Science or Faith? That is the question. God cannot survive science, said recently The Da Vinci Code author, Dan Brown.
Patriarch Kiril of Moscow and all Russia, answering to questions by FLORIANA JUCAN, on behalf of Q Magazine, has another opinion. And arguments about where Science and Religion meet and where they part,in a exclusive interview offered by the Head of the largest Orthodox Christian Church in the world.
Q Magazine announced here the arrival of Patriarch Kirill at Bucharest, a major event for the Orthodox world. The initiative came from His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel – who celebrated on September 30 2017 ten years as Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Romania – in the context of a symposium which addresses as main theme the common experiences o
f Churches from ex-communist countries during times of religious persecution due to atheist political regimes.
See here a gallery of exclusive images of Patriarch Kirill
SCIENCE ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS LIKE “HOW?” AND “WHY?”. RELIGION ANSWERS TO THE QUESTION “WHAT FOR?”
Q Magazine: Famous author Dan Brown recently said that “God cannot survive science”. What are your thoughts on that?
Patriarch Kirill I: Is there a famous scientist called Dan Brown? I’m joking, of course, but as the Russian saying goes, “There’s some truth in every joke”.
But I haven’t heard that predictions of author Dan Brown have any authority in the scientific world. He’s entitled to his opinion, but it doesn’t mean that it holds any great value.
The Church is often accused of being cryptic and impolite. But in some cases, the Church is in fact being coherent when it comes to offering support to “pure science”. In the minds of modern people science if often a myth that replaces an idol, and they believe in it blindly, obey, and sacrifice for it if so required.
We believe that science will solve all mysteries regarding how the world was created; that it will tell us what must be done in order to lead a happy life, how to defeat death, illness, suffering, injustice, how to solve the matters of the heart. But all these convictions are based on blind faith, not on actual results of scientific studies.
Sometimes, this “faith in science” becomes aggressive and impossible to reconcile with the power of understanding of the people, because – more often than not – it uses a jargon, pretends to hold and aspires to universality, and demands to be exempt from criticism.
Let’s not forget, however, about the major contribution of the Christian faith when it came to the basics of science and research through studies. Any honest historian will acknowledge this fact.
Religion and science can’t easily avoid instances of conflict between them. Both have certain well-determined areas of manifestation, according to various vectors. Both make an effort to solve conflicting ideas.
Science answers to questions such as “Who?”, “How?”, and “Why?” while religion answers the question “What for?” that addresses the finality of it all.
Theology doesn’t reside within the limits of science. Suggesting that there’s some sort of competition between them transforms both religion and science into tools of propaganda that are both anti-science and anti-religion. That’s just as harmful for both.
Another idea that merits contemplating is the fact that religion, and Christianity in particular, insists on the idea that scientific experiments need to be limited in order to abide by ethical principles. And science, in turn, admits that it doesn’t have the right to experiment on human beings.
We can achieve complete knowledge only when we become able to study the same phenomenon from various points of view: scientific, philosophical, religious, historical. It’s a terrible mistake to exclude religion from this circle of knowledge.
So please allow me to disagree with Mr. Dan Brown!
CHRISTIANITY REMAINS WITHOUT COMPETITION
Q Magazine: During our times there are two main phenomena present: first, the number of atheists increases all over the world; second, the main issue of people today is individualism. What is humanity headed for: getting closer to God, or walking away from Him?
Patriarch Kirill I: The answer is simple: it’s all up to us! Any prediction is often separated from the mystery of divine love – the mystery of freedom given to man as God’s most precious gift. The divine respect for man, for his right to make use of his freedom, both against his own best interests and even against God, deserves all our admiration.
If you look at today’s way of life in its entirety, then yes – there probably are regions and countries around the world where we can see a significant rise in the number of atheists or people who don’t identify themselves as having any religion of any kind.
But there are also societies where the number of believers is rising. And in absolute terms, the number of atheists is extremely small. These communities are mainly situated in societies with the highest degree of consumerism, whose members seem to think that for them Paradise is already here.
Another significant aspect is the fact that atheist ideas are often aggressively promoted in the public space. In that regard, atheists as well as supports of radical secularism have constantly attempted to institute the dominance of their ideology over all believers that constitute the majority of our world, but that are often – and unfortunately – unable to protect their collective rights and their own view on the religious world.
