Can historical accounts of supernatural events be properly evaluated in todays science-based environment?
All religious faiths have included historical accounts of supernatural events or beings. In very early history these were passed down as an oral tradition with no expectation of contemporaneous verification. Starting with the Jews (in the Western traditions) these accounts have been codified in written materials. In nearly all cases these written materials include eye witness accounts of supernatural events or interactions with persons having supernatural characteristics or abilities. In Christianity there are the stories of Jesus and numerous saints, for example. More recently founded religions such as the Mormons also contain written accounts from an eye witness point of view. With the rise of the scientific method starting in the seventeenth century there has been increasing pressure to subject these historical accounts to rigorous validation. One of the first validation steps to be taken is an attempt to find physical evidence for the events described. For unusual natural phenomena
