"What is so good about having faith when you don't have evidence? What is the real advantage to that? Why is this something that we want to encourage? Why not say, as I do with my daughter, 'Let's see some proof.' She asked her friend, who believes in Jesus, if she could wait up one night and see Him for herself, and it didn't happen. Why is that OK? Why is it OK for scientists to say that skepticism is the default position, except when it comes to mainstream religion?"
— Natalie Angier
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Source: From "God vs. Science: A Debate Between Natalie Angier and David Sloan Wilson Moderated by Thomas A. Bass." The debate took place April 12, 2007 at the University at Albany, State University of New York. The transcript for this debate—from which this quote is taken—is posted on www.edge.org, the Web site of the Edge Foundation, Inc.
Read a bio of Natalie Angier, who is a science reporter for The New York Times, here. David Sloan Wilson, is a professor of biology and anthropology at Binghamton University in New York. Read his bio here.
