One of today's most pressing issues deals with the relationship between science and religion. Society here in the United States seem to pit these two values against each other, which results in many people disbelieving the value and importance of science. This is dangerous.

For example, from 2001 to 2015, it was reported that there were 2,012 cases of measles in the United States, with the number of cases increasing in these past few years. Even though these are large numbers, the lack of an available vaccine for measles meant that the situation was much worse in the past. In 1958 alone, it was reported that there were more than 750,000 cases of measles in the United States alone.

The development of a measles vaccine has saved countless lives throughout the course of its history; it is clear that these vaccines work. Although there is no denying that vaccines aren't perfect, a public distrust of the scientific community poses a dire threat to society as a whole. Though this threat has been brought about by multiple reasons, it is without a doubt that the conflict between science and religion is one of the largest contributing factors. Though it may seem like this conflict between science and religion has had a long and established history (and one may argue that it certainly does), the situation was not always so.

As alluded to by the title of this article, the culture of the ancient Egyptians teaches us an important message on how the values of science and religion can healthily interact with one another. There is no doubt that the ancient Egyptian's use of the scientific method was way ahead of the other cultures of that time. The ancient Egyptians understood the importance of cleanliness in medicinal practices, kept medical journals to diagnose diseases, performed medical experiments and procedures and realized the importance of herbs and nutrition to treat and prevent illness.

The ancient Egyptians believed that illnesses were caused by the gods, and they regarded such afflictions as consequences of sin. Therefore, they believed that cleansing the body of such evil was a way to cure these illnesses.

A balance of pharmaceuticals and incantations were used as treatments for common ailments and everyday complaints. For example, the below ingredients listed in the Egyptian text of the Ebers Papyrus were used to treat a headache.

The Ebers Papyrus Photo Credit: Hanf Museum of Berlin