Religion or science

This debate haunts my mind wherever I go; work, university and even at home- where I sometimes have heated discussions with my dad, who is an avid believer of religion, a catholic. Religion cannot be easily ignored, especially for me coming from an African background where our lives, antics and morals linger helplessly on a thread of religion.

Growing up, I often hear tales about how GOD changes people’s lives and cures diseases, or as religion is responsible for people’s misfortune as shown in some Channel 4 documentaries (Africa’s Witch children and Britain’s witch children), I strongly recommend you to watch this and conjure up your own opinion.

Can incurable disease like cancer be cured by religion? What evidence is there to support the use of prayers in alleviating life-threatening conditions? Well, my paternal grandmother passed away slowly and painfully, a number of years ago, where all medication had failed, if my family had turned to religion and prayed for her, would it have made any difference? Would she be alive today?

Nowadays, most treatments are solely Evidence based, if prayers were to be used in patients with life threatening conditions, would this be silly or a welcomed new approach? With the likes of Richard Dawkins wanting to see the end of all faith-based schools and his opinions in his novel; The God Delusion, What would be the stance of the health care profession regarding religion? Would we one day have a prayer-based ward in hospitals, where prayers and belief will be used to treat conditions where medication has failed?

Well, you might ask, where do I stand? Religion or science, I’m an atheist with a strong belief in good morals, self belief and respect for others. In my opinion, science is the basis of humanity, where would we be, without medicines, nice houses, good food and good clothes? But I hear you say, how about our ancestors and how did they survive? Honestly, I don’t know the answer to that, you’ll have to look that up and get back to me on the comments section underneath this page.