Advancement of science and education in the last five or six centuries threw up many scientific theories which could be verified but the Church would have none of those as they are not verifiable from Biblical texts. A striking example of this was Copernicus (1473 -1543) formulating the theory that the sun and not the earth is at the center of the solar system but not publishing it because of fear of the Church. It took almost a century before Galileo (1564 -1642) verified Copernicus’ theory using his telescope and it was communicated by Galileo and Bruno (1548 -1600). They were both hauled up and Bruno was burned to death. Galileo’s life was spared after he retracted from the theory; he was imprisoned for life and died in jail. Since then the gulf between the scientist and the religious zealots has been widening.

In addition to the religion-science debate, this highlights another important issue; the authority appropriated by the priestly classes. They have invested themselves with vast powers, which they exercise with arbitrariness. This is exemplified by Bruno and Galileo’s cases. It is said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The priestly class is no exception to this rule. In addition, sexual transgressions by the clergy in the recent past have dismayed even those who would like to believe and follow religion in letter and spirit. These facts have given impetus to the phenomena of atheism and rationalism among the Christian masses in the West.

The predominant religion in the West is Christianity. The Old Testament starts with the story of creation mentioning only the earth and its sky. The Book of Revelation (7:1) shows angels standing on four corners of the earth thus not considering it to be round. The earth is believed to be at the center of the solar system and not moving. The earth’s immovability is posited in Psalm 104:5 thus: “Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever”. The New Testament uses mythology like virgin birth of Jesus, two contradictory theories about his birth in the Gospels by Matthew and Luke, his being the only son of God, the claim that he died for the sins of all, simply accepting Jesus as the savior being enough for salvation, contradictory accounts of his crucifixion and claims that Jesus ascended bodily to heaven. These do not appeal to the rational human mind. The Christian Church has exacerbated the situation by rejecting scientifically verified facts.
Darwin’s theory of Evolution, taken as science by some, repudiates the Genesis’ Creation theory. The Creationists recently came out with the concept of Intelligent Design. It has been vehemently opposed by the Evolutionists, who arguing for preserving secularism in schools, have lobbied and taken legal action for its exclusion from school curriculums in the United States.

The Bible is older than the other scriptures except those of Hinduism and thus does not talk of other faiths. This trend continues with the present Christian teachers hardly mentioning other religions leading to the impression among the audience that religion means Christianity alone with predominance of dogmas, rituals, and superstitions. This has caused revulsion to religion in the minds of many and resulted in the phenomena of atheism and rationalism.

A rapprochement between science and religion is possible only if each side appreciates the other’s viewpoint. For that to happen, the two must give up arrogance and seek to understand each other with respect. Implicit blind faith is no longer an option.

It is interesting that science studies laws of nature and religion studies about the Divine, the universal truth. Both do not change with time but man’s understanding of both advances with time.

The scientific and industrial revolution of the 15th,16th and 17th centuries CE is well known. A spiritual revolution also took place during the same period, but most people seem to have been unaware of it. Both were the products of continuing development of human intellect and the resulting advances in education. Man, however, became so busy in reaping the economic benefits of the industrial revolution that few people paid to the spiritual aspect. Education however enabled him to challenge the prevalent beliefs in dogmas, rituals, and superstitions. In keeping with the dependence on education, this belief system resulting from the spiritual revolution, called the Sikh faith, is the religion of the disciple, student, or the seeker. It takes into account the modern social and practical system while displaying compatibility of religion and science.

As in the case of science, the Sikh religion does not reject the fundamentals of the earlier religions but interprets their practices rationally and scientifically. All religions aim to take man’s soul towards God and so does the Sikh religion. What it does in addition is to weed out practices that only displayed religiosity. All dogmas, rituals, and superstitions are done away with. Acknowledging ethics taught by the earlier religions it emphasizes good deeds, overcoming temptations so that lust, anger, avarice, attachment to transitory things and vanity are resisted, avoidance of adultery which is equated to poison is mandated, to mention a few. There is considerable emphasis on realizing the assigned role in life, which is the other name for living according to God’s commands. It asks people to respect laws of nature and of the land since they help remove fear and promote peace of mind.

Its scripture, Sri Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS), incorporates not only the compositions of their gurus, but also of saints and bards of other faiths. It emphasizes that religions must coexist peacefully and to this end asks people not to find fault with the scriptures of others’ religions but try to understand them (Bayd katayb kaho mat jhoothay—P 1350). No religion enjoys priority before God. The prayer is for all mankind “O’ Lord show compassion and look after all creatures (Sabhay jea amaal apni mehr kri— P 1251)”. This also emphasizes that there should be no effort for religious conversions.

