Miracles and Science

miracle, n: an event unexplainable by natural causes

In other words, something that science can find no explanation for. So explain something to me. Why do we see all these television shows and books attempting to use science to investigate supposed miracles? I’m not talking about the skeptical investigations. I mean the devoted ones who actually believe that the event in question was a miracle, and still try to find a scientific cause for it. Anyone else see the contradiction here? If it was a miracle, there is no scientific cause. If there is a scientific explanation, it was not a miracle. QED

Could it be that they don’t actually believe in the [insert “holy” book of choice here] as much as they believe in science? That’s sure what it looks like. In other words, they don’t actually believe in miracles. You can quibble and take a different definition of miracle, like “an extremely unlikely but fortuitous event,” but that doesn’t really cut it, not for [“holy” book]-type miracles. It is clear from context that these must be events with no natural explanation.

Now consider so-called “Scientific Creationism.” The Creation as described in their [“holy” book] would be a miracle. No scientific cause needed, or even possible. Oh, wait, they’re not looking for an explanation for the “how”, which they, of course, know from the [“holy” book]. They’re looking for evidence of the occurrence itself. But why would an actual miracle leave behind any evidence? It’s not naturally caused, so all natural laws get thrown out the window.

See, if it was really a miracle, if it really had no natural cause, then there is no point whatsoever in investigating it scientifically. It’s known. Period. You believe it or not. The fact that “Scientific Creationism” exists is proof that this is not enough, that people don’t really believe this stuff without science behind it. They don’t believe in their [“holy” book]. They believe in science. In fact, they believe in science so strongly that they get upset when science contradicts their [“holy” book]’s miracles.

Now if the [“holy” book] of miracles is really the ultimate authority, it doesn’t matter what science claims. The [“holy” book] is right. Science is wrong. There is no purpose in worrying about what science says, unless science is held to be a superior way of knowing. But for a belief to be truly scientific, there has to be some evidence which, if found, would convince the believer that he/she was wrong. If that is not a possibility, if there is no evidence that would convince the person, then the belief is not scientific, period. Any attempt to investigate the belief scientifically is not only pointless, it’s impossible.