[PatrickHenry]

If I were you, I would worry about religious leaders that depend on keeping their followers ignorant. How far back down the trail toward the dark ages where religion was all-powerful will they go?

There are people, plenty of them, who, rather than having normal careers in a society like ours, would rather rule a nation of ignorant mud-hut dwellers, and preen like a bunch of Ayatollahs about their alleged mastery of all things.

[Cinnamon Girl]

Like who, for example, PatrickHenry?

By the way, I think this is a very good definition of the "scientific method" from one of the links you gave me:

1. Observe some aspect of the universe.

2. Invent a tentative description, called a hypothesis, that is consistent with what you have observed.

3. Use the hypothesis to make predictions.

4. Test those predictions by experiments or further observations and modify the hypothesis in the light of your results.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until there are no discrepancies between theory and experiment and/or observation.