Well what do the clever brethren think?
Einstein spake forth, saying: "religion and science are branches of the same tree" . Let's branch that train of thought off into a seedy analogy.
See branches stem from the same source. Despite deviating off in varying directions, they never rebel so fundamentally that one decides to venture off to the extreme south and burrow its buds back into the earth. It's one thing being radical by getting back to the roots, but the ostrich approach wouldn't be doing that branch's buds any favours! And neither are we. Our fruits and bud[die]s are gonna suffer if we close our eyes and defy either secularism or religion so radically that we choose the darkness of denial as a delusory alternative to Descartes' dilemma of dualistic dichotomy. (See the chapter on holism#)
No, branches have a synergistic relationship with each other; they're on the same mission. One may be more grounded, being closer to the roots, but all branches have the same objective: being nourished by the Light in order to sustain the development of the entire organism, the tree. The more progress one branch makes, the more energy is available for the other branches. You know, it's the old idiom "many branches make Light work" (or something along those lines!). They put Light to work through photosynthesis and power in numbers. That's why it's rare to see a tree with only one branch; we call that a stump and it ain't much to look at!
This is the way science and religion should be: allies in the quest for Light and Truth. They take different paths, but both need the Son's Light in order to be nourished.
Biology, botany, Biblical Theology – they all operate on the same natural law: the flow of Lifeforce. Have you ever noticed how the hierarchical# formations of bare winter trees resemble big, inverted human lungs? They operate on the same principle: providing nourishment through gaseous exchange. And our two species share a symbiotic relationship. It wasn't hard to persuade the trees to sign the cooperative agreement between us; it's the perfect trade off: they provide us with the oxygen we need and we provide them with their carbon dioxide…during the day. But then, when darkness falls and the Light isn't there to guide us into harmonious relationships, we compete for oxygen. This results in the occasional outburst of violence (which is how the sad case of the Alambama serial-killing shrub came into being). The moral is that harmony and synthesis thrive under Lighted conditions.
Nature is full of these kinds of analogies, and life is largely allegorical. The Bible, also being packed with metaphorical symbolism, tells us that as the branches of Christ's vine we're only nourished when in contact with His Light and that, like the diligent gardener, He'll prune off any branches that aren't bearing fruit. This is to make the plant/lung most efficient in providing service to the organism: the body (ie. the Church in the Christian paradigm).
