Stephen Jay Gould Quotes about Religion

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When people learn no tools of judgment and merely follow their hopes, the seeds of political manipulation are sown.

When people learn no tools of judgment and merely follow their hopes, the seeds of political manipulation are sown.

Stephen Jay Gould

People, Political, Religion

"An Urchin in the Storm: Essays About Books and Ideas". Book by Stephen Jay Gould. "The Quack Detector", p. 245, 1987.

Human life is the result of a glorious evolutionary accident.

Stephen Jay Gould

Religion, Atheism, Life Is

But we all recognise the primary foible of frail humanity - our propensity for embracing hope and shunning logic, our tendency to believe what we desire rather than what we observe.

Stephen Jay Gould

Believe, Humanity, Religion

Nothing is more dangerous than a dogmatic worldview - nothing more constraining, more blinding to innovation, more destructive of openness to novelty.

Stephen Jay Gould

Innovation, Religion, Novelty

Stephen Jay Gould (1995). “Dinosaur in a haystack: reflections in natural history”, Harmony

Creationist critics often charge that evolution cannot be tested, and therefore cannot be viewed as a properly scientific subject at all. This claim is rhetorical nonsense.

Stephen Jay Gould

Religion, Evolution, Nonsense

Stephen Jay Gould (1995). “Dinosaur in a haystack: reflections in natural history”, Harmony

Since we proposed punctuated equilibria to explain trends, it is infuriating to be quoted again and again by creationists-whether through design or stupidity, I do not know-as admitting that the fossil record includes no transitional forms. Transitional forms are generally lacking at the species level, but they are abundant between larger groups.

Stephen Jay Gould

Stupidity, Design, Religion

Stephen Jay Gould (2010). “Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes: Further Reflections in Natural History”, p.260, W. W. Norton & Company

The invalid assumption that correlation implies cause is probably among the two or three most serious and common errors of human reasoning.

Stephen Jay Gould

Two, Errors, Religion

Stephen Jay Gould (2006). “The Mismeasure of Man (Revised & Expanded)”, p.178, W. W. Norton & Company

Odd arrangements and funny solutions are the proof of evolution - paths that a sensible God would never tread but that a natural process, constrained by history, follows perforce.

Stephen Jay Gould

Religion, Atheism, Path