Truth ache: Oliver Müller on the similarities between science and religion

‘The system has been corrupted.’

by Oliver Müller 7th March 2025

‘So what has surprised you the most in your research?’ I asked. A professor of education had just summed up the work he did, researching how people learn. After a moment’s thought he answered that it was the similarity in how we learn scientific and religious concepts. No one could re-do all the work already done by other scientists, he said, so we were forced to trust what they have done – not just specific research but whole paradigms. There is a degree of blind faith involved. Religion, too, requires this trust, usually in the form of a belief in a higher being, scripture or church authority.