You Can’t “Believe” in Science, Here’s Why

A version of this article was first published on Jennifer Margulis’s Substack, Vibrant Life 

Jennifer Margulis, PhD

I’d wager you’ve recently heard someone say they “believe in science,” or you’ve seen a lawn sign proclaiming “science is real,” or you’ve been told by a friend that you should just “trust science.”

But you can’t “believe” in science.

In fact, “believing” in science is the most unscientific thing you can do.

A belief is something we feel certain is true. We need no evidence for its existence. There’s nothing rational or logical about it. And there doesn’t have to be. We don’t need intellectual knowledge or any evidence to convince us our beliefs are true.

Beliefs don’t have to be reasonable or accurate. And they tend to be inflexible and unchangeable, even in the face of evidence to the contrary.

A toddler believes Santa Claus will come down the chimney bearing gifts, even if she lives in a home with no fireplace.

A man having a midlife meltdown believes he’s unlovable in spite of his loving spouse, attentive relatives, and demonstrative friends.

Science Is the Process of Understanding

Science is completely different. Science is the process of understanding things better.

When you engage in scientific inquiry—no matter what you think you know for sure or how excited you are by an unexpected discovery or new invention—you’re always seeking new knowledge. You’re never at the final answer.

The strength of scientific understanding is that it makes no claim on being right.

A true scientist wants their ideas to be wrong.

Despite having sold over 10 million copies of his book, A Brief History of Time, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking decided his theory was wrong.

“I have changed my mind,” Hawking wrote. “My book … is written from the wrong perspective.”

If you have an inquisitive mind, you want to understand more, learn more, and change your ideas based on new information, new observations, missing clues, and facts.

Often the people exhorting you to “believe the science” are the ones who have never printed out a single peer-reviewed scientific paper and sat down to read it with a strong cup of coffee and a yellow highlighter pen.

They often don’t realize it themselves but these people are usually parroting mainstream media propaganda. This propaganda is disguised as news, paid for by the pharmaceutical industry and other corporate conglomerates that stand to profit by convincing the public that their products are safe, effective, and beneficial. Even when a body of scientific evidence shows clearly that they are not. (Think infant formula versus breastmilk; abdominal surgery aka a cesarean section versus vaginal delivery; children’s Tylenol.)

I once had a doctor friend send me an article from YahooNews to justify her belief in a medical procedure she’d promoted for years. I sent her back links to half a dozen peer-reviewed scientific papers that highlighted the dangers of the medical procedure. I proposed we get together to talk about it more. She never spoke to me again.

In her book, Kitchen Table Wisdom, Rachel Naomi Remen tells stories about people with cancer healing despite the odds; going into spontaneous remission; or finding a way to cure their illness by following a protocol different from the oncologist’s. Their doctors, instead of being delighted to learn that their patients healed and eager to find out how, dismiss them. The cognitive dissonance is too painful.

Science is dispassionate. Beliefs are not.

Don’t “trust” science.

Don’t “believe” science.

Be curious.

Be inquisitive.

And, most of all, be willing to be wrong.

Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is an award-winning science journalist and book author.

To read more of her articles about natural health, sign up for her Substack, Vibrant Life.

Bioregulatory medicine is a total body (and mind) approach to health and healing that aims to help facilitate and restore natural human biological processes. It is a proven, safe, gentle, highly effective, drugless, and side-effect-free medical model designed to naturally support the body to regulate, adapt, regenerate, and self-heal. BRMI is a non-commercial 501(c)(3) foundation and will expand and flourish with your support. Our goal is to make bioregulatory medicine a household term.

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