Miracles under the microscope: a scientist evaluates the evidence
- Geoff Kirby
- 1 day ago
- 10 min read
By Geoff Kirby
What should convince us that a miracle has really occurred? Geoff Kirby explores some of the most famous miracle claims and argues that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Geoff joined the Civil Service in 1960 as a scientist and took early retirement in 1993. He then worked part-time as a consulting scientist until 2005, when he decided to fully retire in order to study for an Open University degree in Environmental Sciences. He has since had a very enjoyable and busy retirement writing nine books on a wide range of topics. He is member of West Dorset Humanists.
Some religions claim that miracles reported in sacred texts are proof of an interventionist God’s existence and power. Scientists have a strict protocol for accepting evidence of miracles which is embodied in the motto of the UK’s Royal Society: “Nullius in verba”. This is a Latin phrase often translated as “Take Nobody's Word For It”. Adopted shortly after the Royal Society’s founding in 1660, it signifies a commitment to empirical evidence and scepticism over relying solely on established authority or dogma.
Some religions and sects have a low threshold for accepting so-called miracles. For example, when Notre-Dame Cathedral was burning in 2019, a much-publicised photo appeared on social media showing the golden altar cross gleaming amid the fallen burning roof timbers. Many comments were posted online, of which this one is typical: “Only a fool would deny the evidence of God on seeing the holy altar cross unscathed!” These comments ceased when it was pointed out that typical wood fires burn at temperatures well below gold's melting point of 1,064°C. The survival of the cross therefore required no miraculous explanation. Incidentally, I didn’t see any believers on social media questioning why their all-powerful God had allowed the cathedral to be gutted in the first place.
A similar silence of the devout followed the burning of York Cathedral after it was struck by lightning in 1984. No doubt the claim to the insurers attributed the lightning strike to “An Act of God!”
Miracles performed by the dead
When someone is proposed for sainthood by the Catholic Church, a body of evidence is reviewed. This must include two miracles (reduced in 1988 from four) performed from the afterlife. As an example, in 2019 Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801 – 1890) was raised to sainthood partially on the evidence of two miracles that it is claimed he performed from the afterlife. First, in 2000, Jack Sullivan, from Boston, Massachusetts, had just completed the second year of a four-year course to become a deacon when he was struck by crippling back pain. He prayed: “Please Cardinal Newman help me to walk so that I can return to classes and be ordained”. The pain disappeared. Dr Banco, a Catholic, has testified the recovery was “Unbelievable, 100%, totally remarkable... I have never seen a healing process occur so quickly and completely.” What was not publicised at the time was that Sullivan had undergone extensive surgery to relieve his pain not long before his prayer to Cardinal Newman and that the disappearance of his pain was expected by the surgeons treating him. Michael Powell, a consultant neurosurgeon at London's University College Hospital, said a typical procedure took “...about 40 minutes, and most patients... walk out happy at two days”.
Cardinal Newman’s second miracle, in May 2013, involved expectant mother Melissa Villalobos, who was suffering from unstoppable internal bleeding due to subchorionic hematoma from a torn placenta that threatened the life of her child in the womb. In prayer, she directly and explicitly invoked Newman's intercession from the afterlife to stop the bleeding. The healing was eventually complete and permanent. It was declared a miracle performed by Cardinal Newman from the afterlife.
A surgeon has stated “This condition affects around 3% of pregnant women. There is a large amount of literature on subchorionic haematoma (SCH) and its effects on the outcome of pregnancy, which indicates that in general SCH doubles a woman’s risk of miscarrying. However, the vast majority of SCH conditions resolve themselves within a few weeks as part of the body’s natural healing process and growth of the baby, and a majority of women diagnosed with presentations like Mrs Villalobos will go on to have perfectly normal pregnancies. As it turned out, Mrs Villalobos was one of that majority.”
Were these miracles? Clearly not! In any case, why would an all-loving, all-powerful God only act to relieve suffering when a prayer had been uttered in the name of a dead Cardinal? Incidentally, Cardinal Newman himself viewed Catholic miracles as highly suspicious and even outright fraudulent.
Appealing to saints for guidance and help had a profound consequence for Martin Luther. He was sitting on a garderobe – a medieval toilet – struggling with a particularly painful bowel movement. He was also in mental turmoil because he couldn’t choose whether to marry a wealthy and sexy young lady or become a monk. In his physical and mental struggle, he cried out to Saint Anne for help. His bowels eased instantly and, in gratitude, he became a monk – and look where that led! One result was that King Henry VIII founded the Church of England. And so it is that our revered King Charles III owes his role as Head of the Anglican Church to Martin Luther’s painful bowel motion!
