What do you want to know about Religious Science? Revs. Joe and Toni Niemiec, New Thought ministers, are ready to answer your questions. Fill out the form below or .
Q. Does Religious Science believe science will one day be able to define “God?”
A. “Science knows nothing of opinion, but recognizes a government of law whose principles are universal. Revelation must keep faith with reason, and religion with law — while intuition is ever spreading its wings for greater flights – and science must justify faith in the invisible.” — Ernest Holmes, “The Science of Mind”
The first order of business is probably defining God. In the New Thought, or specifically the Religious Science definition, God is not a separate entity but rather the underlying essence from which all creation emanates. We believe in a unified (with God) universe versus duality (good and evil, heaven and hell, etc.).
Quantum physics has brought forth the recognition that underneath all that exists in the physical world is a “primal” vibration; all physical creation is no more than different vibrational levels of this one. Scientists may not label this God, and yet, it is the recognition of a unified universe held together by a fundamental presence or vibration.
Much work has been done in the field of the mind-body connection. Today, many medical practitioners are using a more holistic approach in the treatment of disease as well as preventative medicine. This work is based on the idea that there is something powerful at work through our beliefs and thoughts and that as we shift these beliefs and thoughts, an apparent healing is taking place.
By using the word “define,” we are limiting the infinite to the finite. God, spirit, infinite intelligence — whatever the name that is given — is invisible and our belief in it is based in faith. As Ernest Holmes (founder of the “Science of Mind”) says in the quote above, science must justify faith in the invisible. Yes, we do believe that the paths of religion or spirituality and science are merging.
Science could legimately make observations about what neurobiological systems might be involved preferentially when people think about god(s), and science can also lay down some judgements about assorted interactions with the observable universe should those be a part of any theological framework (giant battled in the Mahabharata or events in the Book of Mormon or Noah’s Ark in the Bible) but unless a deity is an entity that can make itself accessible to investigation or whose liturgies make testable claims about the decidable realm than science as a discipline can say nothing whatsoever about “God”. So the short answer to the question would be “No” and this applies to all deities that slip through the sieve of real world interactions.