At the same time, we know that: embracing God’s Truth and the return to true faith of people from Russia and from other East European countries; the success of the Christian mission in Africa; the high level of religiosity in Latin American and in the Arab world – all point to the fact that, on a global level, communities of atheists are pretty much inconsistent.
Religious belief doesn’t develop in stages: it demands constantly overcoming the challenges it faces, and often the movements against the major current. I propose you not rush to any major conclusion. And that is precisely why I now address your second question – that regarding individualism.
I would expand on the dilemma even more. It’s not only a question of individualism, but also of Man himself. Who is Man? Why and what for does he exist?
Individualism is a direct consequence of scientific teachings, profoundly mistaken, at the center of which is NOT God – Creator of the world and of the Universe – but man evolved from apes and devoid of the reflection of divine light, without prospects of glorifying God and what is holy.
Imagine if you were to tell a seven-year-old “Okay, this is it! You won’t grow up. Ever. You’ve already reached the maximal limits of evolution. You can’t become smarter, prettier or stronger. Now you can do anything you like. You don’t have to go to school anymore. You don’t have to abide by society’s rules and can stick to what you already know. You don’t have to motivate yourself to do something you don’t want to do but that is deemed necessary by society. You’re Perfect!”. Such an approach would be a crime against that child because, instead of helping them grow and develop, it would open a path toward degradation, toward involution.
The tragedy of secular humanism is that it has planted in the minds of men the false idea that it is the height of human rationality, and – once such a level has been reached – there’s no more room to grow.
So therein lies the problem. Children are, by way of nature, more egotistical than adults – but that’s only a stage of their lives, out of which they need to grow, and reach the age of adulthood.
What is the difference between an adult and a child? An adult knows how to build relationships with others so that everyone would be okay. A Christian is an “adult”, able to not only do what’s good for others, but also to make others happy because they themselves are happy, and from the light that guides their soul they can offer divine warmth to others as well.
Our contemporary man is offered a program of “chronic infantilism” with which, of course, Christianity disagrees.
The root of all sins and desires, as the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church teach us, is self-love: the inability to love painfully to the point of giving up and sacrificing oneself. And the Church has a vast array of means to solve this issue – beginning with the Sacraments of the Church, through which God Himself comes into contact with man, and ending with the fine ascetic Christian ways – that help understand the tribulations of the soul, and through the connection to one’s inner world help to better understand divine grace.
Outside of the Church none of these exist. Yes, there is psychology, psychotherapy – but they are only a way of trying to find a solution when it comes to the system of the self, and that is why there are always errors and failures.
In that regard, Christianity was and will remain without competition, because it offers an indestructible way of communication between God and living Man, through our Lord Jesus Christ – the true diapason of mankind.
To this day, the Gospel remains the most efficient and the shortest way to learn happiness, both for the individual and for the whole of society. The main goal is to teach them how to read It, not just as a “ritualistic” book, but as one that teaches how to go beyond the senses, to understand the context, and to look carefully at those whose fate is painted there.
Individualism is senseless and cannot be overcome unless you care for collectivism. Christianity is so much deeper. It affirms that only through serving God and those close to us can we gain the unique completion of being that divine inspiration is able to offer and – beyond the limited present moment of our earthly life – Happiness.
BETWEEN RELIGION AND THE STATE THERE’S NO OPAQUE WALL
Q Magazine: Can religion be a political factor?
Patriarch Kirill I: From the point of view of Christian understanding of the world, religion allows the connection between the believer and the Creator of the Heaven and Earth; religion brings people together in a community, and the Church helps them practice their faith in communion.
But any existing religion proceeds and interacts with people in a similar manner. And of course it also interacts with the political factor.
Religion can’t be unaffected by conflicts, particularly contradictions that arise in any society or between nations and states.
Religion is not distilled water. On the contrary, it is directly connected to the history and aspirations of the people in that particular segment of its history. For instance, if we compare the history and circumstances of existence of the Orthodox Church under Emperor Justinian, the czar Ivan the Terrible, or Peter the Great, and the way it looks today, we will see that the circumstances and forms of expression of Church-life are very different.
Of course, the secular world – and that of politics, in particular – will inevitably affect religion and vice-versa. Our history, that of world-wide Orthodoxy, knows the most varied forms of interaction between Church and State. We can recall the Byzantine “symphony of powers”, or the direct subordination of the Church’s hierarchy to the State – as it was in Russia after the reforms of Peter I. But we can also mention facts and Orthodox bishops chosen to be secular leaders of short-term theocracies (let’s look at Montenegro and Prince-Bishop Peter Negos or at Cyprus and Archbishop Makarios III).
