We can study criminal behavior using science. One should not infer from this fact that criminal behavior is science.
Good point. The same is true for religion.
Which is why I made the analogy in the first place.
I took several courses about the PSYCHOLOGY/PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. I am a strong advocate of approaching THEOLOGY--the scientific study of the god-hypothesis--in the same way. Since the 1960's I have been advocating PNEUMATOLOGY--the scientific study of what it means to be spiritual.
Psychology is an attempt to scientifically address the mind. None of the rest of stuff is science. Philosophy is not science (at least it is not "modern science"). Theology is not science. Pneumatology is not science. Those are all very interesting things to study (for some people). Theology is a branch of philosophy. Psychology is a branch of science. Science does not address "the spiritual" or "the religious" except insofar as those things are reflected in the brain. Brains are part of the physical universe. Spirits are not.
