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JAINA CONVENTION 2017
Conflicts between religion and science, of course, occur when the picture of reality that we are able to construct from the available data conflicts with some aspect of religious teaching. There are numerous ways in which religious people can respond to such conflicts. One approach, called skepticism, is to observe the differences between religious and scientific claims and conclude that religion, because it is in conflict with our best available knowledge, must be false. Another approach, called fundamentalism, is to observe these differences and conclude that science, because it is in conflict with absolute knowledge that has come from the highest authority, must be false. Much of the debate between religion and science is really not a debate between either religion or science, per se, but a debate between skepticism and fundamentalism.
A more creative approach than either skepticism or fundamentalism to conflicts between religion and science is one which understands that the intent and purpose of these two sources of knowledge are not the same. There can thus be no true conflict between them, any more than there can be a conflict between, say, golf and basketball. They are different games, being played on different fields and following different rules. The fact that religious teachings and scientific claims come into conflict may be due to the fact that the finite human mind has not yet fully comprehended either the nature of the physical universe revealed to science (which is why scientific progress continues and is potentially never ending), or the implications of the absolute truths revealed to religion. It may be, for example, that a particular description of reality found in a religious text is to be interpreted symbolically, or is provided to illustrate some deeper concept. It may also be that a particular idea from religion pertains to dimensions of reality that do not fall within the realm of physical evidence of the kind that science investigates. Following an approach of this kind, both science and religion can be accommodated in one's worldview.
How Jainism Contributes to the Conversation between Religion and Science
Jainism is, in many ways, uniquely positioned within the larger conversation between religion and science. First, many of the claims of Jainism are either consistent with, or even predictive of, discoveries of modern science.
In terms of logical consistency, Jainism, first of all, and unlike most religious traditions, does not teach the existence of a creator God. Now, science does not require atheism, although many will argue that atheism is a more scientific view than theism because the contemporary scientific account of the origins of the universe does not require a creator God. Jainism, too, affirms that such a being is not required if one wishes to explain the nature of the universe. The universe simply is as it is, without an external cause.
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