Miner Searle Bates (Chinese name: Bei Deshi, 贝德士) (1897 – 1978) was an American scholar.

In 1950, shortly after the Chinese Communist Party were victorious in the Chinese Civil War, the University of Nanking was merged with Nanjing University and Bates returned to the United States and was appointed Professor of Missions at Union Theological Seminary, where he taught until 1965.

[3] During this time, he became one of the leaders of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone and worked to secure the safety of the remaining population of Nanking who were mostly those who were too poor to evacuate in advance of the Japanese assault on the city.

[4] Bates pulled soldiers off women that they were molesting, and on several occasions, had pistols held to his head.

He is quoted as having stated the following, "Religious faith is believing that good things are worth doing for their own sake even in a world that seems overpoweringly evil.