Understandably, religion has been rejected by many people of science
for its resistance to scientific progress, its dismal record, and its
hypocrisy and cruelty. Professor of microbiology John Postgate points
out: “The world’s religions have . . . brought the horrors of human
sacrifice, crusades, pogroms and inquisitions. In the modern world this
darker side of religion has become dangerous. For unlike science,
religion is not neutral.”
Comparing that with the assumed rationality, objectivity, and
discipline of science, Postgate claims that “science has come to occupy
the high ground of morality.”
Has science really seized the moral high ground? The answer is no.
Postgate himself admits that “scientific communities have their share of
jealousy, greed, prejudice and envy.” He adds that “a few scientists
have shown themselves capable of murder in the name of research, as
happened in Nazi Germany and Japanese prison camps.” And when National
Geographic assigned an investigative re****ter to find out how a fossil
hoax ended up in its pages, the re****ter spoke of “a tale of misguided
secrecy and misplaced confidence, of rampant egos cla****ng,
self-aggrandizement, wishful thinking, naive assumptions, human error,
stubbornness, manipulation, backbiting, lying, [and] corruption.”
And, of course, it is science that has given mankind horrific
instruments of warfare, such as weapons-grade disease organisms, poison
gas, missiles, “smart” bombs, and nuclear bombs.
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