Dana Schaufert
Dr. Adam Johns
ENGCMP 0200- Seminar in Composition
17 September 2008

The Science of Religion

If I told you I was religious, I would be lying. When I was little, I went to church every Sunday and as I got older, my family and I slowly developed into “Creasters,” only attending church on Christmas and Easter. As of today, I am somewhat ashamed to say, it has been years since I have gone to church. Despite this confession, I still have an opinion when it comes to religion. I do believe that there is a heaven. And, if you were to ask that little Sunday school girl where that heaven is, I would give you the same response as I would today; a finger pointing to the sky. Ask me specifically where that heaven is located and I would not be able to tell you, but it is up there somewhere. In Challenging Nature, Silver discusses a piece of science that rejects this idea of heaven. Although scientific data disagrees with certain religious views, many people continue to follow their beliefs.

Silver blatantly challenges the religious belief of heaven when he states, “Although billions of people may not know it, the physical reality of heaven was shattered by the Copernican revolution, which began in 1543 with the publication of the ironically titled On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies” (Silver 39). Copernicus proposed that the earth orbited the sun, just like all the other planets, and was not the center of the universe. In addition to this, in 1609 it was discovered that several moons orbited the planet Jupiter, which proved that not all “heavenly bodies” circled our world. Then in the twentieth century, it became understandable that our solar system was part of a much greater galaxy and our galaxy was one of at least a trillion (Silver 39). So, as Silver questions, “Where could heaven possibly be located within this new scientific scheme? If the blue sky is an optical illusion, where do spirits fly when they leave dying or dead bodies?” (Silver 39).

Unfortunately, there are really no logical answers to Silver’s questions. So many of us believe in the reality of heaven, but we cannot seem to give specific answers to questions such as those stated above. To include some of the statistics Silver provided, “When asked specifically whether heaven is an ‘actual’ or ‘real’ place, not just an ‘idea,’ up to 80 percent of Americans say yes, as do 50 percent of the English and 62 percent of Canadians” (Silver 38). Considering America alone, 80 percent is a large amount of believers; believers who are unable to point out heaven on the map. “It is remarkable that residents of western countries think such things, because we are bombarded at school and by television and movies with images of planets that are larger than earth, stars that are distant suns, and dinosaurs that lived eons ago” (Silver 38-39). Even though we are told not to believe everything we see and hear, scientific data is difficult to argue against. Science is supported by facts. What facts support religion?

Although it is clear to see that the Copernican revolution, among other discoveries, discourages the physical reality of heaven, many of us still believe in it. This leads me to assume that this particular set of scientific facts will not change the future of religion. That is not to say that those who believe in the physical reality of heaven disagree with Copernicus, but rather they “turn their heads the other way.” As Silver figured, “…many people erect mental barriers between factual knowledge and spiritual beliefs” (Silver 39).

To wrap up the discussion on Copernicus, Silver came to this conclusion; “For Christians and others who maintain faith in a heavenly afterlife, there are two choices: either reject the Copernican system and keep a material heaven hovering above the earth, or move heaven and its spiritual inhabitants to another dimension, outside the physical universe altogether…” (Silver 39-40). I have doubt that either of these choices will be decided upon. Rejecting the Copernican system would be ignorant and how exactly would “moving heaven” be explained in religion. The two ideas of a Copernican system and a material heaven cannot exist collectively. In essence, the concepts of science and religion cannot logically coincide, and yet, they continue to and will continue to. As much as it seems like religion should succumb to science, we all know it is not going anywhere anytime soon. For some people, life is centered on religion and many base their actions in life solely on the idea that they will be able to have an enjoyable afterlife in this utopian pictured heaven. Encouraging them to believe that a physical reality of heaven does not exist is like telling a six year old not to believe in Santa Clause.

In conclusion, there will always be a clash between science and religion. Silver demonstrated an obvious example of this with his passage on the Copernican system. However, despite this scientific data, many people, including myself, will continue to believe in a physical reality of heaven. Therefore, this particular set of scientific facts will have no impact upon religion in the decades to come. Although it is obvious that both scenarios cannot coexist, we believers in heaven just keep pointing to the sky and saying, “It’s up there…somewhere.”