Does Materialism have any scientific value?

- Darwinists like to disparage creationists by claiming that the idea of creation hasn't got any scientific value. I disagree with this claim, but in this brief post I want to turn the claim around, and ask whether the idea of materialism has any value in science.

We might ask the Darwinist whether the idea life 'emerged' from non-life is of any value in science. Does anyone use that supposition in their research? Does anyone expect this to happen? Does anyone expect to see complex, specified information spontaneously emerge without an intelligent agent behind it?

Is the idea something came from nothing of any value in scientific thinking and explanation? Do people expect to see this happen? Do they count on it happening? Do they look for this to happen? Do people explain entities and events by recourse to this explanation? (e.g. by claiming things probably came from nothing.)

Is the idea that complex information (genetic code) came from inert matter of any value in scientific thinking? Does anyone doing research expect complex information to come from mere matter? Does anyone expect specified information to come from non-intelligent sources?

Conclusion;
In my opinion, the concepts at the heart of Materialism have no scientific value. Not only that, they've led to all kinds of mistaken notions that have led scientists astray in their thinking. Not only doesn't materialism lead to anything positive, it leads to Reductionism, which is the major intellectual error of our day.

Notes;
1. To do research from a 'naturalistic' stance (i.e. as if God were not responsible for any activity one saw) isn't a specifically materialist idea. This methodology was one advocated by Christians and creationists. (The materialist can't act 'as if' God doesn't exist, if he doesn't in fact believe god exists.)
- The heart of materialism isn't the idea that God doesn't exist; the basic idea is rather that matter is all that exists. (This being the case matter must be eternal, and 'life' must come from non-life, and intelligence from non-intelligence, and the personal from the non-personal.)