Shamanist or Christian, who makes the better scientist?

In my daily perambulations around the web, I found this quote of a post from a comment to another post Link to Ace:

... the west's general belief in the superstition of praying to a guy who was nailed to a cross then resurrected after 3 days seems NOT to have had a negative bearing on your development. How do you suppose witchcraft has held back Africans?"

Obviously this was in reference to somebody posting that Africans needed more "civilizin' ", as was apparent from the belief in witchcraft  that is prevalent throughout the The Dark Continent. Said comment probably espousing the equivalence of  "civilizin' " and "Christian proselytising".

Reading that fired some synapses into posing the question: "What exactly is different between faith in Christ and faith in witchcraft - between Christianity and Shamanism?"

Both would seem to espouse a faith in the supernatural - ordinarily people crucified to death are not seen walking around within the week, and shaking bones over a smoky fire while muttering imprecations would not seem to have any likely association with your enemy falling ill with suppurating boils.

So what exactly is the difference, and can it in any way explain the disparity in technological development between "the west" and "sub-Saharan Africa"?

Let me start with Christianity. As someone who was raised in the Anglican church, an altar boy, and a church youth group member, and then became an engineer - in as much as anyone ever becomes an engineer, it may actually be genetic - I have an admitted bias towards a quiet form of Christianity, even though I now find blind faith in the inexplicable a little unsettling.  The Anglicans of my acquaintance are primarily concerned with their own faith, and the betterment of themselves through that faith and the teachings of Christ. They don't seem to petition their God for harm to befall others, nor necessarily for good to befall themselves - although I think I would be safe to assume that many a prayer is said when the numbers are drawn for the church fund-raising raffles.

Shamanism? I have no idea beyond the depictions in movies, and the odd documentary, but since when does ignorance stop an internet commenter?

It seems that many adherents to the world of the shaman are a little like Easter and Christmas Christians - they don't necessarily believe any of it, but it never hurts to cover the bases. But then, there are obviously the hard-core committed folk who are absolutely certain that certain practices are supernaturally linked to other unrelated events - and that stands for BOTH communities.

So real believers are not the difference; semi-committed followers are not the difference; probably cynical exploiters are not the difference either; so maybe the actual beliefs themselves are the difference.

The original quote stressed that there was little difference between the two in terms of the incredible nature of their respective claims - rising from the dead, the power of prayer, pointing the bone etc. - but I think this is where the kernel lies. Although both claim supernatural things, only the witch-doctor or shaman makes claims of the banality of the supernatural. Where the Christian says, "I believe in these supernatural things that are the province of ONLY the divine", the shamanist says, "I believe in these supernatural things, and SPECIAL PEOPLE can do them." 

As is natural when people are involved, that's where the corruption starts. In the Christian world, has anybody heard of Papal dispensations? Maybe you've heard of the Spanish Inquisition? I don't know that there have been similar happenings in shamanist circles, but it certainly seems that the ordinary believers have reduced witch-craft to "things I can do to harm others and help myself in life". This has proven disastrous to Africans compared to the Christian "I can live life being good, and ASK that God recognise that, and reward me in the AFTER-LIFE."

In essence, I suppose I consider shamanistic faith in the application of the supernatural by special people to deliver benefit in daily life to be fundamentally different to Christian faith in living life by the teachings of Christ (taught as a reward in itself) leading to rewards from God in the after-life.

So, how has this helped the west and/or hindered Africa?

To an engineer, a Christian's faith has no bearing on whether a  bridge falls down; a circuit oscillates, amplifies, or resonates; or a turbine engine produces thrust. These things happen due to generally understood, immutable laws of the physical world - laws that are not beyond the mind of man to understand and apply.

To a Christian, an engineer's calculations are not offensive to God, and are no less immutable.

To a shamanist, designing and building a bridge or a building must be done on the basis that the laws of physics are NOT immutable, but can be changed at will by any one of a special class of people. After all, application of the supernatural is a daily reality in that world, and NOT just the province of the divine.

Can you imagine how much science and technology can exist in a world where the scientific principles are not understood, because they can be changed - arbitrarily, momentarily, and locally?

Christianity has a bevy of critics, but its separation of the intrinsically unknowable supernatural from the daily application of consistent, understandable natural phenomena is probably the greatest boon ever delivered to humankind.