Science, art, philosophy and religion differ by the types of truths they explore and by their methods for finding and conveying them. Scientists downplay personal feeling in their explanations of observed fact. Artists may totally ignore material fact in their emotionally captivating performances. Philosophers only anecdotally take material facts and personal feelings into their reasoned arguments. In stark contrast with the other three, religious leaders incorporate emotionally held facts in their testimonies and moral exhortations. We need all four. And, we cannot fully appreciate the sources, methods, and contributions of any one of them without some appreciation of the same for the other three. This is especially true when trying to clarify why unifying religious truths are needed to unite us and when exposing how distorted religious truths can be used to divide us. That need and complementarity is addressed in this download.

In his letter on February 5, Walter commits a common God-yes logical fallacy in writing that God must exist because a prevailing scientific theory (evolution) cannot explain what is needed to “create this world . . . and then keep the whole thing in order.” A couple of weeks later in her letter on February 20, Margaret commits a common God-no logical fallacy when she

Stephen Jay Gould, in Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life[i], notes that the potential conflicts between science and religion reflect basic misunderstandings concerning the nature of these two sources of truth. He writes, “Science tries to document the factual character of the natural world, and to develop theories that coordinate and explain the facts. Religion . . . operates in the equally important . . . realm of human purposes, meanings, and values.” In “enunciating the Principle of NOMA, or Non-Overlapping Magisteria,”

To suggest art is another independent magisterium is one thing. To distinguish its focus, the nature of its truths, its methods and tools, and its evaluative criteria from those of science and religion is quite another. Assuming for the moment that such distinctions exist, a brief reflection on how we arrived at art as an independent domain of truth reveals a fourth and equally productive truth domain.

The notion of complementarity was fundamental.

The essential differences in these four realms of truth emerge when contrasting some of the typifying contributions of a few of the early leaders, the features of our world that interested them, . . . and the disciplines and institutions that eventually arose as a consequence of their efforts.

Turning first to philosophy,

The publication of Newton’s (1642–1727) three laws of motion in Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy gave, for some, a positive answer to the challenging question in Job 38:33 (NIV): Do you know the laws of the heavens? Included in those laws were the motions of the planets.

The human brain is an intricate and dynamic organization of roughly eighty-five billion highly interconnected nerve cells and an equivalent number of supporting glia cells. To get a sense for the size of that number, a person with a yearly income of $85,000 would need . . . a thousand times a thousand years to earn $85 billion.

We turn now to truths where what happens is relevant. Here is one from my life. I had spent another Friday afternoon studying in the library before finally heading across campus to the Rainbow Cafe where I could get an inexpensive but basic meal . . . and headed home to contemplate the lonely wilderness I had come to call my life.

Our pathfinders knew that we would be encountering endless choices whose consequences would draw us either toward or away from the spirit of their joy. Although they came from vastly different cultures and times, they are surprisingly consistent when directing our attention to the nature of the choice.

As parents, we are responsible for guiding the choices and lives of our children prior to the age where the community holds them personally accountable for their actions. Naturally, both parents and children seek assistance and support in this guidance.