scholars say religion & science need each other

Despite the perceived truths science may provide, scientists must work with theologians to address the essential questions about the universe, said George Ellis at the American Academy of Religion’s annual meeting....The loss of religious faith and decline in attendance at churches and synagogues is due to the widespread belief that science expresses truth while religion does not, said Ellis....“There is no scientific experiment to tell us what is good and what is evil,” he said.

Science cannot provide values, “but the great world religions have a common core of ethical values that can be used to provide guidance on practical issues in science,” Ellis explained. “Science is powerful in its domain, but that domain is strictly limited.”

Religious scholars play a crucial role in the quest to account for truth because they help balance scientific fundamentalism with more humanist views, said Ellis, and can help provide answers about aesthetics, metaphysics and the meaning of life.

....read it all: Don’t ask whether, ask why: Religion and science must work together to answer life’s bigger questions, by Thomas Jay Oord, Science & Theology News