As for science and religion, the known and admitted facts are few and plain enough. All that the parsons say is unproved. All that the doctors say is disproved. That's the only difference between science and religion there's ever been, or will be.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Science and religion differ in that doctors are disproved while parsons are unproved.
- In plain terms
- Religious claims are unproven while medical claims are disproven.
- What can you take from it?
- Both fields make claims that lack definitive proof.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Are all expert claims equally uncertain?
- How do we judge unproven ideas?
Another view
Some religious claims can be tested or falsified.
More from Gilbert Keith Chesterton
Either criticism is no good at all (a very defensible position) or else criticism means saying about an author the very things that would have made him jump ou…
Permalink to quote #26 The academic mind reflects infinity, and is full of light by the simple process of being shallow and standing still.
Permalink to quote #28 The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created…
Permalink to quote #25
Related quotes
The creationist is a sham religious person who, curiously, has no true sense of religion. In the language of religion, it is the facts we observe in the world …
Fred HoyleFred Hoyle quote #5 'If we are honest-and scientists have to be-we must admit that religion is a jumble of false assertions, with no basis in reality. The very idea of God is a pr…
Paul DiracPaul Dirac quote #5 The puritanic potentialities of science have never been forecast. If it evolves a body of organized rites, and is established as a religion, hierarchically org…
Wyndham LewisWyndham Lewis quote #5