Steven Weinberg says those “who try to ban research on therapeutic cloning” are “religious zealots”
LEWISTON, Maine, May 29, 2002 (LSN.ca) – In a commencement speech delivered May 27, Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg told graduating Bates College students that those “who try to ban research on therapeutic cloning” are “religious zealots” and in the same lot with those who “bomb abortion clinics.” Weinberg asked student to join him in the continuation of the movement known as “the Enlightenment.”“Even here in America we have religious zealots who try to corrupt the teaching of biological and astronomic science in public schools, who try to ban research on therapeutic cloning, who try to prevent building astronomical observatories on the top of mountains that some people think are sacred, and who in extreme cases, bomb abortion clinics,” he said. Weinberg, was winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in physics and currently a theoretical physicist at the University of Texas, also compared those opposed to the Enlightenment with Islamic fundamentalism. “With a few exceptions like Turkey, the governments of Islamic countries have generally not accepted the separation of state and religion or the equality of men and women.”
To express your concerns: Professor Steven Weinberg Department of Physics University of Texas at Austin Theory Group, RLM 5.208 C1608 Austin, TX 78712-1081 Office – (512) 471-4394 FAX – (512) 471-4888 email: [email protected] See the coverage from Bates College release: https://www.bates.edu/x24587.xml