The Conflict Between Science and Religion

Even in this era, religious fanaticism stands as a barrier to the spread of science!

For being ahead of his time, Socrates had to drink the cup of poison 2,400 years ago. In Athens, he was accused of misleading the youth. He did not believe in the gods kept in their temples (Pantheon). He was accused of spreading disorder. Exactly the same accusations the Islamist Tawhidi Janata in Bangladesh now make in 2026 against free‑thinkers, against people like Taslima Nasrin.

At that time, the Greek gods had immense influence, just as the Prophet Muhammad does today in Islamic societies. Storms at sea were believed to occur because of the Greek god Poseidon. People offered various sacrifices to calm the god’s anger. Diseases were believed to be the result of the wrath of Apollo.

Then time passed. Now the Greek gods themselves have become relics of the past, myths — even in Greece. People see them in museums or archaeological sites and think Socrates was right — “He was far ahead of his time.” The Greek gods were imaginary and false.

A long time passed. Many new religions emerged, many new gods appeared. To protect these blind beliefs and invisible, newly invented gods, their followers created blasphemy laws. Whoever leaves the religion or speaks about it — kill them. Whoever criticizes the religious great men — kill them, no forgiveness. Exactly like Socrates — because they are misleading the youth, spreading fitna or disorder, bringing chaos. These clauses were even included in religious books, claiming that God commands humans to kill other humans, to rape women.

Then came the age of science. The things ordinary people used to attribute to gods out of simplicity, science began answering one by one.

Rain does not fall because of sacrifices or offerings to any deity — there is an entire science behind it.

Science can tell when it will rain, or whether a mother is carrying a boy or a girl. All religious claims became laughable.

Earthquakes or storms do not occur because of the anger of gods — there is complete science behind these too, and women’s clothing has no role in it.

Diseases and death also have cause and effect; crying in front of the sky‑god in a mosque, monastery, temple, or church will not cure anyone — medicine and doctors will. Cancer is treated not by prayer, but by chemotherapy.

Scientists did not declare themselves holy or miraculous for seeking answers to these difficult questions, nor did they create blasphemy laws to protect their theories from challenge. Finding errors in their data or theories is itself the path to new knowledge. This is the secret behind the world’s progress today.

Scientific laws are universal. This means that followers of any religion, anywhere in the world, cannot deny these laws — and there is no disagreement about that. Only the backward Tawhidi Janata of countries like Bangladesh are still stuck in Greece of 2,400 years ago or in the famine‑stricken deserts of Arabia 1,400 years ago.

Today is the age of science and technology. Today is called the Age of Information. The civilized Western world, which believes in education and research, is rapidly moving away from the dominance of these decaying religions. Across Europe, non‑religious people are becoming the majority. Their countries are rising to the top of the peace rankings. They have realized that to keep the world peaceful, people must live well together as humans — not out of greed for a fictional heaven or fear of hell. This one short life is all humans have; the goal is to make everyone’s life beautiful.

I am an ordinary person; far greater thinkers across the world have been saying the same things. In this age of information, are the things we are saying really ahead of our time? Or are those who cannot understand us — who insult us, threaten to kill us — actually far behind their time? Are they unwilling to come out of their old beliefs because of narrow thinking and laziness toward education and research? Why are they still stuck with the thoughts and practices of 2,400 or 1,400 years ago?