PAGLORY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION NAME MARY KAYANDA SUBJECT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COURSE: SECONDARY TEACHERS DIPLOMA LECTURER PASTOR P,J MWEWA ASSIGNMENT NO: 1 QUESTION: Between 5-10 pages discuss the following: a. The impact of religion on everyday life b. The impact of modern science on everyday life DUE DATE: 22 nd May 2012
Religion and science has become an important aspect of life, it influences a great many things. Science is rapidly changing our world all the time. The pace of development and change has accelerated exponentially since the beginning of the 20th century and continues today, affecting many aspects of daily modern life. The odd part is that many people are not actually clear on what a religion and science is. There are several key aspects that make something a religion or science although the exact details can vary. In reality there is no firm agreement on just what a religion is. In this paper, impact of religion and science on every day life has been discussed. To start with, will begin by defining religion and then discuss its impact on day to day life. Religion is a belief system that uses symbols to allow people to explore their spirituality. Religions usually rely on narratives and symbols that are used to offer a meaning to life or to explain things like who the universe was created. In addition most religions have an ethical component that teaches people how they are expected to live. There is a lot of variation within this as can be seen by the number of religions that exist in the world. In fact there is no firm agreement about what constitutes a religion and what does not. One aspect of religion that applies in all cases is that it is a public process. Having a personal belief system does not make it a religion. By definition a religion is an organized activity that involves other people. Most religions have a hierarchical system for example with priests and bishops and so on but this is not required. Most religions also have a specific place of worship and there are usually sermons, festivals and many other activities that are part of the process. None of this is strictly required; the only requirement is that the religion be a belief system that is held by a group of people who publicly share that religion. However in practice the vast majority of religions have some aspect of these things. Different religions have developed in radically different ways with the differences largely being cultural. The biggest difference in most cases is that some religions put the emphasis on belief while others put the emphasis on practice. Basically this means that in some cases the most important thing is that you believe the doctrines of the religion while in other cases it is more important what you do than that you actually believe what is being taught. 1 P a g e
Another key difference between religions is that some are universal while others are not. That is that in some cases the belief is that the laws of that particular religion should apply to everybody while in other cases the belief is that only certain people should be bound by the laws. There are also many different religions that believe in many different gods. That being said the majority of religions and the ones that are practiced by the vast majority of people have common backgrounds so the differences between them are not all that great. Although this has not stopped the adherents of these religions from fighting with one another. Bulungwe (2012) Religion has a huge impact on the daily life of almost everybody, far bigger than most people realize. Our society is built on religion so even if you are not a believer yourself the fact remains that most of the way that society works is based on religious teachings. The result is that almost every aspect of your daily life has been influenced by religion. Probably the biggest influence that religion has on everyday life is that the laws and the social customs that exist in society are almost all based on religious teachings. While it could be argued that similar laws would be made by a society that had no god the fact remains that the laws as they exist are mostly an extension of religion. These laws form the basis of society as we know it so religion has had a massive impact on the world as we know it. Since these laws govern almost all of your daily behavior you are being influenced by religion in almost everything that you do. A lot of people would suggest that the modern standard of living that we enjoy is largely the result of religion which is another way that it influences your life. The belief is that in order to reach the level of development that we have it has been necessary for people to cooperate. The problem is that people are by nature selfish. Our ability to get along and work together is largely the result of religious teachings. Without religion we would never have been able to develop the modern world that we inhabit. Religion affects our family life as well; marriage is after all a religious convention. While it is possible that couples would pair bond for life without religion the evidence would suggest that this is unlikely in most cases. The idea of a couple staying together for life seems to be largely the result of religion. Without it the most likely scenario is that they would have relatively short term relationships that last until one of the parties decides to move on. Clearly this would not be 2 P a g e
