The debate over the compatibility of science and religion, or faith is interminable. The efforts of each side to eradicate the other ebb and flow like the tides. But I think I have discerned a way in which both sides have been essential to where we are today.

Religion and a commitment to protecting unseen things, has been a powerful force for group action. Big things can be achieved by big groups. (So can horrible things, but let’s stay focused.)

Science… the method for understanding how things actually work… while never claiming to be a complete or final ANSWER, provides the best method for technological advances and (if I dare use the word) progress.

Science does not tap into that human willingness to follow and act blindly. Data is mixed. Studies conflict. A proof one day is gone the next in the wake of new evidence.

Religion, sacred texts, blind faith provide nothing toward progress that could not be achieved by random chance. Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then.

The fact SEEMS to be that humans need motivation to act in large numbers, in cooperation, willing to die for a cause. Much human survival, and even progress, has been gained by this force. Religion provides that in spades. Science… not so much.