Ethical considerations have become important if not decisive in science. Research funders such as the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the European Commission (EC) in its Horizon programme define "the ethical dimension [as] an integral part of research from beginning to end" (EC). Honesty, fairness, equality, sustainability and other virtues are deemed essential in all scientific work including publishing and relationships. Ethics commissions and panels no longer exist in clinical settings only. The talk will present ethical values in science that are held inalienable, how much they are based on Christian ethics and where they differ. The talk will also argue that the loss of the Christian basis is leading to an unmanageable number of detailed rules ("bureaucracy"), disorientation and the inability to deal with humanly unavoidable mistakes and guilt. A scientific ethic will be outlined that is based on human dignity which is based on a Biblical perspective of humans (cf. Ecclesiastes 7:29).
