ONE of the arguments used by Dr. Benjamin Spock on behalf of his "peace" activities was to the effect that he is an expert on how to protect life because he is a prominent baby doctor! Nonsense, you say. But Dr. Spock is not the only person using irrelevant degrees and prestige to bolster his opinions in fields in which he is not an expert. Professors and ministers often seem to fall in co this trap.
One professor expresses himself with great conviction about U.S. immigration regulations. He may be dead wrong but still succeeds in confusing students because he has a Ph.D.—in a narrow specialty within the fine arts of medieval Europe. Others want to be regarded as experts in politics, economics, or taxation because of their degrees in theology, English literature, or oriental languages. People generally are ready to listen respectfully when they make statements within their field of specialization, but when they try to present themselves as experts in everything, their credibility suffers even within their fields of real knowledge.
When ministers are experts on cars, politics, real estate, banking, insurance, building construction, architecture, and medicine, their credibility as men of God suffers. "If he is no smarter in religion than he is in architecture . . ." When a minister is called in connection with a threatened divorce, his task is to give spiritual help rather than legal counsel. When called to a sickroom it is again as a man of God. He is expected to pray with or for the sick person and give the consolation of the Scriptures, and he is wise if he leaves medical diagnosis and prognosis to the medical doctor. One does not hire ministers for diagnosis of physical sickness. Neither are physicians hired to settle matters of law, or professors of medieval English literature to advise on how to plan urban renewal.
As citizens we have both the right and the obligation to keep up on current issues. We also have the right to express our opinions about them. But we have no right to express our personal opinions as if they were presentations of experts from the pulpit or the desk when the more knowledgeable people who listen to us are not in a position to rejoin us. To do so makes us less effective in the fields we really know. Besides, ministers and professors are not infallible. We should avoid acting as if we were.
