Editor,
There were bound to be complaints about one aspect of Steven Pinker's lecture (letter to The Post, March 10). However, a university is exactly the place to welcome lecturers like Pinker, who include as a small part of their presentation personal views they have reached that may be different from those held by the majority of people.
It's appropriate for anyone, including a scientist, to examine the beliefs associated with any aspect of the human experience, even religious ideas. Why shouldn't Pinker question the view that the soul enters at conception, an idea that has had the effect of limiting stem-cell research in our country? Thousands of sick or crippled people may suffer or die because some religions insist that the soul enters at conception. (As a biologist would point out, twinning of an embryo from a single fertilized egg can occur as late as two weeks after conception. Which of the twins then gets to have the single soul available-or does each get half a soul?)
As far as belittling the Bible
Pinker simply raised a valid point: The Old Testament includes passages condoning the mass slaughter of men, women and children. I will add that it also provides a large variety of ways by which women are to be oppressed. Furthermore, it proclaims blacks to be inferior. Pinker was right in saying that the Bible does not always provide the best guidelines for making moral decisions.
To make the point that some religious ideas have to be challenged, let me raise the topic of reproductive choice. Religious-based views prevented the sale of contraceptives in various states in this country until the late 1940s. Today, certain religious groups use their idea about the soul to oppose the sale of the morning-after contraceptive pill. Why should women who do not belong to such religious groups be denied the right to determine when they will have a child?
As long as medicine and science continue to be assailed by conservative religious groups in our country, there will be a need for individuals like Pinker to comment on religious matters as part of their public presentations. Pinker's offhanded humor and ill-spirited comments result from the deep frustration that many American scientists feel due to the increasing negative influence of certain religious groups.
Jerome Rovner
jerome.rovner@ohiou.edu 17
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