Most of the people believe that science and religion are two very different things. But religion and science are intertwined. Religion is the organisation of cultures, beliefs and views of the people. Science is also the amalgam of belief in facts, perspective and perception of the people. So can it not be stated that science is a religion? In fact Science and Religion are the two sides of the same coin.
As people of various religions worship different gods, practice various traditions, the coterie, that follow science also venerate the discoveries, the facts and worship science-their God. When you toss a coin you can see only one side of it. In the similar way, generally people can view either science or religion. Most of them fail to understand the implicit meaning the both carry.
Religion is evolved from science. Confusing? Let me make it clear. Across the world various practices are followed and traditions are continued till date. First take the example of stone man. He discovered fire; learnt how to use it and eventually started worshipping it since fire gave him warmth, saved him from wild animals and protected him. If I am not wrong, the sole purpose we all pray to God is for our protection. And then our ancestors invented weapons, found new ways to do mundane activities. And now, during Dasara festival, we worship weapons. He(our stone age man) also worshipped natural elements that provided him with food, clothing and shelter. Thus religion began.
Each person worships the entity that satiates their needs. As ages passed, some worshipped fire, few sun, other animals. Some revered the formless forces and the others gave their gods forms. Thus several religions came into existence. Each religion had scripted certain rules and order. In any religion the prime aspect is the sustenance, betterment and facilitate the lives of its followers. Thus certain practices were followed.
The religious practices are mocked by a lot of people.There are these set of people who say religion is only rituals of no use and science is the ultimatum. But there is a scientific reason behind every practice. In India, people decorate their court yards and entrances of the homes with beautiful designs using flour and turmeric, grow neem and tulsi in their gardens. These have medicinal values and sometimes cures deadly diseases. Turmeric is a strong anti-septic that keeps in check various microorganisms that cause diseases. Religion bolsters science. There are such reasons behind the religious practices all over the world. It is pitiable that people can only look at religion as hoary meaningless practice.
Also when science quotes a new idea, religious pundits consider them to be against the will of the God. To bolster my point, I present the example of Galelio and Corpernicus. Both were abandoned by the society since their experiments did not conform with the ideas of the church. But after years, their conclusions and discoveries were accepted by all. No matter what religion a person follows every one accepts that our universe is helio-centric and sun is stationary around which other planets revolve.
All is acceptable until now. But there are a few members of the society that mislead the religious preaching, forget actual meaning of the religion and paved way to certain unacceptable practices like sati(which is abolished as per Indian records) child marriages, and other socio-redundant activities; proliferating their solvents; which most of the people fail to understand or are blind eyed to such activities and reticently follow such mis-teachings. And sadly, they consider science as a very important subject just to pass high school; or get into an engineering course and earn surplus bucks.
As I mentioned earlier, people fail to understand the connection between religion and science. They are not discrete. Even the scientists who took the challenge of finding the origin of the universe, and discovered “God’s particle” do conclude that there is a supreme, ultimate energy that is responsible for the existence of the universe. In religion, this supreme energy is worshipped as God. Only the ignorance of a few people has led the generations to believe that religion and science are two very different things without a common base.
In my opinion religion and science, both, are meaningless if either of the one is absent. For a prosperous society, both are necessary. For a happier community understanding the implicit meaning of both is necessary. Sadly which is lacking.