of the
American Scientific Affiliation & Canadian Scientific Christian Affiliation
VOLUME 33 NUMBER 4 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1991
[Editor: Dr. Walter R. Hearn / Production: Rebecca Petersen]
ON OUR WAY
Copy for this issue arrived in
Ipswich during final preparations
for the big 50th Anniversary Celebration, the 1991 ASA ANNUAL MEETING at WHEATON COLLEGE in Illinois. Managing
editor Becky Petersen had no time for
our groveling confession but offered
the Weary Old Editor instant forgiveness if we got the copy to her
even one week before zoomsday.
The count-down before an Annual Meeting is like "primal scream
time" in the ASA office, but you'd
never guess that when Becky, Karen Brunstrom, and Frances
Polischuk are smiling at you across
the registration desk. ASA executive
director Bob Herrmann will be
looking calm despite preparing to
defend the financial reports and a
budget for the Council meeting. Program chair Jack Haas, local arrangements chair
Al Smith, Ray
Brand, and many other Wheaton
folk will be wondering how they
ever got into this.
Most of us will get into it by
flying into Chicago's O'Hare airport. Up, up, and awayyyyy!
"BRILLIG!"
In the last issue we cited some letters to The Scientist over its Feb
18 exchange between science writer
Forrest Nlims of the Scientific
American fiasco and philosopher Arthur Caplan. (Our "ALL MIMSY"
heading came from Lewis Carroll's
famous "Jabberwocky" poem about a beamish hero who, with vorpal
sword, did in a burbling Jabberwock.-Ed.)
In The Scientist for May 13,
Mims and Caplan were given space
to respond to reader input. Caplan
continued to insist that religion was
not at issue:
'The one issue, the only issue, is
whether or not Mims, or anyone
else for that matter, can credibly
serve as a staff columnist for a
magazine that intends to
communicate about science to the
general public if he does not
accept evolutionary theory as
science."
Caplan repeated his claim that
evolutionary theory "underpins the
life sciences, geology, archeology,
oceanography, cosmology, agricultural science, veterinary science, the
health sciences, and the social sciences." (The question originally posed
to Mims was whether he accepted
the Darwinian theory-hardly an udderpinning of cosmology.-Ed.)
Mims noted that John Wiester's
letter, referring to the "shell game"
played with such elastic definitions
of evolution, had been categorized
by Berkeley biophysicist Thomas
Jukes as "venomous." That kind of
intemperate knee-jerk defense of anything labeled evolution led Mims to
write:
"Those who doubt that for some of
its adherents Darwinism has
evolved into a philosophical dogma
that justifies censoring, blacklisting,
and excommunicating dissenters
need only read some of the letters
published recently in The Scientist."
Some indexing service must have
cited the letters, perhaps on-line;
Wiester received a score of requests
for a copy of his "publication," ten
of them from institutes in Romania,
Czechoslovakia, Poland, and other
European countries. (Living in a
small town and knowing the
postmaster personally means that
mail addressed simply to "Prof. J.
Wiester, Buellton, CA, USA" gets
delivered.-Ed.) John sent each inquirer a copy of what appeared in
The Scientist about Scientific
American's treatment of Mims plus
(you guessed it!) ASA's booklet for
teachers, Teaching Science in a
Climate of Controversy.
Forrest Mims was recently pondering how to write still another reply,
this time to what he regarded as
gross misrepresentations in Martin
Gardner's column in the Summer
issue of Skeptical Inquirer. Evidently Gardner fired questions at Mims
over the telephone, mostly about
biblical passages, sometimes not
even waiting for an answer. Then
Gardner published his interpretation
of what Mims said, or "would have
said" according to Gardner's view
of Mim's beliefs.
Forrest was upset that a veteran
science writer would publish such a
distorted piece, but appreciated Skeptical Inquirer's invitation to reply in
print. Check future issues of Skeptical Inquirer. We didn't get the
whole story, because Forrest was
busy packing up some of his
homemade scientific equipment. He
was about to drive from Seguin
(TX) to Baja, California to make measurements during the July 11
solar eclipse, which would be directly overhead there and total for
some seven minutes.
THEY'LL BE "FRUMIOUS!"
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that
catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frurnious Bandersnatch!"