a good situation for the children involved and the use of a religious marriage ceremony appears to be what keeps people together. One of the aspects of religion that has also influenced people in daily life is the idea of clean living. Almost all religions teach this in some form or other and it has been a major factor in the general level of health that we have and how long we live. Without religion it is likely that we would not eat a healthy diet or get adequate exercise. It is also likely that we would engage in unhealthy acts like drug abuse. Certainly religion has not prevented this from happening in all cases but it has certainly had an impact (Kirishina, 2000). Having discussed religion, we can now look at science. Though modern science is of relatively recent origin, having started with Galileo about 350 years ago, it has made very rapid progress and completely transformed outwardly the manner of our living. It is said that our life outwardly has changed more in the last one hundred years than it did in thousands of years earlier, because of the scientific knowledge accumulated over the last three centuries, and its application in the form of technology. So the impact of science on society is very visible; progress in agriculture, medicine and health care, telecommunications, transportation, computerization and so on, is part of our daily living. In spite of all this progress, the consequent development of technology and industry, and the conveniences, comforts and power we have got through this knowledge, in no part of the world are human beings happy, at peace with themselves, living without violence. It was hoped that the development of science would usher in an era of peace and prosperity, but that has been belied. On the contrary, if we look at the level of violence throughout the world during a ten-year period, from 1900 to 1910, or 1910 to 1920 and so on, in every decade, in every country, the graph is going up. So, on the one hand, greater prosperity so-called globalization and, on the other, greater violence, sorrow, tension, and newer diseases. According to Kirishina (2000) Computers have changed many facets of modern life. From large mainframes that crunch numbers and help with scientific research, to your home desktop or laptop, computers are used by most industries and people. 3 P a g e
You can make your own movie or song, store your pictures and check your novel's spelling with the same machine. You can do your taxes, keep all your records safe and tidy, and communicate with people all around the world. Over a billion people use the Internet to perform daily tasks more easily and quickly. If you are so inclined, in fact, you can do most of your everyday tasks online. You can order most goods over the Internet and find items for sale you might have never heard of before. You can email, instant message or video chat with friends and family all over the world. You can work from home and learn about almost anything, all through the connective power of the Internet. One of main reasons consumer goods are cheap and available in developed countries is because of advances in transportation. You can eat food, wear clothes and play games all made in different, far-off countries because of planes, trucks, supertankers and roads that didn't exist a century ago. You can also travel to almost anywhere in the world in a day or two, instead of months. Everything is more accessible. Advances in medicine have allowed people to live longer and healthier lives. Antibiotics and vaccines might have saved your life, and have definitely kept someone you know alive. People are more connected to each other than ever before, and a large part of that is related to the popularity of cell phones. Allowing for instant communication, cell phones have changed the way people do business (from anywhere) and meet up with friends (punctuality and making plans are not as necessary). Newer phones also allow you to access the Internet, play games and even record video. Though modern science is of relatively recent origin, having started with Galileo about 350 years ago, it has made very rapid progress and completely transformed outwardly the manner of our living. It is said that our life outwardly has changed more in the last one hundred years than it did in thousands of years earlier, because of the scientific knowledge accumulated over the last three centuries, and its application in the form of technology. So the impact of science on society is very visible; progress in agriculture, medicine and health care, telecommunications, transportation, computerization and so on, is part of our daily living. 4 P a g e
In spite of all this progress, the consequent development of technology and industry, and the conveniences, comforts and power we have got through this knowledge, in no part of the world are human beings happy, at peace with themselves, living without violence. It was hoped that the development of science would usher in an era of peace and prosperity, but that has been belied. On the contrary, if we look at the level of violence throughout the world during a ten-year period, from 1900 to 1910, or 1910 to 1920 and so on, in every decade, in every country, the graph is going up. So, on the one hand, greater prosperity so-called globalization and, on the other, greater violence, sorrow, tension, and newer diseases. Kabaso (2012 7) asserts that, Human beings use the knowledge gained by science and decide what kind of application to make of it. If there is wisdom, we will not use knowledge for destructive purposes. In support of Kabaso (2012) it can be therefore said, that if there is no wisdom, we are violent and selfish, and use knowledge in a destructive way. History shows that man has used it and is still using it primarily for destruction rather than for construction, bringing our planet and our lives to a level of danger which never existed before. Scientists are pointing out that the third world war would be the last, if it takes place. So is there anything we can learn from science as Theosophists interested in wisdom, in coming upon a deeper understanding of life and of ourselves? Science, or scientific knowledge, does not deal with values per se, with what is right and what is wrong it does not say that you should be kind. Scientific knowledge is said to be value-neutral. But one must discover what is called the scientific spirit, for the spirit is always more important than the technique, the knowledge or the method in any activity. Although in society we have valued scientific knowledge and its application as technology, we have not really valued the scientific spirit, without which it is wrong to call ours a scientific society. We are an unscientific society. Science says that the whole earth is one, that we are all citizens of this planet, but it is we who divide ourselves and say, This is my culture and this is my country and I will work only for this. For the benefit of our nation we have armies to exploit other nations. All this is not scientific. War is not scientific in spirit. 5 P a g e
