> I don't know if the example of investigating the "healing properties of
> prayer" constitutes an EMBRACEMENT of the the supernatural. It constitutes
> an INVESTIGATION perhaps, but I would say that it is premature to say that
> science has embraced prayer as a healing tool.
Yes. The investigation only becomes interesting if prayer is sufficiently
correlated with healing, as confirmed by multiple studies.
> ... and unlike Dave,
> I do not predict that it will, unless the "supernatural" has, in fact, a
> naturalistic foundation on which to conduct further study.
> The problem is that "supernatural" is defined functionally. Stated another
> way, when do we become confident that an observed phenomena has no
> naturalistic basis?
This is absolutely my point. If prayer is correlated with healing, the
science *must* assume that there is a naturalistic basis (as with origins).
Whether or not `we become confident that an observed phenomena has no
naturalistic basis' is completely dependent upon our world view.
Is the healing really due to the intervention of God or due to some (as
yet unknown) physical processes? Of course science will assume the
latter. (And there is nothing wrong with that, since science is not
about truth).
But if in fact the healing is due to the intervention of God, science
will have trouble filling in the gaps between whatever mechanisms
are proposed and really explaining the observation. Most Scientists
will likely be convinced that the gaps can ultimately be closed, but
that is because they do not believe in divine intervention.
Doesn't this situation seem analogous to evolution?
But of course, as you point out, if the current experiments fail to
correlate prayer with healing, my argument is moot.
My ongoing prediction is that such a correlation (in some area like
this) will ultimately be established and then science will shift
its paradigm, making more of today's supernatural tomorrow's natural.
This is what science is about: demystifying the universe. At one
point in time the prediction of eclipses was pretty supernatural.
--Dave