Season 3, Episode 10: Unbearable

Wes learns that his 12 year-old niece, Molly, is pregnant. After the NorBAC team rules out paternity from the most likely sources – male relatives and Molly’s male religious camp leader – they are left to ponder the possibility that a rare example of parthenogenesis has occurred in a human, though previously this type of “virgin birth” has only been seen in reptiles. Weighing the evidence, the NorBAC team deduces the cause of Molly’s pregnancy to be strictly biological. Meanwhile, Molly and her father believe the virgin pregnancy to be a miracle of God.

Besides causing us to step back and ponder such a “miraculous” biological possibility, this episode of ReGenesis also invites us – with the guidance of Science & Society guest author, bioethicist Sue MacRae – to examine the relationship between science and religion.

Science and Religion: Where do babies come from?

Many might see science and religion as being on opposite sides of the fence: either you believe the questions surrounding Molly’s pregnancy are best answered scientifically, based on knowable facts that can be measured and proven, or you believe they are questions with some unknowable religious or spiritual answer.

And yet there does not have to be a stand off between these two perspectives. Perhaps the two explanations can offer us distinct ways to look at the same situation, and we can take something from both sides.

The strength of science is that it can tell us what something is – the bare facts. In this situation, the scientists can tell us, for example, the genetic facts that rule out potential fathers and narrow, with some certainty, the possible factual explanations for the pregnancy. We see in this episode how the NorBAC scientists use careful reasoning and scrutiny – and data, of course – to validate or refute their hypotheses. Getting the “facts” – the data – helps them move beyond mere guessing or imagining. This careful scrutiny and discipline is a mature form of inquiry and is a major strength of science.

But, regardless of how clear the reasoning is and how accurate the data are, they cannot tell us which meaning or moral significance can or should be derived from them. This is where religion comes in. A strength of religion is that it may provide a type of ethical framework that, for example, allows Molly and her family to derive an understanding of the meaning and value of her pregnancy experience.

For some, religion or spirituality can be a mystical inner journey or identity that links a person to human history, human mythology, and inner contemplative wisdom. It can be a way through which one understands one’s place in the universe as it relates to the facts and particulars of one’s life. Far from being irreconcilable then, the two realms of science and religion actually touch on related and overlapping aspects of reality – facts and meaning – and both have something to contribute to our understanding of the totality of what is going on.

Albert Einstein appears to have understood this interrelationship. Einstein is quoted as saying, “Science is the century-old endeavour to bring together by means of systematic thought the perceptible phenomena of this world into as thorough-going an association as possible. To put it boldly, it is the attempt at a posteriori [or, after the fact] reconstruction of existence by the process of conceptualisation. Science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be, and outside of its domain value judgments of all kinds remain necessary.”

Modern day scientists and philosophers are following along similar paths and discovering new ways to allow room for the spiritual alongside the scientific, and vice versa. Francis Collins, who led the public effort to map the human genome, making him the leader of one of the most impressive scientific explorations to date, spoke to the importance of a spiritual perspective on science, in a July 2006 article in Time magazine. “We need to bring all the power of both scientific and spiritual perspectives to bear on understanding what is seen and unseen,” said Collins, “because they not only coexist within one person, but do so in a fashion that enriches and enlightens the human experience.”

On the other “side” – the side that brings science to religious and spiritual experiences – whole new areas of science are evolving that are looking at the untapped “right brain” and the relationship with human emotions, chemicals and states of consciousness, in an effort to scientifically understand the nature of spiritual experiences. The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, for example, is leading a group of esteemed neuroscientists using scientific methods to understand deeply internal and personal experiences such as meditative states and the condition of happiness itself.

This episode of ReGenesis touches on an issue of utmost importance to how human beings create new maps of our own futures. Maybe new, more integrated, maps of the future will help us find an approach that deepens our understanding of the total world experience – an understanding that our world is both perceived and interpreted. Perhaps, in this way, we can make room for facts, meaning and mystery.

-- Susan K. MacRae, RN

About the author

Sue MacRae was formerly the Deputy Director of the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics (JCB), and Director of the JCB Clinical Ethics Fellowship. She worked in the field of clinical ethics consulting and program development for 14 years, the latter half of which she spent in Toronto, having joined the JCB and the University Health Network (http://www.uhn.ca/index.htm) as a Bioethicist in September 2000. Ms. MacRae’s leadership of the JCB’s clinical ethics group, fellowship, and MHSc in Bioethics program was instrumental in fostering a robust clinical ethics community in and around Toronto. For more information about the JCB, please visit: http://www.utoronto.ca/jcb.

More food for thought

Q: Many scientists are devoutly religious, while others are not. Do you think religious beliefs enhance or detract from scientists’ exploration and understanding of the world around us? Why?
Q: Do you rely more on science or religion to help you understand and appreciate the world around you? Are you ever conflicted about which path to take to find answers to your questions?

Want to read and learn more?

To read more of Albert Einstein’s thoughts on religion and science, visit::
http://www.einsteinandreligion.com/

To read more of Francis Collins’ reflections on how he reconciles science and faith, check out the full article in Time:
www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1211593,00.html

To learn more about the collaboration of the Dalai Lama and leading neuroscientists, visit:
http://www.mindandlife.org/can-meditation-change-your-brain-contemplative-neuroscientists-believe-it-can%E2%80%93-cnnbeliefblog/