“There are more things in heaven and
earth ...
Than are dreamt of in [our] philosophy”:
Traversing the Breach
between Science and Religion[1]
Marcus
H. Martins, Ph.D.
Since my childhood
I’ve been fascinated by science and technology. Instead of playing marbles and
flying kites my amusements would include chemistry sets, electronic kits, and
voracious reading of any encyclopedias I could get my hands on. Thanks to my
father’s admission to college after I had been born, I grew up surrounded by books
on various subjects.
But I also grew up
immersed in the religiosity of my mother and grandmothers, which included a
blend of Catholicism and Afro-Brazilian traditions. That filled me with a sense
of deep and abiding faith in God and reverence towards religious beliefs and
practices.
Decades later I
became a sociologist interested in multiple disciplines. And, my mind, belief
in religion and trust in science have coexisted for over six decades.
The breach between
religion and science has endured for centuries. At times, that breach appeared
like a rift, and during the darkest years of the Middle Ages, it grew to become
a Grand Canyon, with dire and even fatal consequences for enlightened minds
like Galileo Galilei and Giordano Bruno. So entrenched were the positions and
so fatal were the consequences, that in essence scientists and clergy condemned
and in fact “excommunicated” each other.
It is not my
purpose in this lecture to settle this centuries-old debate, nor to offer
definitive evidence. But as an aging retired social scientist, I want to go on
record with my personal thoughts on the matter, based on two long-held interests:
First, an interest in science, and afterwards, my love for the restored gospel
of Jesus Christ, as I have studied it for the last half a century as a member
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
So, my purpose is
not to convince anyone, but merely offer the deposition of a scholar and
disciple, who spent close to half a century pondering on matters of faith and
reason. I’m encouraged by the words from British Theologian Austin Farrer, who said:
“Though argument does not create
conviction, the lack of it destroys belief. What seems to be proved may not
[necessarily] be embraced; but what no one shows the ability to defend is
quickly abandoned. Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a
climate in which belief may flourish.”[2]
As I explained in
a major lecture in 2020, I believe in an intelligent religion[3]. A religion that seeks and
upholds truths, supporting light, progress.
The basic premise
is that there should be no conflict within truths—whether religious or
scientific—if one understands that the tools employed in each one, although
different in function, are remarkably similar in essence.
Function – Science
discovers the natural laws and processes that make the world exist. Science is
exercised in the field, in academic halls and locations set up to serve as
laboratories. Through scientific knowledge we obtain better understanding of
the organs and functions of the human body—thus promoting better health.
Scientific knowledge also brings us increasingly better understanding of the
laws of nature—mechanics, dynamics, electro-magnetism, nuclear forces,
gravity—which employed by engineers, brings us technology in many cases for a
more comfortable and practical daily life.
Religion is
exercised in the mind, in the soul of an individual, and in halls and locations
chosen and dedicated to serve as sacred sanctuaries. Religion unveils the
natural laws and processes of what would be another dimension, which we may
call a spirit world.
Both science and
religion produce results that are employed in the world at large.
Essence – Both science
and religion rely on faith in the notion that “something is out there” and
confidence in observation, experimentation, thoughtful analysis, and
intelligent deduction.
Before I continue
with my remarks, I must recognize that there is a “dark side” to this subject.
Indeed, throughout history exaggerations in religion brought about persecutions
and death, and exaggerations in science brought about destruction and carnage,
when not utter genocide. In my mind, those were aberrations, and not the
essence of either religion or science. I also explained in another lecture that
in our day religion has been hijacked by extremists attempting to impose a thin
and false veneer of religiosity to justify their abhorrent racial prejudices
and political violence[4].
Now, returning to
my main discussion, how did the scientific and the religious fields diverge?
Religious scholars
settled on a firm belief in a supposed inerrancy of the Bible, mixed with
misinterpretations and old superstitions, while renaissance scientists rising
out of primitive notions about the earth and the solar system employed an intellectual
arrogance by quickly rejecting the possibility of an intangible reality while
at the same time discovering that there were almost endless components of
earthly life in the microscopic world.
As the centuries
passed, scholars in both science and religion lacked self-reflection and
thoughtful dialogue, which widened the breach between the two fields. A form of
tribalism has kept both sides separated for centuries. Secularization cemented
a once muddy and still malleable ground.
As I mentioned
earlier, while my purpose is not to convince anyone nor to offer definitive
evidence, I still want to claim the privilege of sharing my personal experience
in reconciling matters of faith and reason.