Lewis Carroll's whimsical warning (see story above) reminds us of
what one ASA member asked Phillip E. Johnson after reading an
early draft of the Berkeley law
professor's new book-- "Phil, do you
have tenure?" Darwin on Trial, just
released by Regnery Gateway (cloth,
195 pp., $19.95), may make a lot
of dogmatic Bandersnatches
"frumious" enough to try to get its
author fired.
Professor Johnson, a keynote
speaker at the 1990 ASA Annual
Meeting at Messiah College, is a
legal scholar, not a scientist.
Despite much hubris, however, scientists aren't the only scholars who
can spot a weak argument. Johnson
has concluded -from their writings
that many scientists have "prematurely accepted Darwin's theory as fact
and have been scrambling to find
evidence for it-mostly unsuccessfully." Many scientists deny or conceal their biases, but Johnson sets
forth his own at the beginning:
"I am a philosophical theist and a
Christian. I believe that a God exists who could create out of
nothing if He wanted to do so,
but who might have chosen to
work through a natural evolutionary
process instead. I am not a
defender of creation-science, and in
fact I am not concerned in this
book with addressing any conflicts
between the Biblical accounts and
the scientific evidence."
The question he wants to investigate, Johnson says, is "whether
Darwinism is based upon a fair assessment of the scientific evidence,
or whether it is another kind of fundamentalism." His interactions with
prominent scientists along the way,
and the reception his ideas have already received, have tended to confirm his view that Darwinism is an
ideology, not simply a working
hypothesis. He thinks it was set
forth as a rival to theism from the
very beginning.
A major story on Johnson appeared in the Jun 14 San Francisco
Chronicle. Staff writer Jerry
Carroll's profile was headed "The
Man Who Dares to Doubt Darwin"
and included a photo of Phil smiling amid unsmiling dinosaurs in an
evolution exhibit at the California
Academy of Sciences. The caption
asked, "Is This Man Committing
Professional Suicide?" Commenting
on Oxford zoologist Richard
Dawkins's statement that anyone
who claims not to believe in evolution "is ignorant, stupid or insane
(or wicked, but I'd rather not consider that)," Johnson said, "I'm not
easily intimidated."
For balance, the reporter included
negative comments from ever-dependable Thomas Jukes, closing with a
typical sleight-of-mouth from Jukes:
"Bring on the flying saucers, astrology and extrasensory perception.
How sad that a professor of law
should argue on behalf of a degradation of the intellect." Despite that
kind of balance, we hear that
Carroll's sympathetic treatment of
Phil Johnson drew a lot of "emotional hate-mail."
As we understand it, the U.C.
provost, distinguished science historian John Heilbron, tried to set
up a public discussion of the book
between Phil and someone opposed
to his views within the university
system. No go. Then the editor of
the alumni magazine, California
Monthly, wanted to publish a piece
by Johnson and an opposing piece.
Phil has submitted a 1,000-word article on "The Ideology of Biology"
along with the names of eight
professors who oppose his views.
He told the editor he was submitting so many names because "I
suspect you may have difficulty getting evolutionary biologists to risk
exposing their position on an even
playing ground."
Phil Johnson seems willing to
"take the heat" from some heavyduty fire-breathers. The line of
Lewis Carroll's poem he brings to
mind comes near the end, after the Jabberwock has bought the
borogove: "He chortled in his joy."
THE PASCAL CENTRE
We urge our readers to attend
ASA ANNUAL MEETINGS
to benefit from personal contact. At
the 1990 Messiah College meeting,
personal contact with bearded Jitse Van der Meer taught us a lot
about the Pascal Centre for Advanced Studies in Faith and
Science, which he directs. (It also
taught us that despite sounding a
bitsy like "Betsy," Jitse is a man's
name in Dutch.-Ed.)
Jitse, a Ph.D. in biology, is an
associate professor at Redeemer College in Ancaster, Ontario, a relatively new liberal arts college in the
Reformed tradition. Don McNally, a
Ph.D. in history & philosophy of
science, is associate coordinator of
the Christianity & Culture Program
at St. Michael's College of the U.
of Toronto. At their urging,
Redeemer College established the
Pascal Centre on its campus in
1988. One stimulus was the
presence of the personal library of
wide-ranging scholar Arthur C. Custance, an ASA member in the
early 1940s with an M.A. in oriental languages from Toronto. He
later left ASA but devoted himself
to publishing a long series of
Doorway Papers
on science (especially
anthropology) and the Bible. When
Arthur died in 1985 he left his
books and papers to Redeemer College. Other major libraries are not
far away.
