Einstein once said “Science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind.” (”Science, Philosophy and Religion: a Symposium”, 1941) This particular quote has been used and abused on countless occasions by various people to supposedly illustrate why Einstein thought religion (and hence organized religion, hence God, their God) is important, leading to various arguments such as “Science is useless without God”, or the timeless “Science only answers How; Religion answers Why.”

The fact is that Einstein was not talking about any organized religion; he was really talking about a spiritual awe of the universe, and a sort of higher sense of purpose (hence the “lame” bit). He also said at various times that he did not believe in a Christian God or in an organized religion. In any case, despite his achievements, Einstein really was just a man with his own beliefs and philosophies. Putting too much weight on what he said in order to establish the validity of one’s argument would be a classic case of logical fallacy: argumentum ad verecundiam (appealing to authority).

Anyway…so science answers How, and religion answers Why?

Sure it’s a nice sentiment. You do your thing, I do mine, and we won’t have go at each other’s throat. We are all *equally* valid and *equally* important, yada yada yada.

Really? Let’s see…

When science answers “HOW”, its answers are demonstratably reliable to many decimal places. It is also self adjustable, always modifying itself to produce better answers. Religion’s answer to “WHY” is about as good as what my mind may produce while sitting on a toilet on a particular fibre-deficient day. Well, maybe not, (or maybe, who knows? A little charisma, a little convincing, and a few people whose heads aren’t screwed on right can go a long way), but (and this is the point) there is no sure way to judge except on blind faith.

Ah, of course, blind faith is nothing but a form of argumentum ad verecundiam, isn’t it? The good old ipse dixit: He himself said it…Jesus said it…the Bible said it…the Great Prophet Zarquon said it…

In the end, it’s just one bullshit against another. Nothing more, nothing less. Your own bullshit may be just as good.