Apparent contradictions only emerge when either the science or the beliefs, or often both, trespass their own boundaries and wrongfully encroach upon one another’s subject matter.įrancisco Ayala, biologist, University of California, Irvine Religion concerns the meaning and purpose of the world and of human life, the proper relation of people to the Creator and to each other, the moral values that inspire and govern people’s lives. Science concerns the processes that account for the natural world: how planets move, the composition of matter and the atmosphere, the origin and adaptations of organisms. The two windows look at the same world, but they show different aspects of that world.

Science and religion are like two different windows for looking at the world. Indeed, if science and religion are properly understood, they cannot be in contradiction because they concern different matters. I am convinced that evolution and religious beliefs need not be in contradiction.

But the debate over whether science and religion can co-exist has been going on since the dawn of mankind and continues to divide opinion even today, as INCH discovered. The late German-born physicist Albert Einstein believed that science without religion was lame, and religion without science was blind. Debate: Can Religion and Science Co-exist?