1、The Never-ending Fight永无休止的争论I was interviewed on television recently and, in answering the questions, I found myself expressing my contempt for the various superstitious beliefs that plague humanity.最近接受电视采访回答问题时，我表达了自己对困扰人们的迷信的蔑视。 The interviewer asked, “But since, by your own admission, most peop
2、le believe this sort of thing and find solace or comfort in it, why do you want to deprive them of it?“采访者问：“可是，既然如您所承认的那样，大多数人们相信这种迷信的东西，并能从中得到安慰，为什么你还要人们放弃他们的信仰呢？I answered as best I could in the brief time available to me before the camera. But I can do it better now with more space at my disposa
3、l. This, in essence, is what I said.镜头前，在可利用的短暂时间里，我尽可能地做了最好的回答。但是现在我能做出更完善的回答，因为有更多的时间可供我支配。实际上，下面才是我想说的。There are two reasons. In the first place, I have the call to do so, the call to point out the uselessness of superstition. Everyone is perfectly ready to believe theists when they say they have
4、 the call to preach their version of the world of God and to accord them a kind of humble respect for having such a noble mission. Why, then, should I be scorned because I have the call to preach my version of the world of reason?原因有两个。首先，我有义务这么做，有义务指出迷信的无用之处。毋庸置疑，每个人都易于相信有神论者，当他们说他们有义务宣讲关于上帝世界的看法，并
5、因拥有如此高尚的布道活动而赢得众人恭顺、尊敬时，那么，为什么我宣扬关于理智世界的观点就该遭到取笑呢？I have my own notion of what it means to be rational and to look at the universe clearly. Unlike theists, I threaten no one with hellfire if they refuse to agree with every word I say; nor do I attempt to bribe them with tales of eternal bliss if onl
6、y they accept my every syllable. Rather, I preach a universe in which there is neither threat nor bribe but merely something one strives to understand merely for the sake of understanding.关于什么是理性，该怎样清楚地看世界，我有自己的看法。与有神论者不同，我不会用地狱之火威胁任何人，即使他们拒绝接受我所说的每个字；我也不会企图用永久的幸福之类的鬼话来贿赂他们，只要他们认同我的每一句话。相反地，我布道的世界里没
7、有威逼，没有贿赂，只是纯粹为了认识而需努力去了解的东西。Unlike theists, I do not claim to have a pipeline to something supernatural. I do not claim to have absolute truth and an eternal answer to every problem past, present, or future. Rather, I offer the fallible human mind doing the best it can to improve its view somewhat f
8、rom generation to generation.与有 神 论者不同，我不会宣称拥有通往超自然力量的途径，也不断言有绝对的真理和关于过去、现在和将来问题的始终不变的答 案。相反地，我只是作为一个易犯错误的人，竭尽所能地改进自己对世界的认识，这种认识从某种程度上讲是代代相传的。And what I ask is merely that I be given a chance to express this rather modest and humble attitude without let or hindrance.我只要求给我一个机会，谦逊而自 由地表达见解。Secondly,
9、it is no defense of superstition and pseudo-science to say that it brings solace and comfort to people and that therefore we “elitists“ should not claim to know better and to take it away from the less sophisticated.其次，有人说迷信和伪科学给人们带来了安慰，缓解了痛苦，这并不能为迷信和伪科学辩护。因此自认为杰出人物的我们不应该宣称知道得更多，从而剥夺人们纯洁的信仰。If solac
10、e and comfort are how we judge the worth of something, then consider that tobacco brings solace and comfort to smokers; alcohol brings it to drinkers; drugs of all kinds bring it to addicts; the fall of cards and the run of horses bring it to gamblers; violence brings it to sociopaths. Judge by sola
11、ce and comfort only and there is no behavior we ought to interfere with.如果说舒适是我们判断事物价值的标准，那么请想一想：香烟让吸烟者快乐；酒精让嗜酒者沉醉；各种各样的毒品让吸毒者沉溺；纸牌、跑马让赌博者兴奋；暴力给反社会的人带来快感。只以此作标准，没有任何行为我们可以干涉。To be sure, it is easy to see that all these things bring harm to their practitioners, but can it not be argued that if some p
