On Wednesday’s Radio 4 PM programme, former Cabinet minister
Michael Portillo gave a critique of the Prime Minister’s appearance before the
House of Commons Liaison Committee.
“For a long time, the government has been saying the
government is being guided by the science. I hope we all know by now there is
no such thing as “The Science.” It’s open to the Prime Minister to say, “I’m
not going to accept your advice on 2 metres if the World Health Organisation says
1 metre, I’ll go with that.” The point the former politician was making is that
decision-taking requires more than science, science presents options.
I was reminded of a moment on Radio 3’s Sunday Feature,
‘Writing Across Distance.’ Writer Dava Sobel shared her fear that “at the end
of the lockdown, when immunologists have vanquished the coronavirus, we’ll
relapse into disregard of the far larger [ecological]disaster in store.” Sobel
read from Jane Hirschfield’s poem;
On the fifth day, the scientists
who study the rivers were forbidden to study the rivers or to speak.
The scientists who study the air
were forbidden to speak of the air.
And the ones who worked for the
farmers and the one who spoke for the bees.
The facts were told not to speak
and were taken away.
The facts, surprised to be taken
were silent,
And now it was only the rivers
that spoke of the rivers and the winds that spoke of the bees.
There’s a lot of science around, and it’s saving lives, and
it will save more lives. But at the heart of the decisions that face us … none
of us is purely guided by the science. For one thing, science isn’t designed to
guide us. For another, a lot of science is complex and doesn’t translate well
into guidance. But most importantly, and this is something scientists who hope
to save our battered planet understand perfectly well, we make decisions based
on psychology, social mores, ethics and a bunch of other invisible and
unprogrammable parts of our psyche. And when scientific clarity comes up
against these parts of our psyche – the invisible unscientific parts of our
psyche prove dominant time and time again.
That’s where religion comes in. Religion is designed to guide.
It’s designed to help us understand why chasing after immediate pleasure is not
in our best interests. Religion helps us to care for things that are more
important than self-interest. Religion is capable of moving us more powerfully
than scientific papers or front-page journalism. For sure religion can guide in
wrong directions, but it can also help humanity direct itself towards the
decent and the good. I would claim religion have been the greatest force of
turning towards the good in human history.
It’s this turn to a value beyond the immediate that is at
the heart of religion. And for us, as Jews, it is revelation that is this
moment. Revelation is the response to our lifting our hearts in search of
something that means more than self-interest. Revelation contains our attempt
to use the gifts of science for good, for peace and for security. It’s a
battered world and a precarious one. But the path out of darkness is one we
know to treat. It’s a path guided by the insights of science, but requiring also
the illuminated of revelation.
Tonight, Shavuot begins. This is our moment to celebrate
revelation. Join us for a Zoom Tikkun Leyl. I’ll be teaching, together with
Rabbi Natasha, Chazan Stephen and Lester. 6:30pm in our normal Zoom service
room. There is plenty of material on our FB page including my son’s leyning the
Ten Commandments, Rabbi Natasha and I offering introductions to the Ten
Commandments, liturgy from Chazan Stephen and tales and packs for youth to use.
Chag Sameach,
Rabbi Jeremy
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