But how does one measure the godliness of bacteria versus a fruit fly? (Keats opted for flies in lieu of humans, which, he said, would require “a really big bell jar.”) After briefly considering omnipotence, Keats decided to measure omnipresence. Did the number of organisms increase? How fast? In the case of the fruit flies, Keats, who considers himself Jewish “by heritage,” found the Christian Kyrie prayer brought about increased and statistically significant reproduction compared to the control group.–Kari Lynn Dean

—Engineering God in a Petri Dish  (Wired)

While the method is rather farcical, his philosophy is actually rather intriguing:

“Science rejects God for want of empirical evidence, and religion rejects the scientific method the moment it contradicts the Bible.

“I’m trying to explore whether faith and reason can peaceably coexist. I think they can. So this project is truly a thought experiment: By taking the assumptions of extremists on both ends of the spectrum, and combining them, I’m hoping we can sort out the implications.”