The Weber Literary Journal The Harmony of Science and the Mormon Religion First Place in the Grant Oratorical Contest, High School Department Junius Tribe IN the life of every person who receives a higher education there comes a time when there seems to be opposition between science and religion, between the laws of man and revelations of God. The struggle for harmony between these opposing forces is a very vital one. There are thousands of people in the church today and hundreds of thousands in the world today who are struggling to set themselves right with the world about them and also with God above. It therefore follows that the Latter-day Saints should diligently seek a better understanding of the truths in the Gospel, that they may not fall by the wayside when the facts of science present themselves. The Mormon religion does harmonize with the laws of science. But, before discussing the correlation of our Gospel, let me state what science is. True science is that system of reasoning and research which brings to the fore the simple, plain truth. The Savior of the world was preeminently the Scientist of this earth, and the truths He uttered nineteen hundred years ago have withstood the assaults of science, prejudice and hate. Perhaps one phase of the Gospel which agrees with the latest scientific beliefs is one which we hear very little about: that of the life hereafter. The Mormon belief in a hereafter is based upon direct revelation from God, while men of the outside world, when left to their imagination, without the guidance of revelation, conjure a heaven and a hell to suit their fancies. To the lover of truth and righteousness heaven is the assurance of limitless advancement in wisdom and achievement, while to the Indian heaven is a hunting ground 16 The Weber Literary Journal with an abundance of game. To each of these hell is the eternal realization of punishment and condemnation. But divine revelation is the only sure knowledge as to what awaits man beyond the grave and from this the Latter-day Saints learn that at death the spirits of all men pass to an intermediate state in which they associate with their kind, the righteous with the righteous and the wicked with the wicked. Paradise is the dwelling place of relatively righteous spirits awaiting the glorious day of resurrection. After their resurrection from the dead all men shall appear before the bar of God for the final judgment in their resurrected bodies of flesh to receive from Christ the rewards they individually merit. This is the Mormon doctrine. On the other hand, Alfred Russel Wallace, one of the world's greatest scientists says: "I have endeavored to suggest a reason as to the existence of this world, which appeals to me as both a suffient and an intelligible one; it is that this earth, with its infinitude of life and beauty and mystery, and the universe in the midst of which we are placed, with its overwhelming immensities of suns and nebulae of light and motion, are as they are, firstly, for the development of life culminating in man; secondly, as a vast schoolhouse for the higher education of the human race in preparation for the enduring spiritual life for which it is destined." Of late many other scientists have rejected the Darwinian theory and each year brings new apostles from men of science proclaiming that this world was divinely created and that it is but a stepping stone to the life to come. Dr. Wallace's belief in a hereafter is made explicit by his statement that this world is like a large schoolhouse for the higher education of the human race in preparation for the enduring spiritual life to which it is foreordained. Again, both Mormonism and science teach that the hereafter is a step in eternal progression. Latter-day Saints believe that "as man is God once was and as God is man may become." So if man may become as God is, it is natural to suppose that there will be many Gods and as soon as man progresses and becomes as God is he also will have a world 17