Since the early dawn of mankind, religion has been an integral part of our life, and so was Science. As mankind developed a better understanding of nature, the concept of Religion and God soon came. Anything which we couldn’t explain or what we couldn’t understand was put under the heading “The Act of God”. Incomprehensible phenomena and situations were assumed to be divine activities.
But today, as our level of understanding of the Universe has expanded and we have extended our vision spectrum as, to Why are we here? What are we in the true sense? We indeed have come a long way as compared to our ancestors. Those humans who once considered the Rain, the Sunlight and the Wind the “Gifts of the Lord” are now taming and using them per their demands.
Those people (our ancestors) would have never imagined such a level of offspring development, even in their wildest dreams. But, here we are, sitting on this beautiful globe of ours and enjoying the beauty of science and technology.
As we know, Religion and Science have been rivals since the early ages. Well, religion finds its roots deep in our society. To be accurate, a society cannot exist without religion, which is the truth. Every region on this Earth has a religion, whether it may be the widespread “Christianity” with 2.4 billion followers or may it be “Rastafari” with mere 60,000 adherents. Every society has a religious stance.
But Science, on the other hand, was limited to the chosen few who could break the boundaries of oppression and lead a less ordinary life.
Religion (as many people say) has made us who we are. Well, I agree with this fact but doesn’t that make religion the reason for our hatred for each other, our jealousy, our mass killings, our violence and countless other merciless acts. Doesn’t that question the very basis of religion? Doesn’t it question the concept of “Peace?”
I don’t say I don’t accept the authority of God or any other divine entity. I just refuse to accept the authority of “The Church, a Hindu Temple or a Mosque” over its followers and the blind faith of the devotees. Most of the pages of History are painted red with the blood that flowed under the name of the Church, calling their enemy “Infidel or Unholy”. Also, thousands of women and children were also decimated in the violent acts performed by these religious institutions with the “blood-lust” and the ambition of achieving supremacy over maximum Land.
Apart from this, religion, from the very beginning, has always acted as a shackle, an obstacle to scientific inquiry and development. Many free thinkers and ‘scientists’ were assassinated under the Holy Cross just because they refused to accept that God had created this world and everything in it. Their questions were considered a loss of faith and impiousness.
The Women of those times, especially the intellectually enlightened ones, had to suffer major oppression. It gives me pain to state that “Whenever a woman excelled in Science, the Church called her ‘A Witch’ or ‘a Devil-pleaser’, their documents and works were burned along with them in so-called ‘Public execution.
The worst incident of this sort that comes into mind is ‘The Salem Witch Trials’ — “The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts (British Occupied America) between February 1692 and May 1693. More than two hundred people were accused.” — Ref. WIKIPEDIA.
Things haven’t changed, readers. Women are still seen with disrespectful eyes. The achievements of women are claimed by their husbands and fathers, and they are deprived of their basic right, “Recognition”.
Although a brisk wind of change is setting its sails, are we going to ride on it and bring all the three extremes of the society, “Religion, Science & Women”, together as a unit?
Follow us on —
Facebook @ TheUniverse,TheEarth&Us
instagram @ Cosmic_Encyclopedia
Youtube @ Cosmic_Encyclopedia