Does Science “Work”?

Now (finally) Instapundit weighs in. (By the way, did Instapundit evolve, or was he created? Is he just a fiction of bloggers’ minds? Or we of his? Did he create us in his own cyberimage? If he didn’t exist, would we have to invent him? I’ll have to ask him next time I see him…)

Glenn quotes Asimov:

It is the chief characteristic of the religion of science, that it works.

Which is all well and good, except that it begs the question of what “works” means.

Certainly if you want to grow more food, or build stronger buildings, or go to the Moon, science works just great. The problem is, that for many people, that’s not the highest value. When it comes to spending eternity in the bosom of your Creator (which is the goal of a significant segment of the populace, or so they claim), science doesn’t work at all–it’s broken in a major way.

The science belief system and the more conventional religious belief systems have very different goals–one is for life on this earth, and the other is for the rest (though it also purports to improve life in the here and now as well, at least spiritually).

Therein lies the (so far unbridgeable) chasm.

[Update at 11:09 AM PDT]

Here are some links to some excellent related posts by thoughtful Christians Dave Trowbridge and Tom Veal, with which I agree as much as is possible without actually being a Christian (or even a deist) myself.