Religion and Science
5. Religion and Science
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philosopher, Kant, declared: ‘Give me matter and I
shall demonstrate how the world is made out of
matter.’ Haeckel even went so far as to say that,
given water, chemical elements and time, he would
be able to create a man. Nietsche proclaimed with
triumphant finality, ‘God is dead.’ Another belief
had it that the creator and sustainer of this universe
was not an alive, intelligent being possessing
power; that the universe, from beginning to end,
was material. All movements and all manifestations
of the universe, whether related to life or to lifeless
matter were nothing but blind material processes.
The world discovered by science evinced no signs
whatsoever of the hand of God — which is surely
the basis of all religions. Then how could it be
considered rational to believe in God?
All the heroes who had discovered the laws of
nature were believers in God, but, ironically, when
their research was brought before the public, it was
thought that their discoveries had rendered
meaningless the very existence of God. Since, in
order to explain events, one had only to have
recourse to the causes and laws of the material
universe, there seemed to be no need to postulate
