Edward Chiera

“Today we are stressing the strange phenomenon that in the minds of the people in general the importance and motivating influence of religion are slowly being undermined by an increasing emphasis on the discoveries of science. Personally, I cannot say that I approve of the change of emphasis, but the fact remains that it is taking place under our very eyes. A few years ago one of the great American universities decided to honor its president, a celebrated scientist, by erecting a statue of him on the campus while he was still alive. The statue was duly unveiled, and there under the left foot of the scientist was an overgrown lizard being crushed to death. I wonder if that excellent scholar ever thought what it all meant. Of course, it represented science destroying the bad influence of ignorance. But did the scientist realize that he was the direct successor of Enlil, Marduk, Ashur, Jehovah, and St. George? As I was contemplating that statue, a thought passed through my mind: who will fight the dragon next? If I could give the answer, I could also tell what direction human civilization will take in the next thousand years.”
― Edward Chiera, They Wrote on Clay: The Babylonian Tablets Speak Today