The current phase of global economic crisis should be taken as an opportunity for stimulating a cultural debate, at level of international intellectual élites, about the educational factors or variables that have been demonstrated to improve human individual and social capacities to ponder and decide wisely when confronted with challenges that can be addressed with different and culturally controversial approaches. More specifically, it would be desirable that the United Nations endorse a world conference on the role that scientific research and culture can play in enhancing human development and on the contribution of science education in prompting and spreading democratic ideals. For several historical or contingent reasons, the dangerous idea that science and scientists represent a threat to the human dignity and freedom has become quite widespread throughout the Western world. It is in some way paradoxical that the same majority of people living in Western countries that recognize that it was the revolution in science and technology which solved most of the past difficulties and created the present wealth and wellbeing, charge science and technology for most of the local and global problems and emergencies. Even worse, also in Western world it is becoming successful the idea that people should consider religions as the sources of the most useful moral and cultural values, in spite of the fact that for millennia religions have caused suffering and above all hindered and they still continue to hinder the spread and use of science to improve human well-being. A negative perception of science has been disseminated by the political view and endorsed at the level of several international political institutions: according to them, science and scientists must be put under an ethical vigilance. Nobody should forget what happened in the near past or underestimate the risks of leaving any human instrumental activity without some kind of control. However it is important to strengthening the social awareness that the learning and use of the scientific method are the most powerful cultural tools for improving the personal autonomy and therefore human freedom, as they allow people to steer decisions in a rational way. We suggest the United Nations to sponsor an international conference on science freedom and education as essential requisites for human development and democracy. The conference would represent an occasion to review both the effectiveness and consequences of international cultural policy that has placed more emphasis on the risks than on the opportunities, which may arise from scientific research and technological innovation. Moreover, it would be possible to discuss at an international level several concrete examples that demonstrate the negative consequences of the political and religious actions of censorship and manipulation of science. The concrete cases to be discussed should concern the dangerous actions of censorship taking place in various areas of the world against scientific ideas and researches which are perceived in conflict with religious dogmas. Furthermore, the debate should address the issue that the abuse of science and of its applications depend on local democratic deficits, and it would be necessary to discuss the social condition to allow the dissemination of scientific culture, to better understand what aspects of science may contribute to the flourishing of a democratic person. During the conference, the issues of science freedom and of its educational or civic implications should be confronted by analyzing the concrete consequences of anti-science policies. Moreover the several demonstrations should be emphasized that science education improves human freedom and operates as a prerequisite to democratically lead the growth of social and individual welfare through the implementation of evidence-based policies. The final goal should be to draw up an international document to complement the existing ethical and political statements defending human dignity against the risks of research abuse, by clearly stating that such risks do not arrive directly from science and that freedom of scientific research is one of the conditions for promoting human dignity. *HiNews of Medicine and Bioethics, University of Rome “Sapienza”, Italy and co-president of Luca Coscioni Association