Religion and science though may seem contradictory , exhibit some similarities. Science is a search for knowledge as well as a method for solving problems. Both religion and science are forms of human understanding. Both science and religion are human ways of relating themselves to reality. Both science and religion try to make explicit the world of the unknown. Religion is more collectively oriented than science, but science too emphasises team-spirit and co-operation of the scientific community. Both science and religion claim access to truth. On many occasions in the past as well as present, in many a war, both science as well as religion have acted against humankind. Both religion and science prescribe qualifications for their personnel.

 “Philosophy and sciences were born of religion”, Durkheim argued that the fundamental categories of science like time, space, number and cause, came out of one’s religious quest. It is because religion began by taking the place of the sciences and philosophy”. Time, space and numbers in fact reveal the “rhythm of collective activities” towards the sacred. The categories like time, space, number, class, through which we understand the world, came out of the collective activities of the primitives towards the sacred. If that is so, these categories are collective representation. At the level of cognition, these emerge from collection response towards the sacred.

Science differs from religion as it insists that all phenomena that is observed should not be accepted at face value. Its value and meaning can be discovered through experimentation. All factors (time, place, persons, equipment, etc.) that can affect the results of such experiments are controlled in laboratory conditions. Science differs from religion because it believes in neutrality and objectivity. Scientific method is claimed to have annulled the subjective biases. Science believes in precision and measurement, which is not possible for religion. Science brings the unknown to the level of observable reality. Religion cannot bring god to the level of observable phenomenon. Scientific knowledge has more concrete application in the form of technology, which might help in manipulating nature. Religion cannot establish such concrete and immediate results. Scientific knowledge and method are valid universally, whereas principles of religious life differ from society to society.

science, has a specific aim related with human needs and instincts. It is governed by a system of rules, which determine how a certain act can be effectively performed. The basis of science is the conviction in validity of experience, effort and reason. The corpus of rational knowledge is incorporated in a social settingand certain type of activities, which are clearly separable from the social setting, and activities related with the body of religious  beliefs. Science belongs to the domain of the profane. Religion belong to the area of sacred. Religious acts are self-contained acts, performed in self-fulfilment. Religion concerns, with a whole range of supernatural powers. In religion everyone takes an active part, for example every member of the community has to go through initiation.

The differences among the various theories about the origin, nature and purpose of religion arise inevitable from the nature of the investigation, which has to rely on inferences, as well as from the character of religion itself. Scientific investigators agree that religion, like other institutions, has its roots in certain needs. This is as far as the scientist, as such, can go. All that the scientific sociologists can suggest in this matter is that religion should adjust itself to changes in life conditions. The more it is adapted to existing conditions and knowledge, the greater the chance of its being effective as an institution.

The question whether religion is compatible with science must be answered equivocally. The answer depends upon what kind of religion one has in mind. If it is a religion based on an anthropomorphic conception of God and all that this usually implies, then religion in incompatible with science. If, one the other had, it is one of those ethical philosophies, or vague pantheistic conceptions, which individuals choose to call religion, then the two are compatible