“Religion is very different from science. The main part of religion is not about the way that we model the real world. I am purposely using the word “model.” Religion is an experience, mainly an emotional and aesthetic one. It is not about whether the earth is 5,765 years old. When you play the piano, when you climb a mountain, does this contradict your scientific endeavors? Obviously not. The two things are almost—though not quite—orthogonal. Hiking, skiing, dancing, bringing up your children—you do all kinds of things that are almost orthogonal to your scientific endeavor. That’s the
case with religion also. It doesn’t contradict; it is orthogonal.”
Basically he is saying that his religion is a practice, not a belief. To the extent that it involves saying things about reality, those are mostly metaphorical or something similar.
I have a post at my blog about the meaning of saying that a religion is true or false where I discuss this interview. Basically I think he thinks that the practice of Judaism is good for him, and, at least for him, does not involve saying much about the world. That is clear from things like this:
“Religion is very different from science. The main part of religion is not about the way that we model the real world. I am purposely using the word “model.” Religion is an experience, mainly an emotional and aesthetic one. It is not about whether the earth is 5,765 years old. When you play the piano, when you climb a mountain, does this contradict your scientific endeavors? Obviously not. The two things are almost—though not quite—orthogonal. Hiking, skiing, dancing, bringing up your children—you do all kinds of things that are almost orthogonal to your scientific endeavor. That’s the case with religion also. It doesn’t contradict; it is orthogonal.”
Basically he is saying that his religion is a practice, not a belief. To the extent that it involves saying things about reality, those are mostly metaphorical or something similar.