Coyne: Science and Religion Aren't Friends

Jerry Coyne, author of Why Evolution is True, wrote an interesting op-ed piece for the The USA Today this weekend.  In it, he dives head first into the Science-Religion Debate.  Coyne claims that science and religion will never reconcile, but remain enemies until faith has ended.  His point: faith and science are fundamentally incompatible.  To me, religion and science seek to answer different questions and such answers have different purposes.  Yes, religious texts and doctrines have made scientifically testable claims, but that is not the primary purpose of such statements.  Science-sounding statements in sacred texts only sought to explain the world to a people who had no other answers.  While science and literalism will be mortal enemies, science and religion can coexist.

I would like to look at some of Jerry Coyne's statements:

Science helps religion only by disproving its claims, while religion has nothing to add to science.

Science can also help religion by displaying the majesty of the universe.  Science continues to demonstrate the interconnectedness of life, a religious principle.  Science helps religion weed out ancient superstitions and allows us to analyze Biblical text with a modern eye.  

Does religion work? It brings some of us solace, impels some to do good (and others to fly planes into buildings), and buttresses the same moral truths embraced by atheists, but does it help us better understand our world or our universe?

If you take religion to explain the material workings of the world, then no it doesn't work.  Religion acts as a cultural glue helping to pass on those moral truths that help a society survive.  I personally believe that atheists are moral people (I reject the angry, anti-social atheist stereotype), but one could argue that acceptance of such moral truths are derived by living in a religious society.  Religion helps people cope with their problems and struggles, while some people have abused religion for other reasons.  

There's no way of knowing whether it's true. 

I agree with this statement.  That is why it is belief.  To me, this compels tolerance of religion.  We can't know for sure if it is true, like we can't be certain that it is untrue.  Until then, let us search for the compatibility of science and religion.  Religion should not make claims against accepted science, while science should not make claims that it cannot assess.


Coyne continues by citing a survey showing that religious belief counters understanding of evolution.  The problem isn't religion, but fundamentalism and literalism.  Science and religion can stand together to help our society.  Each offer something to people whether an understanding of nature or a look at humanity.