The war of faith and reason

Religion and science have been at odds for centuries. At least since the Renaissance, if not before, the two camps have been like boxers, each hoping to land the killer blow that would end the conflict once and for all.

This struggle quite simply shouldn't exist and represents a frightful waste of time, Stephen Jay Gould writes in this convincingly argued and thought provoking book on the battle between science and religion.

The essence of his theory is that the science-religion argument is really just a phoney war, a conflict that only exists because the two camps persistently stray into the territory of the other. The trouble begins as soon as religion tries to explain away scientific facts by invoking miracles or divine intervention.

Equally, science gets into serious difficulties if it attempts to resolve questions about God or morality by proofs based on gravity waves, atoms, or the workings of the human genome.

Gould suggests a solution to this turf war. It is a simple matter of keeping one's nose out of one's neighbour's business.

Science, he argues, is incapable of deciphering the meaning of life, no matter what remarkable discoveries are made, either about the inner workings of the brain or what your genes do.

Nor can religion hope to overthrow measurable, repeatable research findings about the creation of the universe or the workings of evolution - just because the bible takes a different line.

Gould argues that it is equally inappropriate, however, for the two to remain at one another's throats. He postulates a simple solution which he calls the principle of "NOMA" - "Non-Overlapping Magisteria". Magisterium, he says, is from the Latin magister, teacher. His call is for "principled and respectful separation" of the equally important but absolutely separate magisteria of science and religion.

He chooses an intellectual approach akin to that formerly applied in the southern US, when states attempted to create a separate but equal status in racial affairs. He strongly rejects the notion that at some stage the two magisteria must be fused to enable them to co-exist.

Gould must rank as one of the leading scientific essayists of his generation and, as ever, he is in total command of his subject matter. He steers a deft route through contentious waters, but manages to retain a humorous edge, that keeps the book both engaging and highly entertaining.

Despite the subject, this is no heavy tome. Gould provides the literary magic to deliver a light-hearted read, an engaging gambol along the peace line thrown up by the opposing zealots of the religious/scientific conflict.

Religion and science form the two "rocks of ages" described in his title. "To cite the old cliches, science gets the age of rocks, and religion the rock of ages; science studies how the heavens go, religion how to go to heaven."

Gould asks only for tolerance as a way to defuse this centuries-old feud. "From Mutt and Jeff to yin and yang, all our cultures, in their full diversity of levels and traditions, include images of the absolutely inseparable but utterly different.

"Why not add the magisteria of science and religion to this venerable and distinguished list."

Dick Ahlstrom is Science Editorof The Irish Times