And for me, it's pretty clear-cut that until we learn some better explanation for how life began, there is a God who always existed and created the heavens and the earth. And until somebody gives me a better explanation, I'll go for it. And it doesn't scare me at all when scientists say, 'Oh, but that can't be proved,' because neither can any of the Darwinian hypotheses about how life began be proved. Anyway, I couldn't give a [profanity] whether a person calls himself a scientist. It doesn't earn any extra respect from me, because it's not as if science has covered itself with glory, morally, in my time. Scientists were the people in Germany telling Hitler that it was a good idea to kill all the Jews. Scientists were telling Stalin it was a good idea to wipe out the middle-class peasants. Scientists were telling Mao Tse-Tung it was fine to kill 50 million people in order to further the revolution.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Stein argues for God as the creator due to lack of better scientific explanation and cites historical scientific complicity in atrocities.
- In plain terms
- He chooses to believe in God since science cannot prove life's origin and has supported killing in the past.
- What can you take from it?
- Moral failures of scientists can undermine trust in their hypotheses.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Does past misconduct invalidate current science?
- How should we weigh unproven hypotheses?
Another view
The moral record of scientists does not determine the truth of specific biological theories.
More from Ben Stein
My feeling is that Darwinism is only at best a partial solution, and an extremely dangerous partial solution. I would say, based on the little I know, Darwinis…
Permalink to quote #10 I'm still not that familiar with it [Intelligent Design]. I'm more familiar with it than most people, but nowhere near as familiar with it as a genuine expert …
Permalink to quote #12 Humans are alive, therefore life must be complex.
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