What does Einstein’s metaphor about science and religion mean?

Albert Einstein’s full quote:

“Science  can  only  be  created by  those  who  are  thoroughly imbued  with  the  aspiration towards truth and understanding. This source of feeling, however, springs from religion. To this there also belongs the faith in the possibility that  the regulations valid for the world of existence  are  rational, that  is,  comprehensible  to  reason. I  cannot  imagine a scientist without that profound faith. The  situation  may be  expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Question, what does Einstein’s statement about science being lame without religion and religion being blind without science mean? Answer, let us look at his full statement in context.
He says science can only be created by those who are thoroughly imbued with the aspiration towards truth and understanding. This source of feeling, however, springs from religion. So what he’s saying is that people who will study science, who will do science, that people are imbued with the aspiration towards truth and understanding.
So those who want to know what is the truth, those who want to understand it, people explore. So Newton observed the fruit falling and he wanted to know why does the fruit fall. So now this source of feeling, however, springs from religion, he says.
So what is the source of feeling? This longing to know the truth, to understand things. Where does this come from? Now that science does not have any explanation for that. Now why if we are just creatures who have evolved by chance or by natural selection, then now natural selection predisposes one for survival, not for metaphysical understanding of truth, not for deep understanding of truth.
Now understanding scientific truth in and of itself does not provide any immediate survival advantage. So natural selection won’t select that. So there must be some dimension to us, to our being that enables us to do this.
So further he says, to this, that means to religion, there also belongs the faith in the possibility that the regulations valid for the world of existence are rational, that is comprehensible to reason. Again, the idea that when we are observing the world, there is some order in the universe and that order is understandable by us rationally. So both these, the idea that there is order externally and that we can understand that order.
And this belief is the foundation of any scientific endeavor. And so he further says that I cannot imagine a scientist without that profound faith. So without profound faith, he says, not just faith but a deep faith, the foundational faith for the scientist, that is, that there is order in the universe which can be understood by us.
So this order is actually, the faith in this order comes from religion. Again, that means the idea that there is some intelligence whose order is, who has put order in nature and who has given us the intelligence, the brains by which we can perceive that order. That faith comes from religion.
So this situation, this situation can be expressed by an image. Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.
So now science without religion is lame. What he means is that when a person is lame, that person will not be able to move at all. So science will not be able to move at all, not be able to function in any way without this foundational faith that is order in the universe.
So in that sense, science without that religious faith in the existence of a rationally accessible order, without that science will not function. So science without religion is lame. And religion without science is blind.
What he means by this is that the idea that there is an order in the universe, which is the foundational faith of religion or for that matter, there can be different aspects to the understanding of religion, but let’s focus on this. There is an order in the universe. How do we verify it? A blind person is a person who can’t see.
So without the scientific approach, without scientific observation, inference, what is intuitively thought to be true will not be perceivable and confirmable. So in that sense, religion without science is blind. So basically Einstein says how both of them have a symbiotic relationship.
It is religion that gives us the faith that we can understand through science and that religious faith helps us with the foundation, helps us give the motivation to move. That’s how it removes the lameness. And then after that, what happens is what is believed is confirmed by science.
That’s why there are the scientists, for example, Pascal said that, there are the scientists who have said, Einstein himself said that, actually, the more one studies science, the more one’s mind goes towards God. There are several scientists who have said like this. If you think deeply enough, Kelvin said that you’ll be forced by science to believe in God.
So what is believed by religion, religion without science is blind means that as long as my, if I can’t see, then I can’t know what is out there. But the faith that there is a God, there is a higher order in nature that can be confirmed to scientific research. In that sense, religion without science is blind.
So scientific endeavor can remove the blindness. That means can provide illumination and confirmation for the foundational faith of religion. Thank you.