Our Origin Story: The Great Encounter of Religion and Science

When religion asks “why” and science answers “how,” we finally complete the picture of existence.

• Various creation narratives presented by major religions (Abrahamic traditions, Hinduism, Buddhism)
• The 13.8 billion-year history of the universe revealed by science, key stages of ‘Big History’
• Insights into how these two origin stories give meaning to our existence

Part 1: Humanity’s Quest for the Beginning

Introduction: The Power of Origin Stories

Since ancient times, humanity has always wondered, “Where do we come from, and where are we going?” This fundamental question has been one of the deepest human desires to answer. The result is the ‘origin story’—not just a simple old tale, but a lens through which a community views the world (worldview), gives meaning to our existence, and serves as coordinates to locate ourselves in the vast universe.

In ancient societies, this role was mainly fulfilled by ‘creation myths.’ These narratives explained how heaven and earth and all things came into being, and where the social order we live in originated. Myths provided identity by answering “Who are we?” and acted as a powerful adhesive binding communities through shared beliefs.

In modern times, science tells us another kind of origin story: ‘Big History.’ Big History weaves the 13.8 billion-year story from the birth of the universe through Earth, life, humanity, and civilization into one grand narrative. In the scientific era, it explores our origins based on empirical evidence as a new ‘identity narrative’ for humanity.

Interestingly, both myth and Big History fundamentally serve the same purpose: to create a ‘historical community’ through shared history. While religion binds specific ethnic or faith communities, Big History dreams of a universal narrative encompassing all humanity through the universal language of science.

Two Ways of Knowing: Faith and Empiricism

The relationship between science and religion is complex and subtle. Models to understand this relationship are usually divided into four: the ‘conflict model’ where they negate each other, the ‘independence model’ where they answer different questions, the ‘dialogue model’ where conversation is possible, and the ‘integration model’ seeking deep unification.

This article approaches the two stories from the perspective of the ‘dialogue model.’ Rather than fighting over which is right or treating each other as strangers, it recognizes both as great intellectual and spiritual legacies of humanity. Einstein said, “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” When we look at the ‘world of facts (how)’ science reveals alongside the ‘world of meaning (why)’ religion offers, we can understand our existence more deeply.

Part 2: The Universe as God’s Creation – Religious Origin Stories

The Abrahamic Beginning: A Purposeful Universe

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share a worldview of one absolute God creating the universe with clear will and purpose. Their origin stories depict a transcendent creator bringing order from chaos, existence from nothingness.

The Old Testament’s Genesis actually begins with two different creation accounts. The first (Genesis 1) majestically describes creation by divine word over six days, while the second (Genesis 2) presents a more intimate, human-centered narrative where God forms man from dust. These are not contradictions but complementary perspectives addressing cosmic and human concerns.

The Quran also shares the six-day creation story but notably lacks the Christian doctrine of ‘original sin.’ In the Quran, Adam’s mistake is a forgiven personal fault, not inherited sin. Islam teaches that all humans are born with a pure nature (‘fitra’). This subtle difference fundamentally shapes each religion’s view of salvation.

Hinduism’s Cycle: An Eternally Changing Universe

Hindu cosmology is not a linear beginning and end but a vast cycle of endless creation and destruction governed by the three principal gods, the ‘Trimurti.’

• Brahma, the creator god: initiates new cosmic cycles.
• Vishnu, the preserver god: maintains order and balance (dharma).
• Shiva, the destroyer god: destroys the old world to prepare for new creation. His destruction is a purification process leading to rebirth.

The ultimate reality is often described as ‘Brahman,’ an impersonal, all-pervading cosmic principle. This idea that everything arises from one vast cosmic entity forms a deep root of Eastern worldview.

Buddhism’s Universe: A World of Interconnected Causality

Rather than a creator or first event, Buddhism explores the fundamental principle of how all existence arises and ceases through interconnection. Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) deliberately remained silent on metaphysical questions like “Is the world eternal?” because such questions do not help alleviate immediate suffering.

Replacing creation myths, Buddhism’s core teaching is ‘Dependent Origination (Pratītyasamutpāda).’ Summarized as “This exists because that exists; this arises because that arises,” it teaches that nothing exists independently but arises from countless causes and conditions intertwined like a web. Thus, Buddhism’s origin story is not about the physical beginning of the universe but an innovative inquiry into the origin of suffering within our minds.

Part 3: The Grand Narrative of Science, Big History

Science’s origin story is based on observable evidence and universal physical laws. ‘Big History’ explains the 13.8 billion years from the Big Bang to the present as a series of ’thresholds of increasing complexity.’

Thresholds 1–3: Big Bang, Stars, and the Birth of New Elements

The first chapter of the scientific origin story begins about 13.8 billion years ago with the ‘Big Bang.’ From an unimaginably hot, dense point, the universe explosively expanded, creating time, space, matter, and energy. The strongest evidence is the faint afterglow of the Big Bang across the universe, the cosmic microwave background radiation.

Immediately after the Big Bang, the universe contained only hydrogen and helium. Heavier elements like carbon, oxygen, and iron that make up us were forged inside the universe’s giant furnaces—stars. Stars acted as ’element factories’ through nuclear fusion during their lifetimes. Elements heavier than iron, such as gold and uranium, were scattered into space by spectacular ‘supernova explosions’ at the end of massive stars’ lives. As astronomer Carl Sagan famously said, “We are made of star stuff” is not poetic metaphor but scientific fact.

Thresholds 4–5: Solar System, Earth, and the Emergence of Life

About 4.6 billion years ago, a giant cloud of gas and dust in a corner of our galaxy coalesced to form the solar system. Around 3.8 billion years ago, life emerged from non-living matter in the primordial oceans. Though still a mystery, hypotheses like the ‘RNA world’ and ‘deep-sea hydrothermal vent’ are leading candidates. About 2.5 billion years ago, cyanobacteria performing photosynthesis released massive oxygen in the ‘Great Oxidation Event,’ transforming Earth’s fate and paving the way for life to move onto land.

Recent Thresholds: The Rise of Humanity

The final chapter of Big History is the story of us, Homo sapiens. Emerging about 200,000 years ago in Africa, modern humans developed the ability of ‘collective learning’ through sophisticated language, enabling knowledge and technology to accumulate across generations. This ability allowed humanity to advance faster than any other species. Subsequent ‘Agricultural’ and ‘Industrial Revolutions’ gave rise to today’s technology-driven modern civilization.

Part 4: Comparing and Dialoguing Between the Two Narratives

Religious and scientific origin stories answer different questions, understand the world differently, and pursue different purposes. The most interesting point, in my view, is that these two narratives provide a more complete picture when they complement rather than reject each other.

Conclusion

What can we learn by exploring these two great origin stories? How do you find your place within these vast narratives?

• First, religion and science answer questions on different levels. Science explains how the universe works, while religion offers meaning and values on how to live within it.
• Second, both narratives give us belonging and awe. Belief in being created in God’s image, realization of being part of an eternal cycle, and the scientific fact of being made from star dust all inspire wonder at existence.
• Third, an integrative perspective leads to deeper understanding. By reading both books together rather than insisting on one language alone, we gain a richer view encompassing both the world of facts and the world of meaning.

Ultimately, the great journey to answer “Who are we?” will continue as long as humanity exists.