Science and religion are two sides of the same coin.

The coin in question could be called "Everything That We Know." One side is "How?" and the other is "Why?"

Take the most basic question first: "How did the universe come into being?" And the next most logical question: "Why?"

The how is science, the why is religion.

Science is concerned with the way things work, whether it be the way the stars and their kin came into being or the way we, living beings, got started and evolved as we have.

Religion is concerned with why all that happened, with a special emphasis on us, as humans. In other words, why -- when all that whizbang stuff out in the galaxies was happening, on a scale we can't pretend to imagine -- did we, sentient (thinking) beings emerge from all that?

Astronomy, as we understand it, doesn't depend on human life: the universe just goes on and on, exploding and expanding and heating up and cooling down (black holes). It's got its own programming, which doesn't involve us.

So does geology, the study of the way our earth took shape. No humans are involved in the way the earth's crust shifts and creates sometimes spectacular sights: the Grand Canyon, for example. Or what's going on under the ocean, where huge slabs (techtonic plates) keep sliding around, causing earthquakes. This would have happened, and did happen, and continues to happen, without a human anywhere near.

Physics is the same: the laws of motion and gravity and all that exist with or without us.

It's only with the advent of biology, and chemistry, that humans come into the picture. Some combinations of molecules made us who we are and who we are always becoming: life starts.

This is where the how gets complicated.

And the why more difficult to explain.

Try to imagine a world, our world, spinning around a sun -- obeying the laws of physics -- doing what an orbiting planet should do. For many millions of years. Just spinning around, maybe forever.

But then something happens somewhere along the way that changes everything.

Some mysterious molecule emerges from wherever and divides and later mixes it up with some other molecule -- and we, living beings, are on our way!

Okay, that's miracle enough, don't you think?

But where did that first life-form come from? From the gases and fumes of the early universe or even from the molten rocks that account for much of our early earth? I guess so, but how?

That's where, so far as I'm concerned, the mystery starts.

Where did that first biological -- as opposed to astronomical/geological -- specimen come from?

Who or what conjured that magical mixture that started you and me: us?

If it doesn't boggle our mind, you're not paying atttention.

There is no logical/scientific process that I know that would account from something living coming from something not living.

There had to be a "spark" somewhere: something that ignited what had been molten stuff into life-form stuff. That's a very big leap. Something that brought inert substances together to make something not just alive but ready to propagate. That's a VERY big leap, and one that started it all: us.

Here's where science comes to a standstill: not a clue (but do correct me if I'm naive).

So here's where religion steps in: God created it. But that's not what the Bible says. According to the Bible, God created two humans, Adam and Eve. It's a great story, and the source of endless speculation and some good literature, but it doesn't seem to have much to do with the way things really started and have evolved since.

But that's not to rule out religion. If you get rid of the Adam/Eve version, why not believe that God -- however you imagine him/her/it -- created some kind of life-form that evolved into us?
I mean, think about it: if you were God and were tasked with creating a universe, including living beings, wouldn't you come up with a logical system to make it happen? You wouldn't start with the most evolved species -- us -- but would probably imagine some kind of order that started with the most primitive and went up from there, keeping whatever traits were beneficial, discarding those that weren't. Right?

Apparently, from all we can determine, that system is evolution: lower life forms evolving, over time, into higher life forms. It's the only reasonable alternative to the Adam and Eve myth.

Which is why I say that science and religion are two sides of the same coin. The coin is everything we know, and the two sides are the how and the why.

But problems do exist, for both sides.

Why, for instance, as the species evolved, would you keep all the others? If humans are the pinnacle of success, the ultimate goal of evolution, why do we still have mosquitos and roaches? Why wouldn't you -- as the Creator -- stamp out all those others, who serve no apparent purpose beyond bothering us?

In fact, why have any other animals or fish at all that didn't feed us, the winners of the evolutionary game? Why all those worms and sub-worms and why all those kinds of butterflies?
And why do they exist if they don't have souls that will eventually end up, if they're good, in heaven?

Many questions persist that we don't have answers for, so we shouldn't get too cocky. We may be the smartest, but we may not, in the end, be the last.

And the big one is this: Where did that first particle come from that started The Big Bang, that unfathomable explosion that sent infinite bits of it blowing out into the Great Nothing that we have to assume existed before? Did it? What was it made of? What existed before the Big Bang? There really is no such thing as nothing -- is there?

And the second (related) problem is this: Why would any of those explosive bits contain the DNA information to make life -- and, eventually, us?

Why indeed?

On the side of science, we have experiments that show how it all might have happened and how it all might have evolved, and might still be evolving. But, to be honest, they're all speculative, just guesses.

On the side of religion, we have those unanswerable questions about why we're here and what we're supposed to do and how we're supposed to behave. Again, speculative at best: guesses.

And, of course, THE BIG ONE: Is there some kind of afterlife for all of us life-forms?

Or only for us humans? Do dogs and cats and crocs and hippos and algae just die and go away forever? Is there some kind of heirarchy of existence that puts some of us above all others?
Do we get to take our pets to paradise? And, if so, what about all those strays?

Science can help to tell us how we came to be who and what we are; religion can ask why we're here in the first place and what we're supposed to do while we're here.

Two sides of the same coin.

And both are, at best, just guesses. One based on experiments that lead only so far as we're able to think, the other rooted in moral premises that we hope are true.

In the end, we humans are, so far as we can tell, a unique phenomenom in the universe, left to piece together not just clues (science) but also hopes (religion) in a never-ending search to find out who we are and why we're here and what we're supposed to be doing.

Oh, and I guess I forgot to mention the REALLY BIG ONE: Who or what is God? Where did he or she or it come from and get such authority to create that first particle and then assume the power to direct all our lives?

I, for one, find it all mind-boggling and, at the same time, love the search and don't rule out any approach, as long it makes sense. (Let me know if you figure it out, okay?)

Long live the mystery!