Dr. Oord: On the religious side, I think far too few religious people take the science seriously enough. I think, unfortunately sometimes, religions walk around acting like they’ve got everything figured out, which is a major problem.



Dr. Wachtel: Science also acts like it has everything figured out.

Dr. Oord: Many scientists think that science should be a value-neutral enterprise. That is, it shouldn’t say that things are good or evil. And yet every one of us has values we work with every day. I don’t think science alone can bring us to the kind of answers that we want to have in our everyday living.



Dr. Wachtel: I completely agree. Scientists, even atheists, have faith, too — the faith that science will figure it out eventually. But there’s no guarantee of that, especially when it comes to psychological stuff. Our brains are so complicated that things we thought were true 10 years ago are definitely not right.

Dr. Oord: That’s a really big question in the "science or religion" discussion that’s not easily answerable: Can we explain all of our beliefs about good and evil entirely as the product of evolutionary history, or is there some ultimate source that most people call God who provides the parameters of what’s good and evil? A lot of people think you have to choose one or the other; I think you draw from both.



Dr. Wachtel: Yes, regardless of your answer to that question, I think that’s where your faith comes in — your faith in science or your faith in your religious tradition. At least while we’re on Earth, I don’t think that we’re ever going to know that answer. So we have to kind of pick a side.

Dr. Oord: Well, there’s another option, and that is you don’t pick a side, but you think both sides contribute something positive to the answer. That’s where I find myself.



Dr. Wachtel: Agreed.





Illustrations by Massimiliano di Lauro