"In modern science, achieving wide repeatability is taken as proof. Curiously, following prescribed meditations will also produce repeatable results. Just wait until "traditional" scientists awaken to that!"
~David Satterlee
Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters
Religion, science, and our quest for truth
Both religion and science build theoretical models to explain observations. Sometimes the models work, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes sacrificing infants to Baal brings productive crops, sometimes bleeding a patient breaks a fever. Most cultures have rejected both of these models (religious and scientific, respectively). Even having a thoroughly-consistent theory does not establish truth. Traditional Chinese Medicine successfully treats "spleen deficiency" for problems totally unrelated to our anatomical spleen's function.Both religious and secular authorities have found themselves needing to adjust their accepted doctrine.
Sometimes religious ideas lead secular as in the Genesis record of the sequence of life’s appearance on earth, or the sanitary laws of the Israelites coming out of Egypt. Also, science is seriously beginning to explore the efficacy of some types of prayer. Sometimes secular ideas lead religion. In 2000, The Catholic Church apologized