12、eople get pleasure out of a practice that does harm to them it is nevertheless their body, their choice, their health, and their life to do with as they wish? Who are we to be the “big brother“ who attempts to dictate our notion of a superior way of life to others against their will?诚然，所有这些都很容易给染上恶习
13、的人们带来伤害，但是难道我们不可以就此质疑：人们从造成自身伤害的行为中得到快乐，真的如他们所认为的那样，只不过是他们自己的选择，仅与他们自己的身体健康、生命安全有关。那我们算什么人，竟能充当“老大“，把我们所谓的更好的生活方式的观念专横地强加给他们，而不管他们的意愿？Unlike theists, I do not claim to have a pipeline to something supernatural. I do not claim to have absolute truth and an eternal answer to every problem past, presen
14、t, or future. Rather, I offer the fallible human mind doing the best it can to improve its view somewhat from generation to generation.与有神论者不同，我不会宣称拥有通往超自然力量的途径，也不断言有绝对的真理和关于过去、现在和将来问题的始终不变的答案。相反地，我只是作为一个易犯错误的人，竭尽所能地改进自己对世界的认识，这种认识从某种程度上讲是代代相传的。And what I ask is merely that I be given a chance to ex
15、press this rather modest and humble attitude without let or hindrance.我只要求给我一个机会，谦逊而自由地表达见解。There is indeed something to this if it is only the practitioners body and health and life that is involved and no one elses. But what of the smoker whose effluvium damages the lungs of non-smokers forced to
16、breathe his or her reek? What of the drinker who drives and kills? What of the addict who lures others into addiction? What of the sociopath who directly harms others as his or her path to joy?如果上述行为仅与行为者的身体健康和生命安全有关，不涉及其他人，那么，这其中确有道理可言，然而被动吸烟者被迫吸入呛人的烟味而受损的肺该怎么办呢？醉酒者驾车撞死人算什么？瘾君子诱惑他人吸毒算什么？那么，反社会的人以直接
17、伤害他人为乐又算什么呢？By and large, then, society demands that these harmful physical practices be controlled insofar as it can be done humanely.总的说来，社会要求将这些有害的行为控制在人道的范围内。But, in that case, why should we not be at least as deeply concerned with the pernicious effects of superstition? Those who believe in mag
18、ical methods of preventing or curing disease often do not mm to rational methods till it is too late. Those who believe that disasters are the work of inscrutable supernatural forces do not search for rational ways of preventing them. Those who believe that humanity is under the beneficent control o
19、f supernatural forces that will see us through all our problems if we only “have faith“ do not seek natural solutions to those problems.但是，既然如此，为什么我们不该对迷信的恶劣影响给予起码的关注呢？那些相信巫术可以预防或治愈疾病的人们求助于科学时，往往为时已晚矣。那些相信灾难是由不可思议的超自然力量导致的人们不会寻求合理的方法来阻止灾难的发生。那些相信人类是由仁慈的超自然力量所控制，只要信仰坚定，神就会帮我们渡过难关的人们也不会寻求根本解决问题的办法。We
20、live in times when overpopulation, pollution, the greenhouse effect, the thinning of the ozone layer, the deterioration of the environment, the destruction of the forests and of wildlife, and the dangers of multiplying nuclear armaments all threaten us with the destruction of civilization and the ra
21、dical reduction in the very viability of Earth. If our only answer to all this is a superstitious reliance on something outside ourselves as a solution to all those problems, we are making that destruction certain.我们生活在这样一个时代，人口过剩，空气污染，温室效应，臭氧层空洞，环境破坏，森林和野生动植物遭到毁坏，核军备有剧增的危险，所有这些都以破坏文明、极度缩短地球生命的方式构成对
22、人类的威胁，如果我们解决这一切的唯一方法是依赖外在迷信的东西，那么，我们正在把毁灭变成事实。Yes, we will have our solace and comfort till the moment of the destruction, and we might console ourselves with the thoughts that we will all meet in a better world than this one and that indeed the Bible predicts the destruction of this world. But how many really believe that, even among those who say they do?的确，在毁灭到来之前我们可以安慰自己，我们可以用到另一个比现实更美好的世界相会的思想安慰我们自己，而且圣经里的确也预见到了当今世界的毁灭，但是又有多少人真正相信这些，即使是那些声称对此坚信不移的人？
