Materialism run mad: Co-operating with nature is "anti-science"?

Here's a good one, from the Washington Post (October 30, 2006), about a Nebraska-based women's health and fertility clinic that adheres to Catholic teaching , while espousing all the high tech methods that are not in conflict with that:

The institute, which is attracting more than 700 new patients a year, melds modern medical facilities with the philosophy and symbols of Catholicism. The waiting room greets patients with a bust of the Madonna and Child and an illuminated stained-glass crucifix. Bulletin boards titled "Miracle Baby Hall of Fame" are filled with snapshots of children. Down the hall is a fully accredited lab for analyzing hormones. An ultrasound suite downstairs is equipped with the latest technology. A large statue of St. Therese stands in a stairway leading to the Chapel of the Holy Family, where Mass is celebrated weekly.

"This is anti-science," says Anita L. Nelson, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California at Los Angeles. "They might as well be advocating prayer for infertility," quips Richard Paul, a fertility expert at the University of Southern California.

Actually, that would be a darn good idea. The placebo effect is very powerful and at least some barriers to fertility have a psychological component. Especially assuming that, as here, the patients are voluntary and supportive of the MDs' stance.

In any event, Hilgers retorts that

his work is based on numerous research papers that he and others published in well-known journals earlier in his career, and that he has compiled the results of his more recent studies in a 1,243-page textbook he produced in 2004.

Remember this when materialists claim that they are not "against" other faiths. They are.

My other blog is the Post-Darwinist, which keeps tabs on the intelligent design controversy.