OK Susan, I answered the first part "Yes" because in reality it IS both "and/vs".

The points of contact are that these strange bedfellows, along with philosophy are attempting to answer what are commonly called the ultimate questions: existence, origins, destination and what is the unseen part? Religion, in part, fills the gaps of unknowing and often attempts to calm the fears of those frightened of the unknown. It also helps serve as crowd control. It ALL involves reaching beyond our given sensual limitations and discovery.

The language we receive from our progenitors tends to reflect the spiritual and religious. Some of this language gets modified or recast to fit improvements in our collective understanding about the nature of things and the world.

Sciences, hard sciences, are devoid of ethical consideration. Anthropology, philosophy and religion do a much better job at establishing moralities and ethics. Medicine is described both as a science and an art. As a science it might be interested in preserving life if understanding life were the focus. The motive of easing pain and life preservation draws from a sense of community, love and the needs and rights of society's individuals. Russia and Germany in WWII demonstrated that medicine does not necessarily HAVE to have the ethics which we most value today. It got along fine ( for a while) without such emcumberance where the Jews and Gypsies, Blacks and other minorities were concerned.