Here’s something very different. In Berkeley, California, there is a shrine to science, the Atheon (similar to atheist). That’s right, science as religion, not just as a compatriot or nemesis to it, for, as the Atheon’s creator says, “religion has finally been rendered wholly compatible with science.” I think there’s a lot of people who would disagree.
That’s right, I made to to San Francisco, where my friend Jessica lives, and it’s sunny and beautiful. So I took the BART train to Berkeley and made a day out of seeing the Atheon. If only there was much to see.
The Atheon, an art installation by Jonathan Keats at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, which exhibits art focused on the Jewish experience, is only visible at night. It’s mainly stained glass windows “patterned to show the cosmic microwave background radiation, revealing the origin of the universe as imagined by NASA.”
Here is the museum at night:
And here is a close-up of one:
If you have a cell phone, you can call a number to hear a canon accompaniment. Or, at least try to hear one. It features sounds pulsating through several hypothetical universes, musically arranged. You can hear it here, or more precisely, strain to hear it. It’s more reminiscent of a subway passing in a tunnel a mile away, or a woman filing her nails three apartments down the hall.
This installation doesn’t explain itself enough, however. “Our credo is to make faith rational,” it says. But faith in what? Where does science stand in this religion? Is it just an explanation for what we see around us, making practically the same as it normally is? Or is it elevated to a reason for being like a god? If it is, how do you worship a process that is not innately spiritual? These questions are not even touched upon.
All in all, it’s certainly an interesting proposition, and it makes me think. “A secular temple devoted to scientific worship delivering spiritual fulfillment through exposure to the latest research” is certainly a fascinating prospect. Atheists are certainly becoming much more numerous in today’s society, and also more prevalent. Is atheism, the belief in no god, a religion in itself. Apparently, here is could be.
But when science, which has brought us innumerable wonders, is placed in the realm of religion, it loses its spark. Science amazes us through its manipulations of the physical world, showing us how atoms work and creating marvels like the Hubble telescope, radio, and even silly putty. But religion doesn’t do that. Religion, in the theistic sense, uses symbols and stories to evoke emotion. They don’t amaze the senses in the way that science does. Sure, churches and temples are beautiful, but it’s because they appeal to an emotional side, not because they are technical marvels. When science is put into a church setting like this, it does neither science nor religion justice.
Maybe that’s the point. Or maybe I just don’t see it. It could be that the point is just to show that some people can be moved by science with the same immensity that a Catholic who attends Mass twice a week feels when she enters the church. Maybe the Atheon’s not actually meant to be a temple in the typical sense, but just a way to make people think.
Maybe I just don’t get art. But Keats thinks other people do.
“Eventually there will be an Atheon in every town,” he says in the museum’s press release. “There will be many different architectures and diverse liturgies. Science will make a fine religion. What remains to be determined is whether this religion will be good science.”
