We understand the world through our direct experience, the shared experience of our communities, and the knowledge and wisdom of those who came before us. But what a jumble this last one is! Let's work on that a little bit. I suppose that should be 'knowledge and wisdom' that have survived the test of time. That's still not enough. It's really what's survived by chance, isn't it? (If you think the phrase 'god's will' might fit in there, what, prey tell, serves god to burn down the library in Alexandria? And what wisdom might have been lost to that inferno?)
Consider the view from here, this generation. We are awash with stuff--cars and planes and cell phones and laser pointers and computers, plastic and magnetic resonance scanners and medicine made by cracking the genetic code, the Internet, and on and on and on. It's everywhere and we use it everyday. So much so it's practically invisible. Two hundred years ago none of it existed. Moreover the science that makes these inventions possible didn't exist. That science, and the engineering and invention, that gave rise to all that stuff, must have a profound impact on how we understand the world. So imagine understanding the world WITHOUT ALL OF THAT!
So, science has changed how we understand the world. Participating in a religion without acknowledging scientific understanding does not return the participant to a purer day, a time closer to eternal truths. It is self delusion and magical thinking. Moreover those that endeavor to do so cannot hope to know how those who lived in pre-scientific times really saw things. Those ancients didn't ignore what their everyday lives told them about how the world works and neither should we.
As Newton said we stand on the shoulders of giants and owe it to those who came before us--in science, in the arts and in religion--to move forward with all the tools at our command.
