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Monday, March 31, 2014

Nobel Prize In Religion?



 Dr. Marshall and Dr. Warren, The Researchers into Heliobacter Pylori



New York Times:
NEW BACTERIUM LINKED TO PAINFUL STOMACH ILLS
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN
Published: July 31, 1984
TWO Australian researchers have discovered what seems to be a new spiral-shaped bacterium living in the human stomach. The finding of one more microorganism among the thousands known might have been no more than a curiosity if the Australian bacterium were not now being tentatively linked to some of the most painful ailments known: gastritis, peptic ulcers in the stomach and duodenum, and perhaps other problems as well. Several million Americans have these ailments whose origins are often unknown.

The story of how the finding was made and how the research is being conducted on several continents has much to say about how science really works, not so much as a matter of breakthroughs but rather in fits and starts, with optimism, pessimism and rivalries that sometimes impede potentially important advances. Thus, while there is a great deal of skepticism about the importance of this finding, there is a great deal of excitement, too, as the potential implications begin to emerge...
I remember. Most doctors and people could not believe that ulcers were caused by bacteria - heliobacter pylori - and could be cured by antibiotics. This is an early (1984) article in the New York Times, and it reflects the scepticism and surprise still present.

Also surprisingly, there are numerous revolutions in religion, even though religions often seem like monoliths and mammoths that move slowly - if at all!

Each individual story of pain, suffering, fear, and bondage is potentially a story of redemption and freedom.
Each one of us who has walked the long miles searching for spirit may become one of the religious geniuses in the flash of an eye; when the walker reaches their goal; when the prodigal returns and the feast is laid out.

The Structure Of Religious Revolutions plays out in each of us before it finds a public venue.

Religion is filled with research, development, and revolutions in knowledge and understanding.

So why do we pretend it is dogmatic?

Why do we abandon our research and leave it to the priests, monks, and imams?

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