In the quest to seem with it in our present scientistic milieu, preachers and Christians often pursue fluency regarding the latest polls, statistics, and studies (punctiliar thinking) more than they seek understanding of the Scripture and linear thinking. This quest is often characterized by indiscriminate reliance upon and usage of these tools, which actually leads people further from the truth both in their thinking processes and in their conclusions. Although these tools are useful at times, they should be used judiciously and sparingly lest one unwittingly becomes a scientistic myrmidon, and by his example leads others to do likewise.
Science proper is the systematic study of the physical nature, relationships, and interactions of physical phenomena. [1] “Scientism adds to science two corollaries: first, that the scientific method is, if not the only reliable method of getting at truth, then at least the most reliable method; and second, that the things science deals with–material entities–are the most fundamental things that exist . . . Unsupported by facts, they are at best philosophical assumptions and at worst merely opinions.” [2] “This is the kind of misreading of science . . . (that) belittles art, religion, love, and the bulk of the life we directly live by denying that those elements yield insights that are needed to complement what science tells us.”[3]
An example of science subtly transgressing its legitimate domanial authority (which scientists do all the time), would be when science concludes that eating certain foods predisposes people to various health risks, which is in fact the domain of science, but then based on that knowledge, says that people should not eat those foods. This recommendation is beyond the domain of science; therefore, it is a philosophical statement based upon naturalism or religion, i.e., scientism. Note that such moralizing is not only beyond the scope of science, but it is also directly connected to one’s view of man. Now, the scientist can make such recommendations, but when he does, it is not as a scientist, with the authority of science; consequently, the scientist’s recommendation has no more authority (and may not have as much as philosophers and preachers) than anyone else.
If preachers and Christians rely too heavily upon science to vindicate a biblical claim, it furthers the unwarranted popular perception that science is the final arbitrator of what is true and what is not. I believe that many Christians have accepted that premise more pervasively than is often recognized. For science to be the supreme authority (or perceived as the necessary authenticator) in all areas of existence, e.g. the latest study, poll or survey, is not only a change in what we think but how we think.[4] Some inherent liabilities of the tools previously mentioned:
- There are always conflicting conclusions between different studies and polls; thus, cherry picking is common.
- Statistics can be used to demonstrate almost anything by inclusion or omission of certain variables related to the study or poll.
- One rarely understands how the study or poll was actually done, which can dramatically transform both the study’s certainty and conclusions being presented.
- Often a conclusion drawn is presented as THE conclusion while it may in fact be only one of the derivable conclusions, or may actually be misleading when other variables are considered.
- Often these tools are used to demonstrate proof when, even at their best, they can actually only demonstrate varying degrees of probability.
- The wording of the questions, order of the questions, tone of the questioner, time of the questioning, and the pool of the questioned greatly influences the statistical data and conclusions.
- Double-blind studies are rarely used.
- Fraud, personal agendas, shoddy work, biases, and misrepresentation of the data are found repeatedly, and without being privy to the entire process, etc., one cannot detect this.
- Decisions about what to do and not to do with regard to people or morals with these tools revamp the way modern man thinks, which is consistent with sole reliance upon science or scientism, but is actually contrary to linear, logical, or biblical thinking because all one needs to know is what does the most recent study experiment say.
- Although used to determine what ought to be and what ought not to be, these tools can only tell one what is or is not and can never tell one what should be.
For example, statistics may be used to show how many people are without health insurance, and the truth is that is all the statistics tell us. Therefore, when people start drawing conclusions from such statistics, they may very well be misreading the data or, perish the thought, misrepresenting the truth for their own agenda.
Say that thirty percent do not have insurance. This, in and of itself, does not tell us: how many have chosen not to have insurance, how many have chosen to spend their insurance money on other things, how many are covered through the generosity of hospitals, how many of those would rather be without governmental intrusion than to have insurance, how many are in transition between insurances, how many have strategically chosen to invest that money elsewhere for the potential future payoff and do not want to be forced to pay higher taxes for health care, how many have made personal decisions even religious ones which led them to be without insurance and do not think others should have to pay, how many have the intention but have not made the choice to spend their money on insurance or are waiting on someone else, how many have made a conscious decision to eliminate their insurance for what they deem to be a worthwhile alternative, ad infinitum!
It is the truth that makes one free, but the present undue reliance of preachers on these fragmentary tools in order to bolster their preaching conclusions may bear short-term fruit, but in the long run may undermine the very truth they passionately desire to communicate because it trains a whole generation to rely upon polls, statistics, and studies with credulous trust. Moreover, undue reliance upon science (not to mention scientism) affords very little incentive to develop a godly mind through devoted study and digging deeply into the Word of God (2 Tim 2:15; 1 Pet 2: 2).
[1] This is my definition of science in which I seek to express the full breadth of science proper without morphing it into naturalism.
[2] Huston Smith, Why Religion Matters: The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief, (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2001), 59-60. He gives as an example Freud’s statement, “Our science is not illusion, but an illusion it would be to suppose that what science cannot give us we can get elsewhere.” This goes far beyond the realm of science into epistemic naturalism or scientism. Smith notes on page 62 that not all scientists accept the “epistemological privilege of science,” like the French microbiologist Francois Jacob and others. Scientism is not the belief that science will be able to “predict everything” as noted on page 63, which would make it held by only a few.
[3] Smith, Why Religion Matters, 187.
[4] There is no longer the acknowledged existence or much less the superiority of the final or fixed. Consequently, we are wittingly or unwittingly trained to think in temporary and transitory ways because whatever we believe today is really only for today or until the next poll, study, etc. I am referring here to acknowledged in the sense of publicly imposable knowledge, e.g., the Declaration of Independence being premised upon the existence of God, and public education prior to the installation of progressive education.