The Centre's stated purposes include study of "the implications of
the biblical teachings on creation";
understanding "the coherence of our
knowledge of God, humanity and
the cosmos"; conducting research in
philosophy, theology, science and related fields; promoting awareness
among Christians that a biblical approach to scholarship in the natural
sciences includes "bringing our
knowledge of the subject matter itself under the lordship of Christ";
and communicating the work of the
Centre "to serve like-minded Christians world-wide." The Centre emphasizes its commitment to the
authority of Scripture, from which
it seeks guidance for its scholarship.
How it works:
The Centre initiates research
projects and invites collaboration
by scholars outside the Centre. The
Centre also assists researchers
seeking grants from private and
public sources. Research may be
done at the Centre or elsewhere.
The Pascal Centre will sponsor a
five-day research conference on
"Science and Belief," 11-15 Aug
1992. The conference is aimed at
"scholars with a professional interest
in the relationship between science
and belief, in particular Christian
belief." Each day a keynote speaker
and a respondent will interact with
each other and with other participants; specific research problems
will be addressed in afternoon
workshops. Keynoters will be
Thomas F. Torrance and John H.
Brooke of the U.K., Frederick
Suppe and Christopher Kaiser of
the U.S., and Horst W. Beck of
Gen-nany. The conference will be
held on the campus of Redeemer
College, with housing in college
residences. Details of costs, travel information, and program will be sent
during fall 1991 to all who request
information from: Lynda J. Cockroft, Administrative Assistant, The
Pascal Centre, Redeemer College, Ancaster, Ontario, Canada L9G 3N6.
The Centre has become a base
for Don McNally, whose title is
director of research communications.
The bibliographic database on
science and Christian belief he
began as a CSCA field staffer is
now progressing under the aegis of
the Pascal Centre. An ongoing research program in the history of
science and its interaction with
religious belief is being initiated.
Beginning in Summer 1992 the
Centre hopes to sponsor one or two
projects per year. Don would be
glad to send information on how to
submit a proposal, and a form for
scholars to provide information on
their particular interests for the
Centre's research directory.
The Pascal Centre is clearly establishing itself as a Reformational
"think tank" of importance to our
Affiliations. Biologist David Wilcox of Eastern College has already
taken advantage of it as a great
place to think-and write.
BULLETIN BOARD
1. After 1 Sep 1991, the ASA
Newsletter telephone number will be (510) 527-3056. Berkeley and other
East Bay cities will get 510 as
their new Area Code; San Francisco, Stanford, and other peninsula
cities will retain the 415 Area
Code.
2. The North American Conference on Christianity & Ecology
(NACCE) is sponsoring a 3-week
"Christian Ecology" trip to the
Soviet Union, 15 Aug-4 Sep 1991.
The trip will actually be a sustained conference, traveling with
Soviet counterparts of the "Save
Peace and Nature" collective.
NACCE says that the Russian
church developed in a manner that
blended Christian values with an ancient Slavic tribal respect and concern for the land. As the church
again becomes an active social
force in the USSR it is beginning
to emphasize ecological action.
Cost, from L.A. or NYC: $2,950.
To see if places are still open, contact "Christian Ecology in Russia,"
c/o NACCE, P.O. Box 14305, San
Francisco, CA 94114, or Russart
Travel, tel. (415) 781-6655.
3. A conference on "Genomic Information: Ethical Implications" to
be held at the U. of Washington in
Seattle, 4-8 Nov 1991, is sponsored
by the departments of Medical History & Ethics and of Medical
Genetics. Course fee: $100. Applications were due by July 19 (Dept
of Med. History & Ethics, School
of Medicine, SB-20, U. of
Washington, Seattle, WA 98165),
but call (206) 543-5447 to see if
places are still open.
SQUIBS
When the Geological Society
of America met in Dallas last October, the Affiliation of Christian
Geologists was on the official
program with a session on "Communicating Geology to the Church."
ACG members at that meeting went
beyond merely urging such communication, however, engaging in
joint discussions with a group of
Dallas Theological Seminary professors and staff of Probe Ministries.
