In a crisis, do you rely on science or religion?

Science does not solve everything in a crisis but it does a darn better job of trying than religion does.

A doctor too has limits. He or she is as human as anyone else. But the limits of science, available medicines, infrastructure, clinical trials, process, observation, the co-operation of the patients ... so many factors play a role. And yet a good doctor even in the most trying of circumstances will go the extra mile to try and save a life or make that difference at any cost. He or she truly becomes a superior being than others at the moment.

A religious leader or someone who by chance or self-proclamation claims to be greater than his or her fellow beings knows that they are nothing extraordinary beyond using the human vulnerability, personal or collective as a means to their power. In a crisis, the maximum they can do is sound like a moral science teacher. At the maximum they can hope to achieve is calm down the anxiety of those around by asking them to be calm or good. In reality, the person makes very little difference.

An excellent atheist doctor can still save a religious leader's life merely by his or her knowledge, skill and sincerity to his or her profession...

Even the most sincere religious leader who truly believes in their God or power cannot promise a heaven or hell for anyone not even the doctor. They are as clueless as anyone is.

Trust science. Not because it is perfect. But because it is always willing to be more accountable.

Take what you want out of religions but hold that accountable.

Religion will take from you but when you most need it, it will abandon you. Even in cases where you attribute miracles to religion, it is actually your inner strength and faith that was the true power. Not actually religion.

Science has no emotional feelings. It looks at blood types not based on your religion, it studies bodies based on gender... it looks at problems based on age, it looks at race to better under medical history... Science is interested in understanding and problem solving. Science is not perfect but by admitting its limits it continuously pushes it.

The world is full of problems many which religions or culture rooted in religion have caused. Science is attempting to solve as many as it can.

If prayers could have changed anything, by now the world would have been heaven. If mere intent would have made a difference then we would have been all been fine.

Either the prayers of every human born on this Earth is false or it is not powerful enough for us to have reached this point in our planet.

Where do we go from here?

Pray harder ? Or, be a compassionate society where religion takes a backseat and we trust Science to make it a better life for all?

Where do we put our faith? In religion and when we cannot handle problems run to science or in science and keep religion as a personal quest to existential meaning?

As the world reels under the corona virus onslaught, the first line of warriors to the sacrifice are the medical fraternity. World over. Battling with poor infrastructure, shortage of PPEs, undergoing the trauma of ill-informed communities that want the doctor's skills and expertise but do not want to risk being infected by the healthcare community to the point where a doctor infected by the virus and dying from it after the saving the lives of many, is fated to a lonely burial, uncrowned and unappreciated.

These medical warriors have died saving lives. Can the religious community across faiths, guarantee them a place in heaven and prove it? Or, at least better than the way they get treated on Earth while doing their duty.

That is the test ...

- Srividya Srinivasan