For the past half
a century, I found that the religious ideas brought about by the organizer of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith, his associates,
and successors, offer a novel way to traverse the breach between religion and
science.
The good news is
that according to the tenets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, a new age of “spirituality” will eventually break the “cement of
secularization”, clean the debris, and build a bridge between the two fields. I
believe so. But that would require humility from science and additional divine
revelations from religion.
In the meantime, how
have I been traversing the breach between religion and science in my own mind
and professional activities? I did it by asking interesting questions about the
similarities between the assumptions from both fields. Doing so, I recognized
that since the 19th century the two fields seem to be gradually converging
towards a “unity of understanding”.
I found that it is
possible to reconcile religion and science because the two fields share a fundamental
characteristic: both rely on belief or faith in “something” invisible.
Evolutionary
theory postulates the existence of universal processes that follow strict and
highly complex algorithms. Science allows for a belief in supreme intelligence
and power—even if only calling it Nature or Evolution, which sounds like some
kind of abstract entity with intrinsic analytical capabilities.
Lest anyone
dismiss too quickly the idea of science being grounded on a type of faith,
let’s remember that at the beginning of the 21st century the advent and
growing acceptance of string theory brought the notion of parallel dimensions
of reality. The quantum realm, far beneath the subatomic, defies all norms of
physics of the macro realm in which we live and which we perceive with our
physical senses. According to researchers, a string, which is postulated to
have the format of the filament of the old incandescent light bulbs, is as
small compared to the nucleus of an atom, as an atom is to the entire solar
system. Under this view, matter is mostly empty space. Scientists are studying
what has been called “dark matter”, which although invisible to our astronomic
instruments, would still account for a staggering 85 percent of the mass of the
universe. Adding a still not quite understood form of energy called “dark
energy”, scientists postulated that combined, they account for 95 percent of the
total mass–energy content of the universe.
Just like in outer
space, will we someday discover that the inner space within the human body is
not entirely empty?
Through his work
on fractal geometry, mathematician Benoit Mandlebrot (1924–2010) showed that
nature and indeed our entire planet could contain seemingly infinite dimensions
of space entrenched in our familiar three-dimensional reality.
This is not an entirely new concept. Since ancient
times mathematicians have known and worked with “real numbers” to represent
continuous quantities. I remember learning in secondary school that there is an
infinite number of decimal quantities between two numbers, such as 0 and 1 or
between 1 and 2.
One of latter-day
saint scriptures contain an account of a vision given to the biblical patriarch
Abraham, in which he used language that suggested a fractal: “And [the Lord]
put his hand upon mine eyes, and I saw those things which his hands had made,
which were many; and they multiplied before mine eyes, and I could not see the
end thereof.”[5]
Indeed, the
parables taught by Jesus Christ during his mortal ministry, and the instruction
Latter-day Saints receive in the presentation of the temple endowment in the
current era, may follow a “fractal pattern”, through which the more one “looks
into it”, the more “layers of meaning” one discovers, without a visible end—infinite,
to mortal understanding.
Might this describe
the invisible realm in which angels and spirits abide? Hidden from our gaze,
such fractal environment might very well agree with Joseph Smith’s statement about
post-mortal spirits: “Enveloped in flaming fire, they are not far from us,
and know and understand our thoughts, feelings, and motions, and are often
pained therewith. Flesh and blood cannot
go there; but flesh and bones quickened by the Spirit of God, can.”[6]
Lest anyone
ascribe this to some kind of “celestial animation”, according to Joseph Smith,
“There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or
pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes; We cannot see it; but when our
bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter.”[7]
Brigham Young, the
immediate successor to Joseph Smith, declared: “Where is the spirit
world? It is right here. Do the good and evil spirits go
together? Yes, they do. Do they both inhabit one kingdom? Yes, they do.
Do they go to the sun? No. Do they go beyond the boundaries of this
organized earth? No, they do not.”[8]
Ever since we were
little children, when someone passed away we heard
that the person had gone “to heaven”, indicating upwards. According to what we
read here, this “heaven” is not exclusively “up” but
is in all directions around us. According to string theory, what we call
“heaven” would be parallel dimensions “embedded” within this physical
environment in which we live. Scholars postulate that the universe we live in
has 11 dimensions. The mortal human brain can perceive four of these
dimensions—length, width, height, and time—and the other seven dimensions would
be “embedded” or “encapsulated” within these four. This would agree with the
concept of fractals.
