"Man has learnt to deal with himself in all questions of importance without recourse to the "working hypothesis- called "God-. As in the scientific field, so in human affairs generally, God is being pushed more and more out of life, losing more and more ground."".
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Religious Leader.
The movie "Contact- starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey, is a complex and multi-dimensioned movie about science, religion and revelation. This movie clearly asks a lot of pertinent questions: Is the meaning of life something that can be determined through reason and science or does one finally have to proceed by faith? Are humans alone here in a cold, material world, or is there a higher power and a presence beyond all human understanding that gives life meaning and value? In times of loneliness and solitude, can one be comforted by the knowledge that this world is held in the hands of a God who cares very deeply about the fate of each and every individual? Jodie Foster (as Dr. Eleanor Arroway) clearly represents a serious, committed scientist who relies on reason to solve the central mysteries of life. Matthew McConaughey represents the man of faith who devotes his life to "spirituality- and calls himself a "man of the cloth, without the cloth-. Thus begins the debate between science and religion. Though science and religion both strive to uncover truth and develop answers to the unanswered, their methods differ drastically and always seem to disagree. Science focuses on facts, data, and proof. Religion focuses on hope, belief and faith. Revelation is the human need to uncover truth and science and religion focus on different types of revelation. This movie does not try to answer the question of God or the meaning of life, and it does not lean in one direction or the other to the best way to approach these questions, but it does encourage us to think about these issues. Therefore, the movie "Contact- does neither attack religion nor support it.