The geologists explored some perceived conflicts between geology
and Christianity and learned how
seminary students at Dallas are
taught to deal with such problems.
When ACG members gather again
at the Geological Society's meeting
in San Diego this fall, they hope
to set up a similar interaction with
staff members of the Institute for
Creation Research. (From the Spring
1991 issue of ACG's The News!,
edited by John Suppe of Princeton
University.)
Jon Buell of the Foundation
for Thought & Ethics (P.O. Box
830721, Richardson, TX 750830721) says that Christians in
Romania have asked for 18,000
more copies of the Romanian translation of FTE's Mystery of Life's
Origin. FIE's budget crunch is
making it hard to keep up with the
demand. A major gift enabled a requested 2,000 copies of Of Pandas
and People (in English) to be sent
to four Eastern European countries.
Pandas has finally begun to sell
well in the U.S., according to Jon.
(A sympathetic account of adoption
efforts in Alabama was given in
Rob Weiman's "Evolutionists Censor
Science Textbooks" in the May
1991 American Family Association
Journal; Scott Brande's "Pandas Attack Science Education" in the Summer 1991 Free Inquiry was a
decidedly unsympathetic account.)
The Center for Theology &
the Natural Sciences at the
Graduate Theological Union in
Berkeley, California, has received a
pledge from Laraunce Rockefeller of
$100,000 a year for three more
years. According to CTNS director
Robert Russell, Rockefeller's
generous support (a total of
$600,000 over the period 1989-94)
has permitted expansion of Fellowships, research conferences, and publications. Several ASAers have taken
part in recent programs. U.C.
biochemist David Cole presented a
CTNS Forum lecture on "The Evolution of the Lifestyle of a Biologist"
in Jan 1991, discussing the transition from "little science" to "big
science" from a participant's viewpoint. At a Feb 1991 research conference, ASA/CSCA Newsletter
editor Walt Hearn responded to
philosopher Holmes Rolston's paper on "Genes, Genesis, and God in
Natural and Human History"; conference papers published in the
Spring 1991 issue of CTNS Bulletin
included Walt's "Science, Selves,
and Stories." The Winter 1991
issue of the Bulletin included an
essay on "Quantum Theory and
Resurrection Reality" by physicist/
pastor George Murphy. (CTNS
membership at $25/yr, $15 for students, includes the quarterly Bulletin, monthly CTNS Newsletter,
and currently Science & Religion
News. Address: CTNS, 2400 Ridge
Rd, Berkeley, CA 94709.)
Daniel Diaz, at Case Western
Reserve in Ohio, noted that the
March 1991 Book of theMonth
Club main selection was a book
edited by Timothy Ferris, The
World Treasury of Physics,
Astronomy, and Mathematics. According to the blurb in BOMC News,
the anthology includes authors ranging from Albert Einstein and Pierre
Curie to ASA's own Owen
Gingerich. Of Owen's "Let There
Be Light: Modem Cosmology and
Biblical Creation" (based on
keynote addresses from the 1981
ASA Annual Meeting at Eastern College), the BOMC reviewer wrote:
For the religious reader, it offers
heartening evidence that faith and
science needn't be seen as
conflicting. For the hardheaded
atheist, it poses a hardheaded
challenge as it seeks to
demonstrate the sheer mathematical
improbability of a Godless
universe. And for the agnostic,
there is the pleasure of observing
an internal debate in which both
sides are presented knowledgeably
and forcefully.
Cornell University chemistry
professor Roald Hoffmann has become familiar as host of the
American Chemical Society series
on PBS TV. He also writes the
"Marginalia" column in Sigma Xi's
American Scientist. His Jan-Feb
1991 column, "In Praise of Synthesis," began with the sentence,
"Creation is wonderful." Hoffmann
praised "Nature's work," deifying
(or at least reifying) nature with a
capital "N," before moving on to
consider the creativity of chemists.
Of several categories of synthesis,
his first was "elemental." What example did he choose? The now
famous synthesis of xenon
tetrafluoride. Who "created" that
molecule from its elements? Former
ASA president Howard Claassen then a physics prof at Wheaton College, now retired and living in
Tacoma, Washington. The paper
Hoffmann cited was H. H. Claassen, H. Selig, and H. G. Malin J.