I am not proving
or providing evidence, but rather suggesting topics for future studies.
I spoke about a gradual
convergence between key points of religion and scientific discoveries.
Allow me to
suggest examples of possible topics for future research. Again, my purpose is
not to settle this issue, but rather to point out what Shakespeare stated four centuries
ago: “There are more things in heaven and earth … Than are dreamt of in your
philosophy.”[9]
Yes, I believe
that the 15th century English bard was right: there are indeed more things ...
and I expect that in the future, expanded religious understanding and deeper
scientific information will converge in spectacular ways.
My own Latter-day
Saint faith promises that. Again, quoting from the Latter-day Saints canon of
scriptures:
“Yea, verily I say unto you, in that day when the
Lord shall come, he shall reveal all things—things which have passed, and
hidden things which no man knew, things of the earth, by which it was made, and
the purpose and the end thereof—Things most precious, things that are above,
and things that are beneath, things that are in the earth, and upon the earth,
and in heaven.”[10]
“God shall give unto you
knowledge by his Holy Spirit, yea, by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost,
that has not been revealed since the world was until now; Which our forefathers
have awaited with anxious expectation to be revealed in the last times, which
their minds were pointed to by the angels, as held in reserve for the fulness
of their glory;
“A time to come in the which nothing shall be
withheld, whether there be one God or many gods, they shall be manifest. All
thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, shall be revealed and set
forth upon all who have endured valiantly for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“And also, if there be bounds set to the heavens or
to the seas, or to the dry land, or to the sun, moon, or stars—All the times of
their revolutions, all the appointed days, months, and years, and all the days
of their days, months, and years, and all their glories, laws, and set times,
shall be revealed in the days of the dispensation of the fulness of times”[11]
The mathematician Kurt
Gödel postulated, among other insights, the following:
“4. There are other worlds and rational beings of a
different and higher kind.
“5. The world in which we live is not the only one
in which we shall live or have lived.
“13. There is a scientific (exact) philosophy and
theology, which deals with concepts of the highest abstractness; and this is
also most highly fruitful for science.
“14. Religions are, for the most part, bad—but
religion is not.”[12]
So, instead of
dismissing either confirmed scientific findings or insights coming from
accurately translated sacred texts, we should develop the patience necessary to
wait for future developments in both fields.
Here are a few
additional questions for future inquiry:
At the quantum
realm—inside subatomic particles—the laws of the visible macro-world—gravity,
time—break down and present possibilities that go far beyond the imagination of
science-fiction writers.
Would dark matter
one day show invisible worlds peopled with civilizations aware of us but
divinely prevented from interfering in our earthly affairs?
Would dark energy
one day shown to be what Latter-day Saints call “the Light of Christ”[13], and described as another
manifestation of electromagnetic radiation that fills and keep the space-time
continuum in order according to laws decreed eternities ago by higher
intelligences enthroned in seemingly infinite power? Time will tell …
What other life
forms might exist in the divine universe—a dimension of space and time hidden
still undetectable by our scientific instruments?
One early apostle
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder Orson Pratt,
postulated:
“There are worlds, as it were, without number;
kingdoms without number; personages without number; intellectual beings of all
grades and orders without number; and all these have their laws, their
governments, their kingdoms, their thrones, their principalities, their powers,
all moving and acting in the sphere in which they are placed; and they all have
their way of communication one with another ...”[14]
What would have
been possible for exalted beings who possess pure intelligence, perfect
attributes of character, and infinite power? Imagine what would be possible to
perfect intelligent beings who can manipulate space, matter, and time at will,
yet with the main and unchangeable goal of promoting perfect good?
Time and timelessness
... The effects of the absence of time in a physical environment would be
beyond mortal comprehension, and even disrupt the order of cause and effect.
For example, in
the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, we find language
that seems to defy the limitations of time and causality:
Speaking over one
century before the birth of Jesus Christ, one prophet, Abinadi, stated:
“And now if Christ had not come into the world,
speaking of things to come as though they had already come, there could have
been no redemption.”[15]
Another writer, almost
four centuries before the birth of Christ, also suggested a mindset exempt from
the effect of time:
“Wherefore, the prophets, and the priests, and the
teachers, did labor diligently, exhorting with all long-suffering the people …
persuading them to look forward unto the Messiah, and believe in him to come as
though he already was. And after this
manner did they teach them.”[16]
In one among
several scriptural passages, we find this concept of timelessness:
“My name is Jehovah, and I know the end from the
beginning”[17]
What evolutionary
steps really took place in the organization of this earth?
