New York Times Letter on Science Fraud

Originally Published in the New York Times: May 29, 2015

To the Editor:

Re “Maligned Study on Gay Unions Is Shaking Trust” (front page, May 26):

It is heartening to see yet another case of scientific fraud exposed, not because I dislike science — I have published several papers in neuroscience-related fields in top journals — but because the pendulum in our society has swung too far in the direction of giving blind faith to almost anything that has the fingerprints of empiricism on it. Similar to the now-discredited study on the measles, mumps and rubella (M.M.R.) vaccine causing autism (which was published in The Lancet), this study was published in another top journal, Science.

Though the scientific community is generally suspicious of blind faith when it comes to religion, this article highlights how blind faith — an adviser’s blind faith in the honesty of his student; a prestigious journal’s blind faith in the propriety of a respected researcher’s methods; and our society’s blind faith in empirical findings — is perhaps more ubiquitous in the scientific community than in our churches and synagogues.

Blind faith is necessary in life because we can’t learn everything directly; however, those in the scientific community who work in glass laboratories should not throw stones when it comes to blind faith.

JOHN G. COTTONE

Stony Brook, N.Y.

The writer is a psychologist.