Putting Science in its Place

Putting Science in its Place

1989 4 April 21 Putting Science in its Place (397) Today, there are millions of people in the world who regard themselves as religious, yet religion does not play an active role in their lives. It is not the focal point of their thoughts as it ought to be. Such people cannot, therefore, be enthusiastic in bringing the message of religion to others. This is mainly because religion has come to them as an inheritance and not as a great discovery. If they had made the discovery of their religion as the Prophet’s contemporaries did, they would be spending their lives proclaiming it to the world. As it is, they take it for granted and allow other areas of discovery to become their major preoccupations.

The field of modern science is one in which important discoveries are being made one after another. Breakthroughs in science, technology and medicine are constantly being brought to the attention of the public by the media. In many cases, our very lives seem to depend on the new discoveries which are being made and many wait with bated breath to see it, for example, new drugs will be produced to cure the ancient killer cancer, and the modern killer AIDS. Many others scan the newspapers anxiously to know whether death will come from outer space, either as an offshoot of the ‘Star Wars’ programme or in the wake of an attack by alien space marauders. They then devote their energies to making preparations to prevent or ward off such attacks, and, in the process, they lose sight of the fact that it is not any human or outer space agency which is going to determine where, when and how they die, but the Being who created them – Almighty God.

It is regrettable that in the annals of scientific history the great discoverers, such as Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) and many other luminaries, are remembered only as men of science, and not as the staunch men of religion which they were to the very end – most of them being of Christian or Jewish families. What they presented to the world was their science, and not their religion, and now the time has come for us to put their greatness back into the context of the religions which inspired them. It is time for us to understand that their religion was the mainspring of the lives and the ultimate source of their scientific genius.