Art’s wife posted his final message online right after his passing. One of the things that he regretted seeing in our society today was the large number of people who attack science general and evolution in particular in the name of religion. He wrote, “Evolution is like a magic key. Once you understand it, really understand it, so much becomes clear.” He said that evolution helps us understand the darker side of human nature, but also what he called the social side, such as altruism. Although evolution has made us a species capable of hatred, we are also a species that can fight against hatred and oppression. Art particularly admired the work of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Art also expressed some of his feelings about science and religion. He was not afraid to face death. He wrote, “Please do not mourn me.” And he was dissatisfied with the type of religion, such as the Catholicism in which he was raised, that required beliefs without proof. All humans have beliefs; but science requires you to give up beliefs if it fails to match the evidence. “That’s not easy, even for scientists.” But science as a way of understanding the world has proven, he said, phenomenally successful.
This is the same day that Christopher Hitchens died. But I never heard Art lash out against people who hold religious beliefs, in the way that Hitchens was famous for doing. Art was more interested in intellectual honesty than in attacking religion. I ally myself with Art Zangerl rather than Christopher Hitchens.
I hope that I can leave behind as good a legacy of honest intellectual inquiry and genuine human warmth as Art Zangerl.
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