Guess this is a minor point
No, good point, really. It argues from what is actually there in the setting instead of authorial intent (because death of the author etc.).
I see a bit of a contradicition in that Mystics are actively trained and exploited but their miracles are still supposedly seen as non-quantifiable, but I guess that most of the general population never met a Mystic and therefore doesn't necessarily believe in mystic powers even though faith in the Icons remains strong.
I'm still convinced that in the Third Horizon, scientic methods of discovery are applied to prayer with meticulous scrutiny. However, especially with Octo's briefing on the Arab world in mind, I have shifted a bit in my opinion as well in that the religious and the scientific should run into each other more. In all of the natural sciences, which all attempt to describe infinitely complex systems, we can only record and measure events, then make a mere guess as to what the cause of it was, with no proof ever forthcoming. Essentially through science, the nature around us still remains a wonderful, immeasurable and very mysterious entity – in short, the greatest kind of magic there is.
If we play out science and religion as opposing forces or beliefs in Coriolis, we may be making a big mistake – a Christian mistake.
