Angels and Demons
It has been two months since I finished reading Angels and Demons. Even the plot of Angels and Demons is ingenious, it is not the plot which remains in my memory after two months. It is the conflicts between science and religion addressed by the book which strike a chord with me.
In the past, many phenomena in this world could not be explained. The phenomena were attributed to the existence of God. However, due to technological advances, many of the phenomena can be explained by science nowadays. Skeptics are worrying that people would lose their faith in God. Is it really the case?
Let’s look at the reasons why people believe in God. Many of the people believe in God because they would like to seek the meaning of life. They believe in God, not because God explains everything, but because God serves as a guide for them to live on. God provides a kind of moral standard for people to follow. God is a role model for people to imitate, rather than an explanation for everything in the world. From this view, there seems to be no conflict between science and religion. People would believe in God no matter what science has discovered.
Actually, it is indeed hard to alter people’s faith in God. This can be illustrated by people’s believe in the omnipotence of God. Over the years, there have been numerous arguments against the omnipotence of God (such as the stone dilemma). However, people’s faith in God had not changed.
While it is difficult to alter people’s faith in God, it is also hard to change people’s believe in science. There have been numerous people who try to prove the non-existence of God by trying to provide scientific explanations for phenomena in the world. Even till now they cannot explain everything in science, they still refuse to resort to the explanation that God exists.
I think if people in the world were divided into two batches, one batch believing in God (Batch A) and one batch not (Batch B), the two batches of people would fail to influence each other in terms of their believe. Batch A people may try to persuade Batch B people to believe in God, while Batch B people may try to explain everything to Batch A people in terms of science. However, no one from either side would be persuaded, for they all have what they believe in. Religion guides Batch A people and science guides Batch B people. It is their believes which keep them living.
All people must have something they believe in to give them the meaning to live on. I think maybe God is just a name. A name to denote people’s own faiths.
At the end of the story of Angels and Demons, the Pope gave a note to Langdon and Vetra. On the note, the Pope wrote, “The world seems a better place today…maybe the questions are more powerful than the answers.” I have to agree to this. Instead of always trying to explain everything by science, I am more in favour of having questions that cannot be answered. After all, it is “questions” which leave room for imagination.
“Answers” combat ignorance, but “Questions” create new worlds. This is what I think.