ABSTRACT
Over the past four centuries, science has systematically diminished the realm of the sacred in human society. The sacred includes those things considered holy, worthy of reverence, or attributed to God—or to a “higher power” by some other name. In times past, people believed that God created the earth and all of the living things upon it. Life was considered sacred, because only God could give life and allow life to be taken away. God was even given credit for the weather, both fair and foul. People prayed for rain and gave thanks to God for their daily bread and for the farmers who brought it forth from God’s earth. Over time, however, as science revealed the secrets of nature, much of the sacred was transformed into the logical and rational.
