and others involved in inter-faith dialogue, who caution against our tendency to habitually bear false witness. It needs to stop. I agree whole heatedly with Dr. Plante, more   compassion and less passion for our beliefs would certainly get us a long way.

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Painting above by Jordan Kasey

Tags:bearing false witnessfaithJordan KaseyPsychology TodayreasonreligionscienceThomas Plante