Actually, CJ has a point. There may be a good _justification_
for it, but - just look at priming in psychology. Better still,
the lab setting itself. It's not a criticism of Science - I
believe in these methods as valuable methods for discovery.
But consider from a dispassionate point of view, one neither for
nor against scientific methodologies:
Conclusions are reached in a controlled laboratory environment
that may not reflect the outside world very well at all, because
the real world is _not_ a controllable environment.
Therefore, the results obtained, while of value, are sometimes
overstated _as if_ the laboratory is an effective substitution
for the real world.
Of course, the _spirit_ of Science - the spirit of discovery and
exploration - _is_ one that could just as easily be taken for
experiential reasons or for curiosity or even for nefarious
purposes that are entirely unrelated to science altogether.
In short, as catchy as the Meme is, it doesn't take into account
other "let's find out". Also, it oversimplifies "Theism" (which
is a strange term I never hear from those who are practicing
religious) - because knowledge-discovery has historically been a
very strong part of religious communities throughout history -
the typification of "THE THEIST" is rather odd... perhaps it
applies to a segment, but certainly to few that I've personally
met. In short, they strike me as a fantasy of the Meme-maker
rather than reflecting an objective view of reality as it
stands.