This is also true of many things in our life. There is the spirit of religion, which is wisdom, and there is the outer form or structure of religion: the rituals, the manner of praying, the beliefs and so on. Without the spirit, rituals become hollow, empty. There is the spirit of art, which is the sensitive perception of beauty in sculpture, painting and so on, and there is the technique. You can learn the technique, but if you do not have the spirit, you do not become a true artist. There is the spirit of education, the vision, and there is the technique of education, depending on whether education is regarded as merely training somebody to earn a living, or as meant to draw out his entire potential. If there is no vision, the technique, the method, and the steps go wrong. The path becomes mechanical. So what is this scientific spirit? What can we learn from science which is precious? To understand this, let me take the example of the particular science I am familiar with, which is fairly basic to all science, that is, physics. It begins with observation, for understanding any phenomenon in Nature calls for careful observation, honest documentation and measurement, and recording. Then having collected a lot of data about the phenomenon, you look for correlations among them. From empirically found data, correlations between two variables are established, and then guessing what is the underlying reality which would cause those correlations. That is what the physicist calls the model that is where his insight or his genius manifests, for he has to guess what is unknown (Kirishina, 2000). Whenever scientists talk about theory, about reality, they are talking about an imaginary model of the underlying reality. Nobody has seen electrons actually going around a nucleus inside an atom. That is a conjecture, a model about the underlying reality. To this model they apply logic, using the existing known laws determined from previous work and the peculiar form of logic called mathematics, which is a product of the human mind. And then they deduce a theory, and try to explain all observed facts and also predict new facts which have not been observed until then. Then again the scientists go back to observation and do experiments to check if their predictions are correct. If the experimental values do not tally with the theoretically predicted values, they either modify the model, or they discard it altogether and start all over again. It is a deep quest because they are not accepting the reality as they see it. They are saying there is an 6 P a g e
underlying reality which is not visible, and we are going to find it. But since it is not visible, we have to guess, to imagine it, and that is the model. Usually the model gives approximately correct results, and they have only to modify it and make successive models closer and closer approximations to reality. It is fortunate that the logic called mathematics has an application in Nature. Hachensa (2009) asserts that, Somehow, Nature follows mathematics, which is really a mystery. Galileo wrote that mathematics is the language in which God wrote the universe, and this seems to be true. Mathematics, evolved by the human mind, actually applies. Einstein could do two hundred pages of mathematics, starting from certain hypotheses, using the known laws of Nature, and then deduce that when light goes near a star it must bend, and calculate how much it must bend. When twenty years later they are able to do the experiment because technology has got refined to that point, they find that indeed it bends by exactly the amount he has calculated, which means that those two hundred pages of mathematics apply in Nature. But if you ask: Why do they apply? We do not know. If you ask why there are laws, we do not know. If you ask why Nature is ordered, we do not know. In conclusion, religion and science have profound impact on our day to day life. A lot of people would suggest that the modern standard of living that we enjoy is largely the result of religion which is another way that it influences your life. The belief is that in order to reach the level of development that we have it has been necessary for people to cooperate. The problem is that people are by nature selfish. Our ability to get along and work together is largely the result of religious teachings. Without religion we would never have been able to develop the modern world that we inhabit. Religion affects our family life as well; marriage is after all a religious convention. While it is possible that couples would pair bond for life without religion the evidence would suggest that this is unlikely in most cases. 7 P a g e
References Bulungwe (2011) Religion and Society, Lilongwe, Blantyre International University Hachensa D (2009) Science and Society, London, McGraw Hill Kabaso SM (2012) Role of modern science in society today, Kabwe, Kabsy Consultancy Services Kirishina (2000) The Impact of Science on Society, Rajghat Education Centre, Krishnamurti Foundation India, Varanasi 221001, India 8 P a g e