D. J. Hosken, "Would you accept advice from a believer in Santa?" (2005)

"Nature" 10 February 2005, vol. 433, s. 571. 
Would you accept advice from a believer in Santa?

Sir * I was horrified to read the recent Editorial "Where theology matters" (Nature 432, 657; 2004) in the world's foremost science journal. Not only did the Editorial appear to support the position that science and religion deal with different aspects of reality, but it also implied that religion has some privileged position in ethical debates.

This view is reflected in many public discussions of moral issues, where the obligatory priest or rabbi is wheeled out to comment on some topic, in spite of their utter lack of any qualification other than a belief in a paranormal entity that created the Universe and all it contains. Would you be prepared to accept fundamental advice from someone who insisted that Father Christmas was real?

The suggestion that religion has an intrinsic and predestined role in any ethical debate is indefensible, as a simple read of the ethics promulgated by the Old Testament (for example) will make abundantly clear. In most parts of the world, and certainly in the Western world, we no longer stone adulterers to death, the sins of fathers are not paid for by their sons, and masturbation is not viewed as a mortal sin.

It is also time for us to discard other atavisms, including pandering to religion and pretending that this out-dated, dogmatic endeavour is preordained to lead or advise us on any issue, ethical or otherwise. Dogma is not ethics.

D. J. Hosken
Centre for Ecology and Conservation, The University of Exeter in Cornwall, Tremough, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9EZ, UK