Science, Magic, and Religion

Mr. Chase Rafal is a dedicated teacher at James Irwin Charter High School.  He teaches World History II (1490-2005) and CE American History.  He combines humor with historical truth in his classroom and is a favorite teacher of the students.  Chase’s blog (below) is in response to an essay assignment I gave to my AP European History class regarding science, magic, and religion.  The goal of the essay was to help enable students to understand the difference between the three concepts as they related to the Scientific Revolution. Ultimately, the goal was to help them see that each concept answered very different questions.  Religion answers who, science answers how, and magic answers the unknown. Remember, there will always be truth when we view history in context…

- Dr. Brandy Forrest

Science, Magic, and Religion

A student in my study hall asked me to help them answer a question for an essay they were writing for another teacher. One of those deceptively simple questions you hear often in intro to philosophy classes. A question that seems innocuous, but it forces you to examine your understanding of fundamental building block concepts that we usually just assume the answers to. People have decided that these building-block concepts speak for themselves, that the eons of conflict and lives spent over them have rendered them solved. If only it were so easy. We should examine every fundamental question lest we accept an answer we don't agree with. When these questions go unanswered, we typically allow the creation of a dichotomy, one thing is good, the other must be its opposite, it must be bad. Dichotomous reasoning is a trap for the lazy; this question: What is the difference between magic, religion, and science, forces the thinker to examine three of humanity’s oldest ways of dealing with the unknown. My answer is this: science, magic, and religion are not enemies, but three languages human beings use to describe the unknown. Magic seeks to control it, religion seeks to reconcile with it, and science seeks to understand it.

Magic seeks control over mystery. It is humanity's first attempt to make sense of the unseen. Magic, whether a Las Vegas tiger show or a Celtic bone reading, seeks only to control that unknown force, to bend its force to the supplicant in possession of the hidden knowledge. It uses rituals, as does religion, to achieve this authority. Magic intervenes in the immaterial; it gives the wielder agency, it becomes power without moral grounding. In pre-modern worlds, magic was proto-science, the ritual gave way to observation, and a desire to understand the forces of nature to truly harness them. Alchemy became chemistry, astrology became astronomy, "magic is a spurious system of natural law as well as a fallacious guide of conduct" states James Frazer in The Golden Bough.

Science seeks to measure mystery. Science is a near relative of magic. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," is one of the three laws of Arthur C. Clarke, the sci-fi author of 2001, Rama, and Cradle. Magic gave way to science: “Nature to be commanded must be obeyed.”

Both work through cause and effect. The difference is that science trusts patterns and replication, and magic trusts will and symbol. Carl Sagan tells us, “Science is more than a body of knowledge; it’s a way of thinking.” Born in the Enlightenment, science is humanity's attempt to understand the universe through methodical humility. We don't know, but we can test. Science is not anti-spiritual. Galileo stated as much when he defended Starry Messenger to the Catholic Church, that science brings us closer to God, not farther. Descartes, Newton, Kepler, Copernicus, Boyle, Mendel -all religious, faithful men who saw no conflict between science and faith. Science, though, is a method of verification, not valuation, as Max Weber said," science can show us what we can do, not what we should do." If magic is control, and science is comprehension, religion is reconciliation, the attempt to find meaning within mystery.

Religion seeks meaning in mystery. Religion is rooted in spirituality, a desire to understand one's place in the universe. Religion adds both philosophical underpinnings and ritual to spirituality. Religion is an intuitive way to navigate the unknown. It gives shape to wonder, provides a moral framework, and connects the individual to the transcendent, "the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider divine."

Science, religion, and magic can be unified, Carl Jung suggests that spiritual experience is an innate psychological function, humanity's attempt to unify inner and outer reality. Einstein reflects in Science and Religion, "science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind." Magic becomes science when it learns humility; religion becomes wisdom when it learns tolerance; Science becomes awe when it remembers mystery.