When it comes to
creation of the earth and the creation and development of human beings, the
Latter-day Saint scriptures also make it easier for the believers to reconcile
religion and science—although partially and imperfectly.
Passages in those
books suggest that the process of creation may very well have taken place over
extremely long periods of time, and these passages do not even specify that
such periods of time were immediately successive—but may have possibly had
paused extending also extremely long periods of time:
“And the Gods watched those things which they had
ordered until they obeyed. …
“And the Gods prepared the waters that they might
bring forth great whales, and every living creature … which the waters were to
bring forth abundantly after their kind; and every
winged fowl after their kind. And the
Gods saw that they would be obeyed, and that their plan was good ...
“And the Gods prepared the earth to bring forth the
living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping things … and the Gods saw
they would obey”[18]
Latter-day Saints
are familiar with another piece of information in their scriptures that refer
to the relativity of time—just as predicted in Albert Einstein’s equations:
“And the Lord said unto me, by the Urim and Thummim,
that Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its times and seasons
in the revolutions thereof; that one revolution was a day unto the Lord, after
his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand years according to the time
appointed unto that whereon thou standest.
…
“And thus there shall be
the reckoning of the time of one planet above another, until thou come nigh
unto Kolob, which Kolob is after the reckoning of the Lord’s time; which Kolob
is set nigh unto the throne of God, to govern all those planets which belong to
the same order as that upon which thou standest.
“And it is given unto thee to know the set time of
all the stars that are set to give light, until thou come near unto the throne
of God.”[19]
“The Gods
observed ...” while eons would have passed for mortals, for them it might
have felt like a mere season, like when we watch a video permanently on
fast-forward.
A few additional
questions for future consideration:
Perhaps one of the
most interesting intersections between religion and science might come from the
use of AI-Artificial Intelligence. What would religious experience be like in
the Age of AI? Can we envision the consequences of having “The Word from Above”
preached ... from within a grouping of computer chips?
Thinking of the
Bible, the Quran, the Book of Mormon, the Vedas ... all online. How would
sermons generated by a machine sound? Would they lead
to new insights or to a confusing and meaningless smorgasbord of beliefs?
In another
fundamental doctrinal point, many Christian religions preach a future
resurrection of the human body. Latter-day Saints believe that such
resurrection is literal:
“[The] revelation of God to Joseph Smith
... held out to man the hope of a tangible, future existence in a resurrected,
immortal body of flesh and bones quickened by the spirit, and
clothed with the glory of an immortal youth. The future life was to be a
reality, not merely a land of phantoms ... His relations with his kindred and
friends were to be of a nature to satisfy the longings of the human heart for
society, for fellowship ...
“[A] real, tangible existence; an immortal
youth that knows no pain or sickness or disease; the power to hive knowledge
and wisdom as the centuries, the millenniums and eternity roll by … power to
build and inhabit; to love and be loved; and add to that the associations of
superior intelligences and the power of endless lives the power and privilege to perpetuate his
race under an eternal marriage covenant.
“[The] future happiness, exultation and
glory of man stands revealed as being absolutely without limitations, and far
greater and beyond in majesty anything within his power to conceive in his
present state of development.”[20]
Science has
revealed that DNA is the “software of life”. A belief in a literal resurrection
would then include the application of this software of life to incorruptible
matter—matter not subject to degradation or entropy—resulting in a resurrected
body, a body that would never age, nor suffer infirmities, nor death. Time will
tell …
A few more
interesting questions for future inquiry about the convergence between religion
and science:
I once commented[21] that sacred scriptures
describe heavenly manifestations sometimes including music performed by
celestial beings.[22] I wonder what personal
impressions scholars in the fields of music, psychology, and neurology would
have to offer about a connection between music and heavenly power.
Elder James E.
Talmage, another apostle in the Latter-day Saint faith, also a scientist, wrote:
“Gravitation, sound, heat, light, and the still
more mysterious and seemingly super-natural power of electricity, are but the
common servants of the Holy Ghost in His operations.”[23]
Could earthly
sound waves, enhanced by the power of the Holy Ghost, resonate with the
priesthood itself? Would it be possible for those sanctified vibrations to
cause spiritual and physical effects on both body and spirit?
Multiple academic
disciplines can help us learn details about all these symbolic elements and
expressions used in the scriptures and other sacred texts and narratives.
