Baha'u'llah teaches that all true knowledge comes from God. Therefore, science and religion represent only different avenues to the same truth, and apparent differences between the two are merely illusions. If science and religion disagree on a specific issue, then one or the other must be in error. When traditional religious teachings contradict well-established science, the religious teachings may be in error because they have become influenced by man's interpretations of God's word. When a true Manifestation of God teaches ideas which are contrary to popular science, it is the science which is in error.

Sometimes the same truth is denied by both scientists and religionists at different points in history. For example, in the seventh century Arabian desert, Muhammad taught that the earth was round and revolved around the sun. The scientists of His day "knew" this was factually false and searched for the hidden or symbolic meaning to that teaching because everybody knew that the earth was flat and the center of the universe. Nine centuries later in Europe, Nicolaus Copernicus stated on the basis of scientific observation that the earth was round and revolved around the sun. The clergy of his day "knew" this was false doctrine - the work of Satan - and persecuted him for heresy because they believed that the earth was flat and the center of the universe. We see today that Muhammad and Copernicus were correct and that religion and science were actually in harmony, though it was not recognized until several centuries later.