Truth to the scientific mind is something provisional, a hypothesis that
for the present moment best conforms to the recognized tests. It is an
evolving conception in a constantly changing universe. It is not that
science has attained true conclusions; not that the evidence at hand
must remain immutable; but that the scientific method of analyzing and
formulating assumptions on the basis of discovery, on ascertained facts,
is a superior method to the closed "infallible" method of "revelation."
These assumptions, based upon the known facts, lead to a working
hypothesis which in turn develops into a theory. If the theory is
adopted it must account for the facts known. But the theory is not held
as final, it is always changed or abandoned if necessary to conform to
the new discovered data. Science welcomes the critical attitude that
leads to the refinement of its theories. There may be today various
theories held by scientists in which they are mistaken, but the question
of the _method_ by which they arrive at conclusions can no longer be
under consideration with regard to its validity.
To the scientific mind, knowledge is something to be arrived at by study
and research. To the religionist, knowledge is something that is
contained in an infallible and supernatural statement or insight.
Religion exalts the transcendental; science manipulates only the
material. To the consistent religionist, his belief, as such, determine
the fact; to the scientist it is the evidence that establishes the fact.
To the religionist truth is something that is unchanging, that is fixed,
final, and heretical to question. Confronted with a constantly changing
universe, he would delude himself that his inner convictions give him a
finality concerning his evolving environment. It is therefore not so
much Science that the religionist is fighting, but the _scientific
method_. This scientific method of approach, he rightly perceives, has
so pervaded our mode of thinking that it is the subtle and most
disintegrating force that is shattering the religious foundations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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