I've been lucky to meet few people who felt that scientific knowledge sucked the wonder out of the world, but I hear they are common. I have a hard time understanding that point of view. When I see the crescent moon in the night sky I imagine us in the context of the universe: the planets around the sun, the moon around the Earth, the stars and galaxies beyond. When I walk through a forest, with the knowledge that everything I see is the product of billions of years of evolution, I see a tapestry of immense depth and history. Knowing that stars are burning balls of gas thousands of miles wide and millions of miles apart just adds to their grandeur. The more I learn about the natural world, the more I understand the context in which I live, and the more connected I feel to everything else. How ignorance is more wonderful eludes me.

I can, however, understand why religious authorities would object to seeking "forbidden" knowledge, and how modern theories such as that of evolution would be so offensive to them. Part of it is the fact that the scientific narrative of life and the universe is at odds with the historical teachings of religion, and indeed discredits it. This is a challenge to the authority of the priests and imams, who consider themselves possessed of special moral knowledge to which obedience is paramount. But when it comes to evolution, it is not only the factual implications which offend and overturn, but the philosophical.

One of the key traits of a god is creative power. In the Abrahamic religions, Yahweh is considered the pillar of life and creation. It was his word that birthed the world. The alleged possession of such vitality attempts to justify his dominance. Christianity and its kith place the center of our existence outside the mortal realm, embodying it in a tribal figurehead whose wrath and mercy are invoked to herd the masses according to the will of religious leaders. You don't have what you need to live on your own, they say, for that you need God. And where is this god found? With the tribal elders. The imams. The Church.

Evolution and abiogenesis throws a monkey wrench into this system. The power that was once associated with a god is now bestowed upon ordinary matter. The vital forces that animate life are natural, physical forces which are a part of everything. Just as Copernicus placed Earth amongst the heavens, Darwin and his successors have, in a symbolic yet true sense, brought God down to earth. And in the Abrahamic faiths, that is the greatest blasphemy.

Yet this realization, that all qualities worthy of a god are present in matter, the universe and ourselves, is truly our salvation, for it opens us up to the world as it really is.