Artist Jonathan Keats is debuting the Atheon, a religious-like tribute to science. So I have to wonder, what do science and religion really have in common? Both can inspire a sense of awe and wonder. However, science inspires awe in the natural order of things, whereas religion adds in awe in a mysterious higher power. Science can tell us about our origins and our makeup. Science alone cannot tell us how to be moral, but knowing more about ourselves can help to to explain why we find some things moral and others immoral. Religion, however, teaches morality, sometimes even claiming to already have all the answers.
Okay, back to the Atheon, which will be on display in Berkeley as a temple of science. Mr. Keats says
Renaissance masters such as Michelangelo did so much to make Christianity palatable to the masses. … The essence of religion is stained glass and song.
Well, that’s a rather narrow view of religion, but one that I don’t mind. So, his installation includes a stained glass rendition of the cosmic microwave background, or the light from the universe just 300,000 years after the Big Bang, complete with the seeds of overdensities that would become galaxies that we live in. There is also a musical composition entitled “Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?” This features Big Bang acoustics, or what the universe might sound like, by one of my UVa profs! Go read the article, it looks like it will be an amazing sight. There is already a web version. (I think you need to really turn your speakers up? Or am I missing the sound?)
Keats makes some other interesting statements.
“[T]hese universes don’t provide any answers. If people are to find spirituality in science, it’s likely to be by immersing themselves in questions.”
That’s a fair point, although understanding can also be an intensely “spiritual” experience, as much as wonder.
“Science will make a fine religion,” he predicts. “What remains to be determined is whether this religion will be good science.”
I don’t think that I actually want science to be a religion. Science is about asking questions, challenging the status quo, and an insatiable curiosity. Religion is more likely to stifle that, with conceptions of the sacred, dogma, or worship. No, in that case, worship of science is NOT good science. But science art is really darn cool.
I’m a brand new post-doc in astronomy working as part of the 
2 responses so far ↓
Thomas // September 17, 2008 at 12:58 |
I turned my speakers all the way up and it seems that the sound is a sort of white noise/static in the background – much like what you get if you turn the TV up too loud. It goes away when I leave the page. Perhaps I could hear more ‘detail’ if I had better speakers.
becky ws // September 19, 2008 at 10:33 |
I like the idea of science and art merging. I heard a piece on the radio here in the UK some time ago about an artist who does sculptures to do with particle physics.
And there was a brilliant play written by Wales’ nationa poet about physics and cosmology too on the radio. Really inspiring.
I think science should stay well away from religion, as not only is science totally different from faith, but religion is even more than faith, it’s like you say, dogma, authority etc
We need to be proud of the differences, not create a pseudo-spiritual mask for what science really is. “Temple” is a bad choice, but I’m not sure there is a secular word for what the artists means.