Years ago, at
another major lecture[24] I also raised the
following questions:
“We conceive “eternity” to be a perfect and glorified
realm of consistency and light, while the current mortal environment is
imperfect, fallen, mutable, ambiguous, and dark. Priesthood is a power emanating from that
perfect, infinite, eternal realm, acting on imperfect, finite mortal
matter. When power or a glorified being
from eternity possessing the fullness of the priesthood visits the earth, what
effect, if any, does it cause in the mortal
environment?
“What effects might the priesthood cause on earthly
matter? Or, more specific to my
meditation, would the priesthood distort a hypothetical “time signature” of
mortal compounds? Could it be that, when
applied to mortal matter, the power of the priesthood imparts some of its
eternal nature to that mortal matter, thus making it appear far “older”? “If
so, that might account for measurements of geological time, and our current
scientific instruments would be accurately measuring the age of fossils, but
that measurement would reflect an age distorted by the ever-present power of
the priesthood, and not the actual age, as measure by eternal beings.
“Could it be that in other instances the power of the
priesthood might reverse the effects of time on mortal matter, restoring it to
its pristine state—erasing the damage caused by human diseases and even
reversing the process of death?
“Would that be a potential explanation of how the
prophet-warrior Joshua extended the hours of the day to gain victory in a
crucial battle (Bible
- Joshua 10:12-14)? And how the Lord turned back the movement of
a sundial during the ministry of the prophet Isaiah (Bible - Isaiah
38:5-8)?
“[Latter-day Saints] understand that the power of the
priesthood emanates from a realm where perfection is the norm. Following this
line of reasoning, once the power is applied to imperfect matter would it
impart some measure of its inherent quality of perfection, and make something
imperfect become a little more refined than its natural mortal state? If so, that might explain how the Savior
restored the bodies of the blind, the maimed and the lame, to their proper
fully functional state (3
Nephi 17:7-8),
and even reversed the effects of death itself and brought a widow’s son, the
daughter of Jairus, and Lazarus back to mortal life (Bible - Luke
7:11-15; 8:41-42, 49-56; John 11:38-44).
“Similarly, the power of the priesthood might cause
other effects on mortal nature, overcoming the effects of gravity, inertia, and
electromagnetism. Nephi seems to have
been miraculously transported to a high mountain (Book of Mormon - 1 Nephi 11:1). Moroni stood for hours in the air above the
floor of young Joseph Smith’s bedroom, lecturing the young Joseph by word and
by “mental images,” in such a way that the young man appeared to not notice the
passage of time. Moroni also seemed to
manipulate the light emanating from his body in a way that would require a
magnetic field of stellar intensity, and at the end of his visits passed
through Joseph’s roof on his way back to the realm he had come from (Pearl of Great
Price - Joseph Smith-History 1:30, 42-43).
A renowned
scientist, Dr. Francis Collins, recently stated:
“There really is such a thing as truth. You
couldn’t be a scientist if you didn’t believe that there is an objective truth
to be discovered, and our goal as good detectives is to figure out what it is.
Sometimes we get false clues, and we make mistakes, and we go down a blind
alley, but ultimately, we know there is an answer, and if we do everything
right and other people help us along, we’re gonna get that answer. And then we
add to that constitution of knowledge ...”[25]
Indeed, as I
mentioned in my superficial meditation back in 2017, “to be learned is good”
when we employ our intellect to see possible connections between the ever-increasing
body of scientific knowledge and refined insights from the restored gospel of
Jesus Christ.
And as I envision
truths in religion and science converging ever so closely into one great whole,
I come to agree with William Shakespeare’s words from four centuries ago: “There
are more things in heaven and earth … Than are dreamt of in [our] philosophy.”
Marcus H. Martins
is a sociologist, professor emeritus and former dean of religious education at
Brigham Young University-Hawaii. He wrote the book “Setting the Record
Straight: Blacks and the Mormon Priesthood”, and the manuscript “The
Priesthood: Earthly Symbols and Heavenly Realities”. He has spoken at conferences
and events in the United States (where he has lived since 1990), Brazil, China,
England, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Portugal, Qatar, and Singapore.
Brother Martins joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1972
and became the first Latter-day Saint with Black African ancestry to serve a
full-time mission after the 1978 Revelation.
He served twice as bishop, seven times as stake high councilor, three
times as temple worker, translator of the Book of Mormon, and president of the
Brazil Sao Paulo North Mission with his wife, Mirian Abelin Barbosa. The couple
has four children and eight grandchildren.