Another devastating article was recently published showing how flawed science truly is. Titled "Saving Science," the lengthy expose was summarized in a subsequent Reason.com article titled "Most Scientific Findings Are Wrong or Useless." Both articles touch on a growing realization that science cannot answer every question that man has—it has very real limitations. Furthermore, what answers science can provide are not always clear or even accurate with estimates upwards of 70% of scientific peer-reviewed papers being false.
What I find so startling is how much faith Western society has put in science and scientists despite the statistical reality that science has produced more falsehoods than truths. The common defense of science is that ultimately it is self-correcting. However as the aforementioned articles point out, it's actually not— it's self-destructing. Part of the problem lies in our unrealistic expectations of science—it simply isn't capable of answering all the questions humanity has. But that hasn't stopped us from trying. We just keep throwing more money at the problem hoping the next billion dollars will somehow produce results. But some questions science will never answer. One of the problems is that a lot of science isn't really science in the traditional sense. The scientific method requires observation and falsifiable hypotheses, but much of what we call science these days is purely hypothetical. Some make the distinction between operational science and historical science (which includes origin science and forensic science) as the former studies observable and reproducible phenomena while the latter usually does not, but even these categories are not inclusive enough. Entire branches of scientific fields such as theoretical physics also delve into largely unverifiable flights of fancy (eg: string theory). Fields such as exobiology—the study of alien life— seemingly work very hard at studying nothing at all, and in the last few decades new scientific fields with very limited practical application keep being added to university degree options.
Most of these specialized fields are based upon so many assumptions, which are built upon previous assumptions, that it's a small miracle if any reliable results can be produced from them at all. Many simply rely on circular logic and bias confirmation to come to conclusions that support established scientific theories. But rather than being beneficial and truly harmonizing, the vast majority of scientific studies, discoveries and correlations are just noise published for the sake of being published in order to monetize random bits of data. Science has morphed into big business and the gravy train is too tempting to keep academia honest. But Western society naively looks at science as a pure, altruistic, and noble search for knowledge and acts as if the field is incorruptible despite the billions of dollars flowing into it every year. It's time for a reality check.
Now, I love science—true observable, testable, falsifiable science. I even enjoy delving into the purely hypothetical at times. But I am under no delusion about science and its limitations. Man is fallible, plain and simple—regardless of their degrees and titles. Scientists, doctors and professors make poor substitutions for God. For materialists, naturalists and atheists, they are necessary substitutions (outside of aliens, which you'll find prevalent in their ideologies as well), but for Christians, they are absurd.Yet each year, more and more people in Western society lose their faith due to "science" (click here for the newest Pew Research study). Unfortunately all that "science" amounts to is more and more echo chambers in the halls of academia today based on the exact same amount of evidence they had yesterday—none.
Boil down every scientific argument against the existence of God and you end up with an opinion based on an assumption. Physical evidence of naturalism (evolution) is just as elusive as physical evidence of God, but you'd never know it by going to university. Western liberal education has become indoctrination centers for our children which are shockingly efficient and effective. Christians are being conned out of their faith with scientific-sounding empty rhetoric and we don't question the spoon-fed dogma because we've accepted the lie of the infallibility of science.
It's time to pull back the curtain on these modern Wizards of Oz and recognize them for what they truly are. It's time for Christians to stop believing the word of man over the word of God. It's time for the church to start teaching a biblical worldview and stop preaching pop culture. While trendy sermons may attract the masses and cater to the lowest common denominator, the church of the West is producing shallow and immature believers who are poorly equipped to deal with the onslaught of doubt the world constantly assails them with. Rather than fluffy platitudes served with coffee and concerts, the church needs to dig deep and become prominent centers of education that produce the thinkers and leaders of tomorrow.
Right now, Western society views the church as being out of its depth and irrelevant. The irony is, that view is due to the church sacrificing depth for relevance and having neither as a result.