The Church doesn’t get involved in the state’s constitutional responsibilities.
But that separation doesn’t mean that between us there’s an opaque wall.
Today we have active connections to the state. For instance, we’re now working to solve social issues and those related to education.
In Russia, in regions where great numbers of believers live, we work together with the state and call that collaboration a social partnership. All of our joint efforts are for the wellbeing of society.
At the same time, the Church maintains its official position of not getting involved in politics: priests aren’t allowed to participate in electoral campaigns, run for office or be electoral agents during elections. This is the price of our independence and, at the same time, of the wellbeing of society.
The Church is proud of all its parishioners, it has to protect their best interests, and not discriminate based on political views.
EVERY INTERNET USER IS A LIVING PERSON
Q Magazine: What is the Church’s stand on Internet and the online world that is particularly seductive for a large part of the young generation?
Patriarch Kirill I: Of course, a lot of horrible things happen in the online world; bad things, dishonest ones, at times even illegal – just like they happen in the real world, in fact. It’s important to keep in mind what negative things can lie in wait for us there.
You can find a lot of false information online that often irritates people, steers them away from what they should be normally doing, creates unpleasant feelings, and – the most significant thing – there are many times when certain information is released online as being a certainty even though it’s speculation or gossip. And it’s usually also something very aggressive. It’s very important to remember the words of our Savior: “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned”.
We, as Christians, are commanded to go out in the world and spread the word of the Gospel of Christ that offers forgiveness and a new life.
God wants all men to be saved and to know the True Faith (1 Timothy 2: 4) – as the Apostle Timothy said, the Church encourages all people – including those we meet online; and often, many of them we won’t meet anywhere else.
Due to that, the Church can and must take its work into the online world, preaching the Word of God and sharing the Truth. Despite that, one thing must be understood: what we do in the online world is oriented toward the real world.
Every user of the network is a living person, not a virtual object.
In addition to that, the Sacraments of the Church don’t take place in the online world, but are at the heart of a believer’s life.
Christians are called to bear witness to a life transformed by the light of Creation, all over – including online –, and should manifest themselves not only through ideas they share, but also through the way those ideas are presented.
I LOOK FORWARD TO PRAYING TOGETHER WITH THE PEOPLE OF ROMANIA
Q Magazine: What do you expect or hope for related to visiting Romania?
Patriarch Kirill I: My visit to Romania is related to the important events that the Orthodox Church of Romania is organizing these days, dedicated to remembering the struggles against God, in the aftermath of which all Churches of Eastern Europe have suffered.
All of us were victims of an atheist ideology and of a system in which there was no more room for the faith in God.
Behind slogans that announced to care about the people, there was a dislike for the Church and for everything related to religion. Such dangerous revolutionary changes would have been impossible if a great part of our countrymen wouldn’t have shared – whether allowed or not – the idea of building ‘Heaven on Earth’, as seen by classic Marxism-Leninism.
That ‘heaven’ required the destruction of all those who opposed it, of those who fought for faith.
Despite it all, authorities didn’t manage to alienate believers from their faith, and now we – in Russia, Romania, and in other countries – live times of religious renaissance.
Churches are being built, there’s development in church-life, the Church makes acts of goodwill, catechism lessons are being taught, and believers are being educated.
Paradoxically, the blossoming of religious life takes place in a background of spreading consumerist ideology and propaganda of freedom disconnected from a person’s moral responsibility for their words and actions. That kind of freedom destroys the person, family, and society.
East Europeans have managed to defend their religion when they were forced to give it up. But now many choose objects over faith. Using them doesn’t require moral effort, but it leads to forgetting God and limits life to a sort of inconsistent and unconditional love of one’s self.
Orthodox Churches are gathering in Romania in order to recall times of faith-related persecution, but also in order to talk about the dangers of a life without God.
The choice to live without God is destructive both for man and society, regardless if it’s forced from the outside or the result of a free choice.
In addition to that, my visit is related to the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the enthronement of the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Romania, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.
The Orthodox Church of Romania is alive and strong. It does its best to keep Christian values alive in a modern Europe. We are entirely on board with these efforts to share the Truth of the Gospel. So I am looking forward to sharing my prayers with faithful Romanian people, with bishops and priests, to feel the joy of our togetherness in the Holy Eucharist.
Read here the romanian version of the article or here the russian one.
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