Am. Chem. Soc., vol. 84, p. 35~3
(1964).
Astrophysicist Hugh Ross's interpretation of Scripture was
criticized in the July Acts & Facts
of the Institute for Creation Research (P.O. Box 2667, El Cajon,
CA 92021). In "Hugh Ross, ICR,
and the Bible" (Impact No. 217),
ICR Librarian James Stambaugh argued that Hugh's refusal to accept
the "days" of Genesis I as 24-hour
days undermines "the very integrity
of the Bible itself." In April Hugh
appeared on the Dobson "Focus on
the Family" broadcast, partly to talk
about his book, The Fingerprint of
God. Focus on the Family had
stocked 700 copies, but within a
few days 6,500 orders had come
in. In the Spring issue of Facts &
Faith from Reasons to Believe
(P.O. Box 5978, Pasadena, CA
91117), Hugh discussed various
models of the "Big Bang." Recent
data, such as the Geller-Huchra
galaxy map and the COBE (Cosmic
Background Explorer) satellite
measurements of the background
radiation, both featured on recent
PBS television programs, have led
to reports of the demise of Big
Bang theories. Hugh wrote that
only the first of many possible colddark-matter Big Bang theories has
been eliminated, and that he ex_
pects to see much more data accumulating to support "the biblical
doctrine of Creator and creation."
The Spring issue of Facts &
Faith (see above) congratulated
astronomer Allan Sandage for winning the 1991 "astronomer's Nobel,"
the Crafoord Prize, to be awarded
in Stockholm on Sept 25. Sandage
works at The Observatories (PalomarMt. Wilson) operated by the Carnegie Institution, not far from the
Pasadena headquarters of Reasons to
Believe. (Thanks to Dave Fisher
for a clipping on Sandage from the
12 Mar New York Times and an additional bit of data: the Crafoord
Prize is an award of $260,000.-Ed.)
Allan Sandage (see above) was
one of 27 cosmologists interviewed
by Alan Lightman and Roberta
Brawer in their book Origins: The
Lives and Worlds of Modern Cosmologists (Harvard U. Press, 1990).
Chemist Chi-Hang Lee spotted an
acknowledgment of Harvard
astronomer Owen Gingerich in the
Preface and noted at least two
other theists among the 27 interviewees. Asked about Steven
Weinberg's famous line about the
pointlessness of the universe, Allan
Sandage said that since nihilism is
even more pointless, he is "quite
willing to believe there is a purpose." An overtly Christian position
was taken by Don Page, physics
professor at Penn State at the time
of the interview but now at the U.
of Alberta in Edmonton. Don is a
long-time ASA member who got
his Ph.D. at Cal Tech in
1976,
then spent three years as a postdoc
with Stephen Hawking at
Cambridge. Asked about philosophical implications of the beginning of
the universe, Don said:
I am a Christian and believe that
God has created the whole
universe. Of course, as a physicist
I'm trying to understand a bit
more of how He did create it or
in what state He's created it. I
think these laws show the
faithfulness of God and the
patterns that He's used.
In answer to other questions,
Don said he believed the Bible to
be God's revealed Word to us, and
that "there's definitely a purpose."
Stating the gist of the biblical message of creation and redemption
through Christ, Don Page confessed
that he doesn't know all of God's
purposes, and remains "a bit skeptical about applying the strong
anthropic principle, that the universe
had to have life in it."
British astronomer John D.
Barrow's new book is titled
Theories of Everything: The Quest
for Ultimate Explanation (Oxford).
Author of The Anthropic Principle
(Oxford,
1986)
and World Within
the World (Oxford,
1988),
John Barrow spoke to the San Francisco
Bay ASA section in the
1980s
while doing research at U.C. Berkeley. Excerpts of his forthcoming book appeared in the 10 Dec
1990 issue of The Scientist (p. 13).
Scientists are beginning to ask ultimate questions, John wrote, and
"theologians find their thinking
preempted and guided by the mathematical speculations of a new generation of scientists." After discussing
the limits to what is "listable" as
well as "computable," Barrow concluded:
There is no formula that can
deliver all truth, all harmony, all
simplicity. No Theory of
Everything can ever provide total
insight. For to see through
everthing would leave us seeing
nothing at all.
