Prompt:  Professor Couldert included Dr. Oppenheimer’s following quote in her discussion of religion in science.  
“there is no place for dogma in science.  The scientist is free to ask any question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any error.”
 
Do you agree with the statement?  Why or why not?  Be sure to cite the NY Times

	I do not agree with this statement.  Should I?  Why should I?  Can you prove it?  I don’t think you 
can.  I don’t think you want to.  I think you’re afraid to.  I was there, were you?  Do you remember 
it?  I don’t.  Why should she say that?  You have no proof.  You have no reason.  Are you wearing 
underpants right now?  I’m not.  Does this matter?  Yes.  Does that matter? No.  “What was being 
said, why was it being said, and by whom?”  These are all relative questions.
	When a boy becomes a man, he goes through a brief period where he questions his own 
sexual orientation.  This does not matter.  But it is relative.  You see my point.  My point is 
relative.  That is my point, which you see.  And it is good.
	Am I answering in the question, or is the question answering me?  More on that later.  Is the 
answer to both of these questions “no”?  This is a question of relativity.  Well, no, that was a 
statement of fact.  This is a question of relativity?  Swiss cheese.  
	Three years ago a man was indicted for committing adultery.  This man was a polygamist.  
Three years ago from when?  Five years ago.  How many wives did he have?  How many pets?  Six.  
Can a man be married to a pet he does not own?  Is religion an excuse for this?  Is it an excuse 
for science?  Is science an excuse for religion?  Is this an excuse for an essay?  If so, does not 
religion provide certain freedoms to which the scientific mind is not privy to?  Is that preposition 
redundant?  No.  
What do you mean?  What do I mean?  What do you think I mean?  How do I mean?  I mean 
portmanteau.  I mean morphemes.  I mean you can’t just put an “un” in front of a “to” and call it 
a word – or a preposition. Or can you?  You can.  You can?  No you can’t.  Are you writing the 
bible?  You are?  No you’re not.  Oh, you have copy here?  It has “unto” in it? Well then, I guess 
you can.  I cannot.  I also cannot touch my elbow to my anus.  Did you need to know that?  
Relatively.
Numbers are male.  How do they reproduce?  Homosexually.  Not possible you say?  What do you 
know – Pythagoras said that.  You think you’re smarter than him?  Do you have any idea how 
many numbers there are these days?  You think that should be “he is?”  I don’t.  Pythagoras 
doesn’t either.  And neither does Science Desk writer Margaret Wertheim –  and she works for the 
New York Times.  I rest my case.  My case rests me.  Wanna fight about it? 

Wertheim, Margaret.  COMMENTARY; Numbers Are Male, Said Pythagoras, and the Idea Persists.  
New York Times, October 3, 2006.  Online< http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?
res=F00F1EFC3F540C708CDDA90994DE404482>