Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-11-21
RELIGION AND SCIENCE
BY DR.. Frank Crane

DIR. Stenmetz, Consulting Engineer OF the
General Electric Company, who Is generally
known as the electrical wizard, explained
III speech at a church the other day the
difference between religion and science
Religion, he declared may be defined as
dealing with such topics as God Immortality,
infinity, etc., all of which lie outside of the
realm Of sense perceptions, while science
deals with the ono uSions derived by the
laws of logic from our sense perceptions.
He held that there is no necessary conflict
between science and religion, because they
deal with different groups of phenomena.
This is the truth, but not quite all the
truth To think intelligently on the matter
we must strictly define the two words
know" and "believe" If we do not con-
fuse these two terms we may accept fully
what DR.. Steinmetz said, that science Is
about what we know and religion is about
what we believe.
1t is only the half-baked mind that rejects
all belief or that despises all knowledge.
Both are equally important. 1t is essen
tial to know that two times two make four,
and that prussic acid destroys life for to be
ignorant of such things is highly dangerous.
But it is just as essential to believe as it
is to know.
Love is the greatest thing in the world,
but you can never know that another loves
you; that is a sort of thing you believe, ii
you get it at all.
You can never know that honesty is the
best policy, although your belief in it may
be certain enough to govern your life.
All OF the things that maAc for culture
for moral character, and for the general
refinement of the human spirit, are things
we have to believe if we are ever to use
them; we cannot know them
That is the reason the Bible says "The
Just shall live by faith which means that
the just, or the better kind of people, are
those who believe the great cosmic laws
of righteousness
Religion, therefore, will always be pres
ent, for 1t has to do with a part Of man
that Is just as permanent as his bodily ap-
petites. Men will always hope, and wonder
ana reel the sense OF right and wrong, and
be impressed by the infinite and the mys-
ferrous, precisely as they will always eat,
and drink, and feel heat and cold.
There Is no more conflict between rel:
g1on and science than there is a conflict
between mans love for his wife and chill
dren on the one hand and his daily work
as grocer Or an engineer on the other
hand. ''"oA
speaking OF engineers, what religion
needs Is the engineering mind. The engineer
does not argue about what electricity is.
nor what causes it, nor where 1t goes to:
ne is concerned mainly with how to usa If
So all those ideas that pertain to religion
are mere, they are a permanent demonstra-
Die part OF the human race, and the main
necessity is to learn how to use them for
the welfare of humanity and not to argue
where they come from nor upon what au-
thority they rest.
To suppose that science will eventually
destroy religion is as absurd as to suppose
that the people on this little planet will
eventually do away with the rest of the
universe.
Carlyle used happy expression when he
spoke of that vast sea of nescience upon
which all our science floats as a. mere
superficial film"