Blog #80--Uniting Science and Religion Getting Tougher Every Day

One of the stated goals of my book “It’s a Secret, So Pass It On: a Toolbox For Life” is to unite science and religion. That is a worthy goal, but chances are extremely slim for success. And that assumes all scientists and religious leaders are honest, trustworthy and willing to consider others’ points of view, something that is becoming less likely all the time.

Dr. Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet, perhaps the world’s best known medical journal, made a surprising and explosive indictment regarding medical research recently:

“The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness (www.thelancet.com).”

There are many causes of this downturn, but there has always been a certain percentage of researchers with minimal moral codes motivated by agenda-driven goals or pure greed. Researchers require funding to pursue their work, and large corporations supply much of the money they need. If a pharmaceutical company wants to market a vaccine, it benefits if it hires researchers willing to arrive at conclusions that fit the company’s self-interests. If a medicine has negative side effects, researchers who can create results that downplay those effects are in high demand.

Falsification of research results occur on opposite sides of hot-button issues. For instance, some researchers falsify climate change data to favor the large corporations that want no blame for climate problems, while others falsify data to coincide with environmentalists who want corporations to do their part to improve the climate. What Dr. Horton says about medical researchers is undoubtedly true of all types of research. Even those who “peer-review” the research of others to prove the validity of their results may be untrustworthy, making the entire research field suspect.

Dr. Marcia Angell, Editor-in-Chief of the New England Medical Journal supports Dr. Horton’s findings:

“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of the New England Journal of Medicine (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2964337/).”

There are many trustworthy researchers who toil throughout their lives to produce measurable results that help shape our world view. Honest medical researchers are essential to guarantee safe and effective treatments or preventatives for the myriad diseases affecting humans and other species. But their numbers are diminishing, much to our detriment. And our problem now becomes, how do we know who is telling the truth? Who are responsible enough to resist all self-serving temptations so they can arrive at truth, even if it goes against their own belief systems?

We can ask the same questions of religious leaders. They are humans with self-serving egos also. How many of them are tempted to say what people want to hear to gain a bigger following or bring more money into their coffers? How many would rather teach comfortable lies instead of helping people learn more about themselves and their world? How many have worked over the centuries to falsify doctrines and religious texts to support their own agendas or the self-interests of their religions? The percentage of false prophets would likely be similar to that of researchers and would undoubtedly shock and overwhelm parishioners who depend on them for spiritual insight if the truth were known.

In my book, I pointed out reasons why we benefit by rising up and looking our scientists and religious leaders in the eye as equals rather than continuing to submit blindly to whatever folly they foist on us. But the reality is that many people are so insecure about their own welfare, they would rather follow a liar who says what they want to hear than change their perspectives.

For instance, a woman who participated in three events that aided my overall understanding told me she couldn’t read my book, which includes those references. She said she wanted to forget the past and stick with her present orthodoxy. In the past 30 years, her increased fear levels have now blocked her acceptance of real events that might otherwise have given her as much of a boost of spiritual understanding as they did me.

If we can’t trust our scientists and religious leaders, whom can we trust? We still have one option remaining, one we don’t seek until all other avenues fail us. There is a voice of truth within us, some call it a conscience, that waits patiently for us to let go of all the fear, disinformation and confusion that bombards our daily thoughts. When we are ready to listen and learn, we are ready to become our own leaders. That is when we finally discover the truth we all seek.

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