Page |13 systems of knowledge that are in provision of tangible support to opposition. This approach is common individuals in need, to the promotion of and evident in a spate of contemporary healthy lifestyles and ethical behavior— books that take the position that science scientific research to understand these and religion represent competing ways influences may again be a more of understanding the world and that productive response than broad science (or religion) is the one and only denouncements by scientists that such valid way of understanding human beliefs are irrational. Indeed, the behavior and the world around us (3-8). question of whether God exists is of For instance, in The God Delusion, much less scientific interest, and of Richard Dawkins places specific Judeo- much more questionable scientific merit Christian theological doctrines under the (how would one scientifically falsify scrutiny of science only to find that none such a claim?), than the question of the passes scientific muster. causes, consequences, and underlying _— mechanisms for the observable human The vast majority of people from . ae ; ' behaviors affected by invisible forces--- all educational backgrounds continue to hether they be phvsical t harbor strong religious beliefs that affect wane Ne ey De paysica’ cara 7 their daily decisions and behavior, with ‘onde (gtaups), or pereeived spiritaa both good and ill effects. These (gods). religious belief systems most commonly Contemporary science explains bump into scientific claims around many of these phenomena but also invisible forces. When science opens up points to the human capacities and opportunities to improve the human emergent processes that derive from condition by providing a more complete collective social structures and actions understanding of the causes of events, and, underlying the emergence of these their measurable effects, and possible structures, the human need for meaning- interventions— ranging from valid making