US Raelian Bishop's Open Letter to Ben Stein
Dear Ben, I hope you'll forgive me for asking too much of your time to read this...and thank
you so, so much!
亲爱的本，我希望您能原谅我耽误您些时间来阅读这个...非常谢谢您！
Big congrats on your movie. I'm a long time fan. I've always enjoyed your dry wit and copious
knowledge of the world around us. I just read something you were quoted as saying that
surprised me, even shocking me since I have always held you in such high esteem. It was
supposedly quoted from an interview with Paul Crouch, Jr. on Crouch’s Trinity Broadcasting
Network when speaking about your movie "Expelled".
首要恭喜您的电影。我是超级影迷。我总喜欢你的敏锐才智和在我们周围的丰富社会知识。我
刚才读了些你引证说的话而感到吃惊，甚至使我震惊，我一直保持你崇高的敬意。大概是在
Paul Crouch Jr的一个采访，在Crouch’s Trinity广播网的时候谈到你的电影“驱逐”。
You were quoted as saying "When we just saw that man, I think it was Mr. Myers talking
about how great scientists were, I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives
saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get
gassed … that was horrifying beyond words, and that’s where science — in my opinion, this
is just an opinion — that’s where science leads you." Then you were quoted as saying
"…Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science
leads you to killing people." Maybe you were quoted out of context. (this was in this blog in
case you need to correct them)
你提出说：“当我们公正看待一个人，我认为这是梅尔斯先生谈到的有多少伟大科学家，我在
心里对自己说，最后一次所有我相对的看到科学家告诉他们去做什么，科学家告诉他们大量的
放毒气… 这是骇人听闻无法用语言表达，而且这就是科学的地方 - 依我看来，这只是一个意
见，这是科学引导您”。然后你引证说：“……上帝的爱和同情心，引导你一个很光荣的地方，
科学引导你去杀人”。也许你断章取义。 （这是博客里的情形您需要更正）
If the quote above was accurate, and I believe it is because it's stated in your usual respectful
tone, I could not agree more with your comments on love, compassion and empathy - and
that some scientists are quite full of themselves. ;-)
At the same time, I hope you will allow me to offer you another perspective by pointing out the
fact that it's not scientists who are bad. Science and technology are always good. It's the way
in which they are used which needs to be judged good or bad. It's always the politicians and
military which abuse science and the scientists. The car was invented and governments made
it into a tank. Antibiotics were created and governments made biological weapons. Atomic
energy was discovered ...etc.
It's not the scientists who are bad. It's those who abuse their work who are the problem.
如果上述引用是准确的，我相信这是因为在您的一贯尊重人的语气陈述。我不能同意您对爱，怜
悯心和同理心更多的评论，-和那些科学家自己是相当完美的。 ;-)
同时，我希望你会允许我向你提供另一个角度，指出事实上不是科学家的问题。科学和技术总是
好事。它是一个在哪所使用而需要加以判断好还是坏。它始终是政治家和军事问题，其中滥用科
学和科学家。汽车的发明与政府以它做成为一个坦克。抗生素的创造和政府制成的生物武器。原
子能被发现...等。
这不是科学家是错误的。那是滥用了他们工作的人有问题。
If not for scientists, it's very possible you or I would not be alive either because our ancestors,
you or I would have died from the simplest infection.One can use stones to build a synagogue
or church - or they can throw the stones at others. One can use a pencil to write words of love
and compassion or they can use it to stab someone in the eye. It's not the stone or pencil (or
the man who invented it) that are the problem. The problem is in the mind of the person using
the pencil or the stone. If someone harms another person, they lack the love and compassion
you speak of. But science is not the culprit. We should not condemn the hand just because it
can strike another person. We need to, instead, place more importance on love and
compassion in the one who possesses the hand.
As you said, if a person loves God and also applies compassion and empathy, this is good.
There is, however, also a myth there in that this belief also facilitates violent fanaticism
because this whole paradigm tolerates books like the Torah,New Testament and Koran - all of
which condone and even glorify killing and revenge while claiming to teach love and compassion.
These two ideals are mutually exclusive. Love and fear cannot exist in the same mind at the
same time. We can see that Western religion does not place nearly enough importance on
compassion and empathy. This is easy to see since there has been many more people killed
in the name of God than anything on Earth - grossly more than people who were killed in the
name of science. The belief in God has caused millions of people to abuse science.
如果不是科学家，很可能你或我不会活着，或者因为我们祖先最简单的感染而死。同样可以使用
石头来建立一个犹太教堂或教会 -或者他们可以将石块投掷别人。你还可以使用铅笔书写爱和同
情的文字，或他们可以用它来刺戳人的眼睛。它不是石头或铅笔（或发明了它的人）的问题。
问题是使用铅笔或石头的头脑。如果有人伤害另一人，他们缺乏你谈到的爱心和同情心。但科学
不是犯人。我们不应该谴责手，只是因为它可以袭击另一个人。
我们需要拥有手的人对爱情和同情，代替更多重要的位置。
正如你所说，如果一个人热爱上帝和也适用于同情心和同理心，这是好事。那无论如何，同样一
个神话，在这个信念也有利于暴力的狂热，因为这整个摩西五经，新约和古兰经范例容忍 -所有
这些纵容和甚至美化杀戮和报复，而自称为教导爱和同情心。这两个理想是互相排斥的。爱和恐
惧，不能存在于相同的想法，相同的时间。我们可以看到，西方宗教对同情和同理心不足够重视
的地方。地球上这是很容易看到，已经有人比任何事而更多的死在以上帝的名义， -非常多的人
在科学相关被打死。信仰上帝，已造成数百万人滥用科学。
Heck, if one adds them up, God even killed well over 2 million people Himself as recorded in
the Old Testament.
It is the scientists who have made our lives longer, improved the mortality rate by creating
insulin, antibiotics, blood transfusions, surgery etc. The scalpel can heal or kill. The difference
lies in the mind of the ones we allow to use the scalpel.
Thank you for allowing me to offer what I hope to be respectful and reasonable criticism of
your remarks and to remind you that your words have a lot of effect on people. Personally,
I am a "religious atheist". I am Raelian. I believe, like you, in Elohim but not in a God. :-)
最糟的是，如果加上他们，上帝他自己在旧约里有纪录的甚至杀死超过200万人。
科学家使我们的生命更加长久，改良了死亡率，创造胰岛素，抗生素，输血，手术等。手术刀可
以医治或杀戮。不同之处在于一个头脑如何使用手术刀。
谢谢你让我提供这些，我希望得到您的尊重和合理的批评，和要提醒您，您的言语将影响很多人。
就本人而论我是一个“宗教无神论者”。我是雷尔人。在耶洛因，而不是在独一的上帝，相信喜
欢您。 :-)
Thank you so much for your time!
Fraternally,
ricky roehr
President North American Raelian Movement
PS: In the end, while we may disagree on the above, maybe we could agree that the problem
lies in the fact that not enough people apply love, compassion and empathy - but I still think
that science has saved a lot more lives than God has and taken a lot less lives than the Torah
touts. ;-)
附言：最后，当上述的我们可能不一致的时候，或许我们能同意那个事实上的问题，人们没有充
足的应用爱，怜悯心和同理心 -但我仍然认为，科学挽救的生命比上帝律法书拯救的生命要更多。;-)
非常感谢您的时间！
兄弟似地，
ricky roehr
北美雷尔教运动会长
