According to Osho, abandoning belief in old religions would remove science’s biggest brake, turning slow, inch-by-inch struggle into a hundredfold leap—an outburst of wisdom, creativity, and affluence. With belief and nationalistic politics no longer misdirecting research toward destruction, our existing know‑how could transform earth into the ‘paradise’ religions promise, because inquiry would face facts rather than defend dogma.
If we drop old religious beliefs and divisions, science can speed up hugely and use today’s tools to make life good here and now.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved Osho, what effect on science would be felt if people stopped believing in the old religions?
Your parents are not to be condemned -- the same has happened to them. You can go as far back as possible -- to Adam and Eve, the original human beings on the earth -- and in their story you will find the same story that is yours. God, the father in that story, tells Adam and Eve, his children, that they are not to eat from two trees: one is the tree of knowledge and the other is the tree of eternal life. This story is not history, but it is certainly psychology. It is about every father. It is the very essence of all that has happened to humanity. I think of this story as being of tremendous importance. Can a father prevent his child from becoming wise? Can a father prevent his child knowing the eternal flame of life? And if a father can do this, then…
Question: BELOVED OSHO, CAN SCIENCE ITSELF BE RELIGIOUS? And with God comes the priest; he becomes the mediator. He becomes more powerful than politicians. In religious countries like India, politicians go and touch the feet of Hindu priests -- of course, only before election time. Then for five years they don't bother about the priest, about the temples. But as the election comes near they start going on religious pilgrimages to temples far away in the Himalayas, touching the feet of any stupid priest, asking for blessings. The priest holds more power; the politician's power is mundane. The priest's power has entered in the very spirit of man. That's why religions did not allow science to move into their territory. First they did not allow science even to move into the objective world -- the subjective world was out of the question.
Osho, what place does religion have in the scientific age? And what is the use of religion in national and social life?
By science I mean the method of knowing that discovers the inner power hidden in matter. By religion I mean the method of knowing that discovers the inner power hidden within consciousness. There is no opposition between religion and science; rather, they are complementary. An age that is purely scientific will increase conveniences, but not happiness. An age that is purely religious will bring happiness to a few, but most people will be burdened by inconvenience. Science gives convenience; religion gives peace. Without convenience, very few can attain peace. Without peace, many may attain convenience, but they will not be able to use it. All the civilizations humanity has created so far have been incomplete and fragmented. The culture the East gave birth to stood purely on religion; its scientific side was extremely weak. As a result, the East was defeated, impoverished, subjugated. The culture the West created lies at…
Beloved Osho, why has it happened that in the east, religion came to its highest flowering, and in the west the same has happened to science? Is there some difference of consciousness between the eastern man and the western man?
There is no difference of consciousness in the East and the West. The difference was in the climate, in the geography, in the situation; the difference was outside, not inside. Hence, religion became the only challenge in the East, and science became the only challenge in the West. But now the situation is totally different. The East has fallen into bankruptcy, which is natural ... that too is a law to be understood. When you are affluent, luxurious, religion is born. Once religion is born, immediately religion starts teaching you to be poor. That is a very strange thing, but there is some inner consistency in it. When you are luxurious, and the whole country is enjoying, and eating, and drinking, and being merry -- this is their only religion. Naturally, those who attain to samadhi and superconsciousness -- start condemning, "What are you doing, wasting your life eating, drinking,…