God does not belong to any one person or group, the Master likes love and devotion (aapan baapai naahi kisi ko Bhaavan ko Hari raja, P 658). One Father, we are all His children (Ek Pita ekas kay hamm baarak, — P 611-12). God’s light pervades all, so who is good and who bad (Aval Allah noor upaaya— P 1349)? Goodness does not come near any one who claims to be good (Aapas kau jo bhalla kahaavai— P 278). Do not despise the woman, she is the one who gives birth to all including the kings (so kion mandaa aakheeai jit jamai raajaan— P 472). The mother is your teacher; the father provides you with your needs and security (mati maataa santokh pita — P 1397); so do not be disrespectful to them (kaahe jhagrat ho sangg baap— P 1200). “Realize your duties, be productive, earn to live, work to fulfill your desires, but do not forget that one should work towards merging with God (Dharam, Arth, kaam, mokh—P 926)”. “Trying to practice celibacy increases lust (istree tajj kaam viaapiaa P 1013). Do not ask any one’s caste , identify God’s light in him (Jaanhu jot n poocchoh jaati P 349). There is no need for a priestly class; any one can conduct religious service and lead others (Aap japo avraa Naam— P 288).

In the scientific field it asks people to rationalize their beliefs. For example it asks the Hindus who believe that the earth is supported by a bull – the Greek believe that Atlas supports it – “how much weight can a bull take (Dhavlai upar keta Bhaar, P 3)”? There are more planets away from the earth who supports them (Dharti hor paray hor hor, tis tay bhhaar taley javan jor, P 3)? There are millions of planets held in space according to cosmic laws which they follow diligently (santokh thaap rakhia jin soot, P 3). There is one sun and many seasons which shows that the earth revolves round the sun which is at the center of the solar system (sooraj eko rut anayk— P 12-13), the moon draws its light from the sun (sasi ghari soor vasai mitai andhiaaraa, P 943 ) .This was said in the 16th century about a century before Galileo announced it.

Much before science discovered that oxygen and hydrogen gases formed water, the scripture said, “The eternal Lord first formed the air, from the air water was formed and with water the universe was given shape (Saachay tay pavnaa bhaiyaa — P 19)

It is interesting to note how the concept of creation changed with time. The Old Testament talked of only the earth and its sky; the Semitic faiths later believed that there were 18000 world and SGGS says there are millions of them, all created with a single command of God. These concepts have been in line with the scientific knowledge available when the concerned scripture was written. The scriptures were ahead of the scientist because the holy masters had knowledge revealed by the Creator. The Big Bang theory announced in the 20th century gives a scientific account of how the universe was created. This is a restatement of what SGGS said at least three centuries earlier which runs thus. “The Creator contemplated in utter darkness for myriad ages (ketiaan jug dhundookaaray, taaree laaee Sirjanhaaray, P 1023) and decided to create the universe. The process involved planning , enclosing all the required resources in a shell like that of an egg, let things develop and then burst the shell and let everything get into place (Aapay sach keeaa kar jor, andaj phor jor vichor,— P 839). The universe is not finite (ant na jaapai keeta aakaar, — P 5). The sun and the moon were created to provide light (sooraj chand karayh ujiaara, P 329). Modern science has verified all this. The earth and sky are where life will exist (Dharti aakaas keeay baisan kau thaao, P 839). This is an interesting observation because science has been struggling to find life on other planets but without success.

It also says that before the creatures came into being the wherewithal for them was provided in advance (pehlon de tain rijk sambaaha pichhon de tain junt upaha, P 130), which is perfectly logical and scientific.

The scripture also resolves the current controversy of creation versus evolution. It says the two are not exclusive to each other but rather evolution starts after the initial creation. This is entirely in keeping with the scientific reasoning that evolution cannot take place from nothing. The relevant statement says “Creation came into being with a single command of the Creator and from it evolved millions of streams (keeta pasaau ekaa kuvaao, tis te hoe lakh dariaao, P 3).

The scripture also mentions about the ecological balance that has been created in nature by the presence of insects, moths, elephants, fish, birds, deer, birds, creeping creatures like snakes, plants and rocks.

The phenomenon of rain was created because the earth which, despite having water in it, would require to be irrigated (jaisee dharti upar— P 162). This is a metaphor used to describe the need for Naam Simran in congregations to hear God’s praises while God already resides within the mind.

As may be seen, the Sikh religion shows compatibility with science, while preserving the fundamental teachings of religions. It asks people to respect others’ faith and not try to convert. It rejects caste and gives equal respect to man and woman. If it is used as the reference religion when discussing the religion-science and inter-religion relationships, most if not all, acrimony can be removed leading to a more congenial planet.