Lourdes ‘Miracles’
A prolific source for claimed miracle cures is Lourdes, a village in the Pyrenees with a resident population of about 15,000. Lourdes attracts around four million pilgrims and other visitors each year. Many seek relief from sickness; others visit to benefit mentally from the ambience. Some 50,000 officially registered sick or disabled pilgrims visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes annually.
Some 7,000 “miracles” have been reported since 1859, when the church authorities started to investigate the validity of claims. Only 67 of those claims have been accepted as “miraculous” by Catholic investigators.
Recently, a survey of pilgrims visiting to improve their mental health was carried out before, during, and two months after their Lourdes visit. The “Quality of Life” metric, a well-known psychological questionnaire-based measure of mental state, was used. The Lourdes pilgrims showed a statistically significant positive impact on their mental state while at Lourdes, compared with their mental state in the months leading up to the visit. However, two months after the visit, the benefits had dissipated.
There have been many criticisms of the validity of claims of unexplained health improvements, for example by Emile Zola, who is reputed to have remarked in his 1894 novel Lourdes: “The road to Lourdes is littered with crutches, but not one wooden leg!” This perceptively highlights that, despite huge numbers of pilgrims claiming miraculous cures for illnesses, no amputees have ever grown back a missing limb. Now that really would be a miracle – one of such power as to convert the most hard-headed atheist!
Carl Sagan popularised an aphorism based on an argument previously made by philosopher David Hume in his 1748 essay Of Miracles: “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” What of the 67 cases of miracles authenticated by the International Medical Committee of Lourdes? These are listed in detail on this website. I have chosen two “miracles” from the list: one at random and the other the most recent at the time of writing.
First, we meet Clementine Malot. In 1892, aged 20 years, she started suffering from tuberculosis. She went to Lourdes in 1898 and felt a marked improvement in her health on returning home. Over the following year her condition improved, and her cure was medically confirmed a year after she had visited Lourdes. An AI summary of medical evidence shows, however, that up to 30% of TB sufferers will recover by spontaneous remission.
The most recently recorded Lourdes “miracle” case at the time of writing is that of Serge Francois, who claimed to have lost almost all mobility in his left leg. This was after surgical complications resulting in a herniated disc. He made a pilgrimage to the Lourdes shrine on 13 April 2002, to pray for healing. It was claimed that the healing took place after Francois had prayed at the grotto, washed his face, and drank from the “sacred” spring. The Lourdes Medical Commission later “verified” that, eight years later, his herniated disc was cured. According to an AI summary of several medical websites,
“Herniated disc recovery typically takes 4 to 8 weeks for symptoms to significantly improve, with many people experiencing relief in 2 to 6 weeks through conservative, non-surgical care. Full recovery can take up to 6 months to a year, although most daily activities can be resumed much sooner.” The foregoing is nowhere impressive enough to convince me that a single miracle has ever happened at Lourdes.
The resurrection of Jesus
Belief in miracles is fundamental to the Christian faith. While some Christians might be cautious about accepting that Joshua’s army destroyed the walls of Jericho by blowing trumpets, or that Jonah survived being swallowed by a whale, they must accept the resurrection of Christ because, only by accepting that “miracle” can they enjoy salvation and everlasting life. Browsing tombstones (it’s one of my hobbies!) I frequently come across expressions such as “Safely gathered into the loving arms of Jesus”, “Reunited with his beloved wife in everlasting joy”, and so on. An afterlife guaranteed to those who accept that Jesus was resurrected is a widely held Christian belief. I know grieving atheists who harbour thoughts that “...there must be something that survives death”. Many arguments have been published claiming the truth of the story of the resurrection of Jesus, such as Who Moved the Stone? by Frank Morison; others argue against its veracity, for example The Resurrection: A Critical Examination of the Easter Story by Jonathan M. S. Pearce. The literature on the resurrection of Jesus is extensive, and a full assessment of the competing arguments lies beyond the scope of this article.
Is it possible to survive death?
Human survival beyond death and an everlasting afterlife – even if reserved for only a favoured few – would constitute an extraordinary miracle. One line of enquiry that has attracted considerable interest is the study of Near Death Experiences (NDEs). These are experiences reported by people who have come close to death but survived, and some regard them as possible evidence for the existence of an afterlife. The process of dying is now the subject of considerable scientific research. (A summary of current research is provided in an article by Nate Scharping – see note 17 below.) Searching YouTube for “Near Death Experiences” produces well over 100,000 videos.