Barrow's review of John Polkinghorne's Science and
Providence in the 9 Feb 1991 New
Scientist suggested that Christian
apologetics based on the "openness"
of microscopic chaos may produce
a "chaotic theology" rather than a
"theology of chaos."
KENYA/ASA: 4.
We're looking forward to a
report from Bob Herrmann, Ken Dormer, and Martin Price, ASA representatives on the board
of the new Institute for African Research & Development described in
this column last issue. The IARD
board met in Nairobi in June.
Meanwhile, Kenya items have
caught our eye in various publications.
The newsletter CMDS
(May/Jun) reported on the first East
African Continuing Medical Education Conference (see KENYA/ASA:
2, Apr/May 1991). Contributions to
a scholarship fund enabled 41 East
African physicians to attend the
week-long conference, held at the
Brackenhurst International Conference
Center in Nairobi. Paul Groen, an
orthopedic surgeon from Wheaton, Illinois, who led the CMDS contingent from the U.S., wrote that a
sense of spiritual renewal accompanied the transfer of technical information, a goal to which IARD
aspires. He also wrote of a growing awareness "that the problems of
Africa are going to ultimately be
solved by Africans, and that the
role of expatriates will probably be
more of a supportive role in the future." That awareness undergirds all
of IARD's planning.
In Evangelicals for Social
Action's newsletter Advocate (Jun
1991), L. Lamar Nisly cited
Kenya's high annual population
growth rate of 4.1 percent (about
twice the world average) as one factor leading to unhealthy conditions
in Mathare Valley on the outskirts
of Nairobi. Over 100,000 "squatters"
live there in poverty, having left
their shambas (farms) for various
reasons to move to the city. The
(moderately) good news is that the
average fertility rate (average number of children per woman) in
Kenya has dropped from 8.1 to 6.7
in the past 20 years. (Fertility rate
in the U.S. is now 1.8).
A different slant on crowded
urban conditions in Kenya came
from Stephen Githumbi, pastor of
Presbyterian churches in slum
regions of Nairobi for 19 years and
associate director of World Vision , s
African Urban Ministry. Writing in
Fuller Seminary's Theology News &
Notes (Jun 1991), Pastor Githumbi
pointed out that as the traditional
tribal communities are replaced in
urban Africa, new communities are
being formed around the church. In
contrast to the U.S. situation, urban
African churches identify closely
with slum dwellers, so that at the
funeral of someone in the neighborhood a whole congregation, not
merely the pastor, will offer visible
support to the bereaved. Further,
people love to come to church because of joyful, free-flowing worship celebrations. Finally, the
community spirit of African Christians leads them to take on each
other's burdens in a more responsible way. Githumbi wrote that in
his lifetime he had not seen one
African Christian who had been
divorced, because "marriage is not
a contract between two individuals;
it is a contract with the entire community." We have a lot to learn
from "the African way" of following Jesus Christ.
A NOSE FOR NEWS
The Newsletter editor sniffed a
story this spring when an article in the Oakland (CA) Tribune and
two items in the Apr 12 issue of
Science hit the desk about the
same time. One journal item was a
review of a book on the neurobiology of The Vertebrate Olfactory System, the other a news report of the
cloning of genes for what appear
to be odorant receptor proteins in
the rat. That work had just been
reported in Cell by Linda Buck
and Richard Axel of the Howard
Hughes Mcdical Institute of Columbia University.
Though neither mentioned him,
both items reminded us of British born biochemist John Amoore of
El Cerrito, California, who in the
1970s was a sparkplug of ASA's
San Francisco Bay local section.
John had developed a chemical
theory of olfaction and written a
book on it, and at that time was
on the research staff of USDA's
regional laboratory in Albany. After
his project was closed out, John
claimed that his treatment by the
government lab was illegal. Hearings dragged on and on, evidently
teaching John a lot about legal
proceedings in the process. Tbat's
where the 1991 Tribune story
comes in. We learned from it of
John's consulting firm, Olfacto Labs
of Richmond, which had just won
a big court settlement after a 13week trial.
As we understand it, John
Amoore and hydrologist Richard
Weiss were both expert witnesses in
a four-million-dollar toxic-waste judgment against Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., but the Los Angeles
attorneys who won the case never
paid either expert for their services.
