 |
| "An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump"; Joseph Wright (1768) |
The question of empirical evidence
for religious belief, the belief that there is a supernatural world, is
understandable. Excluding the Cartesian perception
issues that one’s senses may be fooled (“Do I really have a body?”) or the
interpretation challenges (e.g., confirmation bias), I do not take lightly a
person who wants to know whether there is public, observed evidence of a supernatural
world.
The responses to this query have
varied from yes, there are many empirical points of evidence to consider to no,
it does not matter. The problem with the
latter is that this position likely will not satisfy the person unless they
accept that believing on faith is simply the greater stance to take. The problem with the former is that the
person asking the question wants to know if there is such evidence now, in the same way they want to know if a bird can live without air as in the Wright painting above, and not
something written down 3,000 years ago in the Avesta.
Of course, this excludes a lot of
holy books and stories so right there all religious apologists will take
umbrage at that condition (quick: when was the last time you used “umbrage” in a
conversation?). Nonetheless, the inquirer
today is not interested in what followers of a religion thought in an era that
saw many items pass for knowledge instead of what it really was, a belief (okay,
the lines may blur a bit but that will take another essay). What intrigues them is if right now there is someone
who may approach them and claim, “Yep, here is evidence observed that there is
a supernatural world.”
This may lead to the difficulty that
such a person may never be convinced and, sure, this could be the case. Although if you could show someone empirical
evidence that there is a supernatural world I’m certain that it would be a
predicament for them to dismiss it out of hand.
I don’t think this has happened as
yet. From ancient time until today, there
has been a claim that the existence of the world (and by “world” is meant “everything,”
not just the planet Earth) is a proof of a supernatural world. Why?
Because of the belief that there had to be supernatural creators in
order for the world to exist. This is an
assertion as it is simply unknown and, instead, it may demonstrate more the lack of human
ability to conceive otherwise. The
corollary response is similar in taking up the point that since it is unknown,
then it had to be a supernatural one. This
is the gods-of-the-gaps argument or “gods” as filling in for the answer.
Historically, the gods-of-the-gaps
contention has eroded all the way to the question of
origins and that is another topic worth considering. Seeing religious arguments slowly giving way
before empirical evidence throughout history would make for an interesting, if
not fascinating, documentary of that account.
But back to the question of empirical
evidence of a supernatural world. If
there were a way to do this, test it, replicate it, and present the results
then wouldn’t it have been done by now?
It appears that the best that a religious follower can say is either
that it may be done in the future or, no, a supernatural world cannot undergo
natural tests. And it’s questionable
that these statements are tolerable to the investigating person.
