For over 200 years people have used soil from the churchyard of Sacred Heart Church in the Boho Highlands of rural Northern Ireland as a remedy for a variety of ailments. Is there something miraculous about that soil?
Scientists have analyzed the soil, and have found that it can halt the growth of the top six superbugs, including MRSA. The researchers discovered a previously unknown strain of Streptomyces bacterium responsible for the soil's seemingly miraculous ability. One of the problems of treating diseases like MRSA is that pathogens develop resistance to common drugs, and science needs to find new antibiotics to control them. The Sacred Heart soil contains a natural antibiotic.
The U.K. Times reported on the Sacred Heart miracle soil. It quoted principal researcher Gerry Quinn on folk cures. Quinn observes, “Some of these cures might have been perfectly effective, but the people just didn't have any knowledge of the scientific principles or biochemistry behind them.” Science can help us to know the difference between bogus medical claims and treatments that really work.
The question of how this particular antibiotic got into the churchyard soil will stir debate. We would suggest that in all areas of nature there is a balance because God designed it that way. If scientists continue to look to nature, they may find natural cures for most human maladies. They may even find them not only in churchyards, but also in the yards of leading atheists.
Adapted with permission from John Clayton, Does God Exist.
