A Rabbi, a Christian, a Muslim, a Sikh and a Mormon are sitting at a table. An atheist is questioning them.

It sounds like the start of a bad joke, I know. But I’m actually describing “The Sacred Text Project” at FreedomFest in Las Vegas last week.

Five religious leaders and scholars were there to advance and defend their sacred scriptures. Moderating the discussion was Michael Shermer, founder and publisher of Skeptic magazine and author of How We Believe.

Shermer announced up front that he would brook no political correctness. He didn’t want these scholars to talk about their common goals or spiritual principles. He wanted them to defend their differences.

And he didn’t mince words. He began by asking the panelists to explain how they knew their sectarian beliefs were right and their fellow panelists were wrong.

Each responded eloquently, in some cases poetically, about their particular faith. But they couldn’t - or wouldn’t - answer Shermer’s question directly.

That demonstrated wisdom and discretion. After all, the question was designed to put them one move away from checkmate.

No panelist could offer definitive evidence. None would accept any other’s answer as “the right one.”

Moreover, if the sectarian tenets of any religion could be proven beyond the shadow of a doubt, why call it faith?

Historians of science like Shermer and the theologians on the panel seek “the truth” from different angles.

Science begins with the null hypothesis, the assumption that whatever claim is under investigation is not true until proven otherwise.

Next come the laboratory experiments and statistical tests. The burden of proof - which must be repeatable, falsifiable, statistically significant, and published (along with the data) in peer-reviewed journals - is necessarily high.

Fundamentalists often claim that scientists are arrogant, full of hubris (full of themselves). And no doubt some scientists are. Yet this hardly describes the scientific enterprise itself.

Even when the results of controlled experiments appear conclusive, no scientific claim is beyond doubt. Science views all knowledge as provisional.

Every finding falls on a graduated scale somewhere between absolute truth and absolute falsity, but never at either end. It’s okay to say “I don’t know,” “I’m not sure,” or “Let’s wait and see.”

This is particularly true when physicists, astronomers, cosmologists and other scientists grapple with The Great Unknown.

In The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, physicist Richard Feyman writes, “The size of the universe is very impressive, with us on a tiny particle whirling around the sun, among a hundred thousand million suns in this galaxy, itself among a billion galaxies… There are atoms of which all appears to be constructed, following immutable laws. Nothing can escape it; the stars are made of the same stuff, and the animals are made of the same stuff, but in such complexity as to mysteriously appear alive - like man himself… To see life as part of the universal mystery of greatest depth, is to sense an experience which is rarely described. It usually ends in laughter, delight in the futility of trying to understand. These scientific views end in awe and mystery, lost at the edge in uncertainty… ”

In short, science acknowledges human limitations and fallibility.

It begins with the proposition that we are examining things that are unknown or poorly understood. To gain knowledge, we must remain modest, conceding what we do not know.

Science is a tool for understanding the natural world and advancing technology. It helps us distinguish what we might like to be true from what is probably true.

Religion, on the other hand, addresses moral questions beyond the purview of science, important questions like “should I do this?” and “what will happen if I do?” It underscores the primacy of love, the brotherhood of men, the value of the individual.

Yet at their best, both emphasize an important principle - one scientists and theologians can equally embrace:

A deep sense of humility.

Carpe Diem,

Alex

P.S. Thanks for helping make The Secret of Shelter Island, a collection of more than sixty Spiritual Wealth essays, a bestseller. If you have not yet picked up a copy, feel free to pick one up here.