Religion and Science

Durkheim defined religion as the unified system of beliefs and practices, relative to sacred things- things set apart and forbidden- beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called Church, all those who adhere to them. His claim was that religion was society’s mechanism of worshipping itself and that it is a social fact in itself, that is, as long as society exists, religion will exist. His definition, however, was not considering religion as a static entity in itself. This suggests he didn’t ignore future secularization of society. Infact he’d claimed that new Gods will emerge, such as Science and Technology. The Novel ‘American Gods’ does an exemplary job of showcasing the societal fault lines in the backdrop of new Gods taking on the dying American Gods. One demerit or danger of said prediction is that this will change the fundamental nature of what science is. Science is supposed to be an objective tool that contradicts itself for the pursuit of the truth, while religion repeatedly shuns independent thought in it’s exercise of self preservation. The recent row with Joe Rogan helps to understand this parallel in a better manner. In medieval times, we’ve witnessed Salem witch trials, public burnings, Spanish Inquisition, Jihadist massacres all in the name of perpetuation of the religion. Science was the liberator in chief. Currently, we’re seeing a community that,out of fear and uncertainty, has resorted to accepting ‘idea of science’ as the New God and licensed scientists as the new Bishops. Rogan tried providing an open platform, which is in line with the American ethics of free marketplace of ideas, but the deitification of Big Pharma has led to the Rogan podcast’s very existence become a Neo blasphemous event. He’s being purged and hunted so that global elite’s sanctity of science remains preserved. Jean Baudrillard claimed science to be only one of the ways to explain reality. Post Modernists believe that he who controls power, dictates the tenets of scientific knowledge to the world. Big Pharma, Big Oil, Big Tobacco have repeatedly glitched the framework of empirical truth to ensure it’s ‘their science’ that holds primacy. Take into consideration+the infamous Scientology cult. It is the perfect prototype to explain what happens when a group of people follow the ‘idea of science’ blindly, in a violent pseudo intellectual uprising. We are in this together. While I don’t advocate for the decentralization of institutional science, I do push for democratization of scientific ideas. If the current trend continues, we’ll witness Big Corporates becoming the new Archbishops. I hope we can garner the support of a million Martin Luthers right now, because that is exactly what we’ll need.