Steve Jobs was the founder of the Apple company and brother to Mona Simpson. According to her, his last words were: “Oh Wow! Oh WOW! OH WOW!” He was clearly looking past those present at something which amazed him. What NDEs do tell us is how the brain behaves when it is preparing a person for dying. This is an instinctive process which involves hallucinations involving dead loved ones, moving along a tunnel with a light at the end, etc. However, examining NDEs provides no evidence at all for an afterlife, because nobody has truly died and come back alive to tell us about it. Modern medical research confirms that irreversible death occurs following brain shutdown. There is no way for the brain to recover once electrical activity ceases.
Gruesome evidence has been gathered over the past two centuries showing that irreversible death rapidly follows the cessation of electrical activity in the brain. Studies on animals have shown that brain activity can persist for up to 15 seconds after decapitation, which could allow for a brief period of awareness. Maybe this accounts for the expression “Running around like a headless chicken!” Attempts have been made to determine how long a human brain can be active after a head is severed by a guillotine.
Following Charlotte Corday’s execution by guillotine in 1793 it was reported that the executioner's assistant slapped her severed head, and her face reportedly took on an angry expression – an incident often cited to suggest that victims might retain consciousness for a significant period. In 1905, a physician named Dr Beaurieux observed the decapitated head of convicted criminal Henri Languille. He reported that, by calling the man’s name, he was able to get the eyes to open and “undeniably” focus on him twice, with the reaction lasting 25 to 30 seconds.
During the French Revolution, some, including a Dr Séguret, reportedly subjected heads to experiments, claiming that eyes closed in response to sunlight. However, other experiments, such as one in 1803, involving seven condemned criminals, resulted in no reaction from the heads. Before murderer Pierre François Lacenaire was executed by guillotine in 1835 he promised to blink after his execution. He didn’t.
The discussion on Near Death Experiences, decapitated heads, etc., is however, a distraction from seeking trustworthy evidence for the miracle of an afterlife. This is because people who report NDEs never died. Once brain electrical activity stops, that person is dead and there has never been a scientifically examined and validated case of a person surviving death – unless you accept the resurrection of Jesus.
References and links
BBC News Article, “How does someone become a saint?” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27140646
BBC News Article, “Cardinal John Henry Newman: How did he become a saint?” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50002085
BBC News Article, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11186584
BBC News Article, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11186584
https://protestanttruth.com/document/cardinal-newmans-counterfeit-miracles/
https://protestanttruth.com/document/cardinal-newmans-counterfeit-miracles/
Kirby, Geoff, “Poo, Pee and Paper: Humanity’s Relationship With Human Waste”, 2020 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Poo-Pee-Paper-Humanitys-Relationship/dp/B087SCDQ2Q
https://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/approved_apparitions/lourdes/miracles1.html
Klimiuk, J, Moriarty, KJ., “The Lourdes Pilgrimage and the Impact on Pilgrim Quality of Life”, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8428497/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_claims_require_extraordinary_evidence
https://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/approved_apparitions/lourdes/miracles1.html
Morison, F., “Who Moved The Stone?” https://www.amazon.co.uk/Who-Moved-Stone-Frank-Morison/dp/1850786747/
Pearce, Jonathan MS, “The Resurrection: A Critical Examination of the Easter Story” https://www.amazon.co.uk/Resurrection-Critical-Examination-Easter-Story/dp/0993510280/
Scharping, N., “This Is What Happens When You Die”, BBC Science Focus Magazine, December 2025, p 70-74.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/oct/31/steve-jobs-last-words
Biographical notes
Geoff Kirby was born in the late 1930s. He gave up belief in gods at the age of eleven as a result of traumatic childhood experiences: living in London throughout the Second World War and losing his father when he was just nine years old. He has an Honours Degree in Physics from London University and, after retiring at the age of 65, he gained an Open University Degree in Environmental Sciences. His career was in oceanography, studying the effect of conditions in the Atlantic Ocean on the UK climate. Geoff is enjoying a busy retirement engaging in several volunteering activities and he is a member of local humanist groups. He has written books on subjects as diverse as helping ladies to find a healthy and comfortable bra, a critically acclaimed “History of the Toilet”, guidance for improving golf putting techniques, and two astronomy books. He is currently writing a book describing his seventy-five years as an atheist.
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