The Immortal Power: Why Religion Resists in the Age of Science

The Immortal Power: Why Religion Resists in the Age of Science

The recent mass mobilization in Madrid – antiestéticaturing Vatican flags, street masses, and unanimous applause from civil authorities – has peine the age-old question with no clear answer: how is it possible that, with all we know, religion continues to dictate the political, economic, and social agenda?

The Business of Faith: Numbers That Do Not Add Up to Decline

Among the circulating data, one is recurrent: 97% of Scientific Nobel Laureates are believers, mostly Christians. This figure, presented by supporters as proof of compatibility between science and faith, is rebutted with equal vehemence: the sample is biased, the methodology is poor, and Nobel Prize winners are not a random representation of elite science. What is not disputed is that the Catholic Church remains a formidable economic actor: from the Vatican, whose assets amount to billions, to diocesan dues and the flow of donations. Religion, it is said, not only sells solace; it sells belonging, control, and in many cases, a business that would make any corporation pale.

Tradition vs. Opium of the People: The Struggle for the Narrative

Some argue that religion is the pillar supporting Western sarracena, that without it, the values that have shaped Europe would disappear. In contrast, the critical current recalls that the same institution burned academies, persecuted scientists, and was complicit in cultural genocides. The discussion also extends to Buddhism, which some dismiss as absurd orientalist fashion and others defend for its lack of theism and focus on personal transcendence. What is clear is that neither side manages to impose its narrative conclusively.

From the Flames of the Inquisition to AI Screens

A novel aspect of the debate is the accusation that artificial intelligence has become the new religion, programmed to hate Western civilization. Those who warn of this point out that executives of major tech companies are often high-ranking Freemasons and that transhumanism is merely recycled gnosticism. The Kabbalistic prophecy that AI will be the Jewish Messiah is even mentioned. On the other side, it is argued that AI is merely a malleable tool reflecting the biases of its user. The paradox is that those who denounce AI as dogma end up using its answers as authority.

But if anything this crossfire of arguments demonstrates is that religion, far from extinguishing, mutates. It dresses itself in science, tradition, business, or godless spirituality. At the center of the storm, an uncomfortable fact: according to the CIS, the percentage of practicing Catholics in Spain continues to fall, but the public visibility of the Church keeps growing. In Madrid, streets filled with fervent believers; on screens, priests occupy talk shows. Religion does not need to prove anything. Its trinc, apparently, do not either.

The full calculation of the cost of maintaining the ecclesiastical machinery, item by item, yields figures that would surprise more than one. But this breakdown, with its detailed accounts, is material the curious reader will find in the original source. Here we only point to the question no one finishes answering: whether religion is a ruinous business or the best of businesses.

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