Science, Scholarship, and the State

October 19, 1999

Expressing my deep gratitude for the invitation to address you from this distinguished podium, allow me first of all to express my warmest greetings to all of you and especially to His Excellency the Minister of the Environment of the friendly country of Austria, in whose competency lies the subject of this 3^rdInternational Symposium “Religion-Science-Environment”, and this year’s sub-theme “Danube, River of Life”. As we all know, The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life… and to know this law is a privilege of a good Mind (Proverbs 13,14-15).

Therefore, this temple too, in which the best minds of your dear and hospitable country are sheltered, constitutes a source of life, the starting point for Laws inspired by the wisdom concentrated here. Because decrees passed by Parliaments are not the only laws governing people’s minds; there are also the ideas and arrangements proposed by wise men and women. It could be said that the citizen is more easily convinced to comply with what the wisdom of the scientist and scholar recommends, than to obey the commands of the constitutional legislator. This is why this Symposium, although possessing no state authority whatsoever, is seeking to convince the citizens to cooperate in the effort to keep the Danube clean and to maintain a balanced and undisrupted environment by using the power of knowledge and faith, rather than that of authority. Nevertheless, we still consider the cooperation of the authorities both necessary and useful, but inadequate in the face of an unenlightened public whose reactions may therefore be negative.

We believe that the convergence of efforts by science and the State on the one hand, and of the ordinary citizens on the other, is the most effective way to proceed, and invoking the cooperation of all of you, we anticipate that the aims of the Symposium currently taking place will be achieved. But at the same time, we are doing everything in our power to raise the consciousness of each and every citizen to the problem of the endangered environment.

I am convinced that you, as preeminent representatives of science, who, in the words of the wise Solomon:

know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements, … the alternations of the solstices and the change of the seasons, …the natures of animals and the temper of the wild beasts, the powers of the spirit and reasoning of human beings, the varieties of plants and the virtues of roots (Wisdom 7.17-20),

will use your knowledge to contribute to our effort. And, for this noble intention on your part, I congratulate you, commend you and thank you, invoking upon you all the grace and the infinite mercy of God. Amen.