Theos-Talk Archives (January 2006 Message tt00257)

In his novel "Angels and Demons", Dan Brown, through the character 
of the camerlengo, speaks about his views on the relevance of 
science and religion to the modern world. I have attempted to 
paraphrase the relevant portions of Chapter 94, but would like the 
readers to refer to the original passages for better understanding 
the meaning and context of the words.

As a citizen of the world who is more religious than scientific, I 
agree with the view that science provides no accountability. At 
the same time, I think it would be interesting to know the views 
of the readers of this forum on the points raised by Dan Brown.

1. Science might have facilitated our life and health, but it has 
taken away the wonders of life: sunsets have come to be perceived 
as wavelengths and frequencies; the mysteries of the universe have 
been reduced to mathematical equations; even the self-worth of 
humans has been demolished.

2. The technology that seems to unite us actually divides us. We 
might be collected electronically across the globe, yet we are 
alone. Violence, division, fracture, betrayal and skepticism have 
become the new values of modern life, and cynicism and demand for 
proof the paths of the seeker. Nothing is sacred before science. 
As science probes deeper and deeper into God's creations in a 
divide-and-conquer manner, it raises only more questions than it 
answers.

3. The ancient war between science and religion is over, and 
science has won, though not fairly. In the radical reorientation 
of our society today, the old signposts of religion have become 
meaningless. In the virus-like and exponential growth of science, 
we are spinning out of control as our faiths are left behind, with 
the result, we have started seeking spiritual truths in UFOs and 
channeling. The modern soul is lonely and tormented, as it accepts 
no meaning in anything beyond technology.

4. Science is destroying, not saving us. The church might have 
tried to slow the unremitting march of science, occasionally with 
misguided means, but its intention has always been of benevolence. 
Look around you and understand that science has only brought in 
chaos and pollution, its promises never being kept.

5. Science, that seeks to replace God today, lacks accountability. 
It never warns us about the bad part of its technology. And when 
technology overshoots its benevolent mark and threatens to destroy 
the world, it is the church, the Pope, who tours around nations, 
calling for restraint. And yet science proclaims the church is 
ignorant and spurns it, whenever it tries to reach out to the 
people affected by science.

6. Actually it is science which is more ignorant: in the same way 
that the man who pays scant respect for the awesome power of 
lightning is more ignorant than the man who respects it but cannot 
define lighning. When science looks at the heavens through its 
telescopes and proclaims that the slightest change in the atomic 
levels of the universe would have rendered it as a lifeless mist,
can't it find the hand of God in this grand scheme of life and 
matter? Believing in mathematical impossibility rather than a 
greater power signifies only spiritual bankruptcy.

7. If science does not believe in God, it must at least belive 
that when it abdicates its faith in a greater power, it abandons 
the sense of accountability, which creates only chaos and 
destruction. Whereas faith, all faiths, insist on accountability: 
to each other, to ourselves and to a higher truth, which is why it 
is voice of guidance to the common people to their simple souls, 
even though the faiths and its followers might be flawed.

Regards,
saidevo

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