Science and Religion: Richard Dawkins and Rabbi Schneerson on A Common Debate

By Hayli Harding --
04 Sep 2015 --

Waiting For The Word is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Has science made faith obsolete, or are science and faith capable of going hand-in-hand?

It isn’t uncommon for people, both educated and not, to heartily and heatedly debate the differences between science and religion. Critics have regularly said that religion used to be intended to answer the questions that we now use science to answer. However, many can argue that this cannot be the case. If it were, then why would religion incorporate traditions, practices, beliefs and movements to explain scientific questions? Many of those that oppose religion and faith feel that faith has become “obsolete” due to the progress and success in modern science today. However, science focuses on the “how” questions while religion and faith focus on the “why” ones.

@AndrewLee104 U have to remember that science hasnt always proven to be right. Let's be honest religion is outdated, doesn't mean it's wrong
— Chirag Gadhvi (@Chirag__Gadhvi) June 27, 2015

There is some danger that comes with religion and faith, though it isn’t born solely from the religion. Instead, it is born of ideals that escalate faith to an extreme and pull ideals from the books that aren’t mentioned in the actual stories or etiology. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson addressed what he referred to as “widespread misconceptions” that related to science. He said that science aren’t anything “more than assumptions” while religion offers truths that are “definitive and categorical.” He adds that religion can’t be touched by science because of science’s habit to “never speak in terms of absolute truth.”

A biologist and professor of science at the Oxford University of England, Richard Dawkins, said that Schneerson displays a level of faith that is not okay. He said that “faith is an evil precisely because it requires no justification and brooks no argument”. It aims to teach and raise children to never question faith, effectively “prim[ing] children … to grow up into potentially lethal weapons for future jihad or crusades”.

The war between science and religion has been on-going since science first began. It is true that science cannot answer all of life’s questions, but it can tell us so much. Do you think science has made faith obsolete, or is science and faith capable of going hand-in-hand?