Dealing with the Gaps

C
an everything be explained by a scientific study of the material universe?

Hell no. Of course not.

We start from complete ignorance. We collect whatever evidence we can and make whatever inferences are reasonable, and in this fashion we’re able to piece together some understanding of the world, but there will always be lacunae in our body of knowledge. There are things we don’t know. There are things we cannot know.

The solution is not to make answers up. It’s to humbly admit our ignorance and to deal with the unknown in a sensible way.

Religion is an irrational response (sometimes lovely but often dangerously dogmatic) to an irrational universe. A more rational response is to infer what you can, and as for the rest, be prepared to freely admit what you don’t know.