They sued, and the Alameda County Superior Court judge who heard
their case said she had never
before encountered such "indifference to and avoidance of payments of business creditors" or such
"outright disregard of the truth."
She ordered that plaintiffs Amoore
and Weiss be paid the bills due
them, plus compensatory damages
and even punitive damages.
(Now that that's settled, and we
know what John is doing these
days, maybe we can lure him back
into ASA activities.-Ed.)
THE EDITOR'S LAST
WORDS: 16.
This column is turning into an on
going seminar on editing this
Newsletter. Reviewing my own on the-job training may serve as a useful before-the-job course for my
inevitable successor.
Nobody can specify exactly what
an editor needs to know. It helps
to know at least something about almost everything, though the most important attribute is a firm grasp of
what you don't know. "When in
doubt, check it out." Good journalists, like scientists, know that
what gets into print may not be
so. Like historians, they realize that
people can be wrong about details
even of their own lives.
As an amateur editor allergic to
telephones, I've been known to cut
comers when I should have known
better. With a deadline looming,
never try to save time by guessing
at some detail instead of looking it
up or calling somebody to nail it
down. Proper names, one learns,
defy logic. Do not assume that Ancaster, Ontario, is a typo for Lancaster-even though there is a
Lancaster, Ontario.
If an ASA member has what
sounds to you like "an Indian-sounding name," do not say that he was
bom in India unless you know it
for a fact. He could have been
bom in Pakistan or in Bangladesh
or even (as it turned out) in
China. If he (or she) has a name
that could be either male or
female, do not refer to, say, Pat or
Robin as "him" or "her" at all. All
readers expect editors to spell their
name right--even if the signature
on the item they send in is illegible.
Sometimes, though, letting your ignorance show is a good test of
whether anybody is reading what
you write. Take my admission in
the Jun/Jul PERSONALS, for example, that I didn't know what
P.C. meant after the name of the
psychology consulting firm for
which Robin Wentworth now
works. Robin didn't say. (Check
my judicious epicenity!).
The first two readers to educate
me on that subject were computer
consultant Jim Wetterau of Queens, New York, and Dow Corning chemist Larry Brown
of Midland, Michigan. Evidently doctors,
lawyers, and other independent
professionals use P.C. after their
names to indicate that they have incorporated as a business to protect
their personal fortunes from litigation. That seems more logical than
"Psychological Consultanf' or any
of my other suggestions. The only
problem is that Jim said P.C.
stands for "Private Corporation" and
Larry said it stands for "Professional Corporation."
Well, one rule in the journalistic
trade is to "check your sources"
but another is to "go with what
you've got." Get it?
LOCAL SECTIONS
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
One of the best attended meetings in years was held at Stanford
University on May 3, with Dr. Francis I. Andersen of New College
Berkeley speaking on "How God
Made Everything: The Language of
Biblical Creation Texts." The meeting was cosponsored by the Stanford InterVarsity Graduate
Fellowship, with about half of the
60 people present coming from
each group. Audience interest was
high as Andersen demonstrated how
to take the biblical texts seriously,
focusing attention on the language
God used to communicate about
himself and his mighty works.
An Australian by birth, Frank
Andersen earned an M.S. in physical chemistry before studying theology at London and being ordained
in the Anglican Church. He
received his Ph.D. in Semitic languages under famed scholar W * F
Albright at Johns Hopkins. Andersen has taught at Church Divinity
School of the Pacific in Berkeley,
and at Macquarie and Queensland
universities in Australia. In 1965 he
brought his Old Testament expertise
to the ASA/RSCF international conference on a Christian philosophy
of science held in Oxford, England.
Dr. Andersen has made extensive
use of computer techniques in examining Semitic texts and has written several commentaries in the
Tyndale series as well as many
scholarly papers and books.
PERSONALS
David L. Bourell expects to be
promoted to full professor of
materials science & engineering at
the U. of Texas in Austin in September. Under a sabbatical fellowship from the Alexander von
Humboldt Society he will be able
to take his family to Germany for
16 months. Dave will spend 12 of
those months at the Max Planck Institut fuir Metallforschung in Stuttgart, studying the sintering
mechanisms of nanophase particulate
materials.
