"Is science same as polymaths?"

"Scientists -  look in mirror see the afterlives? If all the scientists think there no gods, that would be reason to think there no gods, but ...God was a great scientist, if that is what scientist is, and God tell us about Hell and Abaddon and Abyss. ...and God raise island out of the sea. The island is on your maps. So I think God exist."

And they say Canadians are unnaturally polite. Claudette is, like, the anti-Canadian stereotype. Emily is very fond of her. 

....Who even uses the word 'polymaths'. How does this kid who barely speaks English know it.

"A polymath means someone who's learned a lot of everything. Science is a specific area you can learn about, it's like - why do things fall downward, what's the sun made of, where do plants and animals come from.I have literally never heard of scientists looking in a mirror to see the afterlives. Or - wait, what island?"

That doesn't even match any mythology she's heard of. 'Jesus was a great scientist' is a pretty cool take, as weird cult takes go, but Emily is pretty sure it's not true. 

"Are you sure you're not from some kind of alternate universe? Religious people make lots of claims that nobody can prove and that I think are false, but not those ones." 

Claudette isn't really being serious but she's very baffled right now. Emily warned her that foster kids can be weird but she was expecting differently weird. 

"What is alternate universe? Great scientists can go alternate universe?"

Nervous laugh. "I was joking. It means, like, a different world - not just a different planet far away, more different than that. It's something from stories, though, it's not real." 

"In science fiction stories, sometimes the great scientists can go between universes, but that might honestly be a weirder explanation than it turning out that God exists after all." 

"People who say no gods, they say priests do healing some other way? Or they say 'this America, priests no do healing' and not know in other places priests do healing?"

"I guess some churches claim that God does miraculous healing? People claim all sorts of things, I think that's one where, like, scientists have tried to test it and there's never been any convincing proof that it's real. ...I know there used to be way more claims of miracles, before science was as good, and now that we can actually get things on video camera and stuff, poof, no more miracles that you can see and couldn't be faked or - people thinking it worked because they expected it to, it turns out fake medicine sort of works if people think it's real medicine and believe it'll help. And it can't just be that it's only in other countries, video cameras and radio are basically everywhere now, we'd have heard." 

"Scientists cannot do miraculous healing. Everybody know that. Priests can, and... plant-priests. I seed them do it both."

"Everybody know that," she agrees. "Priests and I did not know plant-priests but no is confusing learn that. We only talk with plant-priests for the crops."

What the actual heck is a plant priest??? 

"I mean, I don't think the test was having scientists try to miraculously heal people, I think they asked priests who had been telling people they could do healing, and had them try to heal a lot of people, and then maybe had some people come in thinking they were seeing a priest who would heal them but it was actually a scientist in disguise pretending, and then they compared how many of them got better. A lot of things get better on their own, so you might think it was miraculous if you don't have a group of people where it definitely wasn't miraculous to compare to." 

"I think it is not something everyone knows, actually," Claudette says dryly. "Since neither of us know it." 

"Everyone in Undarin know. In America everyone not know."

"I have been miraculous healed. No is thing you can be confused if it happen or not. If one day the priest do a pretend miraculous heal, everyone very angry with him. ...probably throw rocks at him until he die."

"...Well, in that case I think I'm mostly just really confused. I feel like if miraculous healing was a real thing it'd be - a really big deal? Even if it was only in one country. There would be documentaries and stuff." 

"Maybe no one has goed to Taldor, because it is so far. Maybe the government is killing people who say miraculous healing is real, and killing all the priests and holy warriors."

"The US government is definitely not killing all the priests! We have tons of priests who claim all sorts of things, the government doesn't even arrest you for saying things that aren't true unless you're, like, telling people to make their children drink bleach to cure their autism, and even then it is harder than you would think to stop people from giving horrible wrong medical advice on the Internet." Snort. "I'm the last person who would claim the US government isn't, like, kind of evil, but it's not that kind of evil." 

"You can travel anywhere in the world, it definitely isn't that no one has been to Taldor. I guess unless Taldor is an uncontacted jungle tribe but you don't really seem like someone from an uncontacted jungle tribe and also I don't think they would be Christian." 

"Well then maybe Taldor is farer than that. I do not know. But I know that priest heal me, hundreds times, and that only poor person have baby with no priest, because they may bleed and die before the priest get there. You could say, sure, priests healing people, but they lying that God give them power to do it and I would say, I no know enough to argue that. But I know priests heal people."

"If priests had a way to heal people that didn't involve God and was just - magic, or whatever - that really seems like it'd be just as big a deal! Maybe a bigger deal, since they could teach it to people who aren't religious, and it'd have all sorts of implications about the laws of physics and stuff." 

"I think I would have very mixed feelings if it turns out God is real and priests can miraculously heal people. I don't think I would get along with God." 

"- no, God is good, you would get along with God. God would say, you think you be a better God than me, come and try it, I left a way, and you not even have to get nailed to a cross to do it."

"....God did what now? I haven't heard that one before." 

" - that is why He raise island out of the sea. It is where the 'Starstone' is. You can grow very strong and then use it to become a God like God. Cayden Cailean has doed this, and Norgorber. Those only ones I hear of. - you hear of more?" she asks Alfirin.