Samuel K. C. Chang has been
a professor and dean of the College of Economics of Chung Yuan
University in Taiwan. In September
he will become president of that institution, the largest Christian university on the island. Recently Chung
Yuan University was a cosponsor,
with the Ministry of Education of
the Republic of China, of a conference on "The Role of Christian
Colleges in China." Samuel was
there but wasn't the only ASAer
participating. Chemist Robert B. Fischer of Biola University in Los Angeles was also on the program.
Mark D. Hartwig of Colorado
Springs directs Access Research Network, which has now received IRS
tax-exempt status as a scientific and
educational organization. It publishes
Origins Research and hopes to
launch a new periodical on
"science, technology, & society" this
year. (Contributions to support the
expansion are welcome: ARN, P.O.
Box 38069, Colorado Springs, CO
80937-8069). A professional science
educator, Mark worked for the
Biological Sciences Curriculum
Study before joining Students for
Origins Research, now absorbed into
ARN. Mark's op-ed piece in the
Birmingham (AL) News on Scientific American's treatment of Forrest
Mims drew a lot of interest.
Another article will appear in the
Oct or Nov Moody's. In the 24
Jun Christianity Today, Mark
reported legal developments in U.
of Alabama phys-ed prof. Phillip
Bishop's charge that his right to identify himself as a Christian to
his students had been infringed by
the university.
Russell Heddendorf, sociology
professor at Covenant College,
Lookout Mountain, Georgia, and
former ASA president, informed
ASA that his wife Ellie died on
April 25. At first her death was
thought to be an unusual reaction
to an allergy shot, but when Russ
wrote in early May her sudden and
unexpected death was being attributed to a cardiac arrest. He has
sensed a peace from knowing that
"God was in control." Russ hoped
to be at the 1991 ASA Annual
Meeting, partly to provide "a sense
of closure"-since he and Ellie had
planned to attend together.
Kenneth Olsen is co-founder and
president of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) of Massachusetts.
An Associated Press story by Bart
Ziegler last December described
DEC's first layoffs in its 33-year
history as "a personal tragedy" for
Ken, even though many other computer manufacturers were also
having to cut overhead as sales
slowed. Calling DEC's setback a
"short-term thing" due to the recession, Ken said DEC continues to
offer increased computing capacity
at a lower price. Some analysts say
the availability of powerful
microcomputers and work-stations
may have permanently dented the
market for minicomputers, DEC's
traditional strength. Readers of
Science and other journals aimed at
scientists have seen new ads pushing DEC's VAX 6000 and VAX
9000 vector systems, with an eye catching banner: "The Whole World
is Waiting for Your Next Discovery. (Can you afford to wait for
your computer?)"
Michael J. Smitka has been
granted tenure as an associate professor in the Dept of Economics at
Washington & Lee University in
Lexington, Virginia. His book, Competitive Ties: Subcontracting in the
Japanese Automotive Industry was
released by Columbia U. Press in
June. For the coming academic
year, Mike and his family will
return to Japan under a Japan Foundation Fellowship. He will work on
issues of land prices and utilization
at the Law Faculty of Rikko University in Tokyo. After September he
can be contacted there or at Rikko
International Residence Hall #302,
4-15-8 Nishi Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku
Tokyo, Japan 171 (tel: 3985-9763).
Mike expects to interact with KGK
(the Japanese equivalent of IVCF)
and probably the Lutheran church
he attended in 1983-85. He may
also be coaching his kids in
Japanese, since they'll go to the
regular schools. He would enjoy a
visit from any ASAers in Japan.
On his return Mike hopes to make
it to another ASA Annual Meeting
and to the Association of Christian
Economists, now meeting at the annual American Economics Association convention.
Jack Swearengen, back in Livermore, California, after spending two
years at the Pentagon on arms control, including preparation for the
U.S.-Soviet START talks in Geneva,
was interviewed by Berkeley's
Radix magazine during the Gulf
War. In "Working for Peace: Inside
the System" (vol. 20, no. 2), Jack
said that he "felt called through
Scripture to be a conscience to
government" at many levels. Though
not expecting to transform government entirely, he said he isn't satisfied to abandon public institutions
to secular or non-Christian people.
God is at work in history, Jack
believes, and Christ died to redeem
Saddam Hussein just as he did for
the rest of us.
Kenneth J. Van Dellen of
Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, was
elected treasurer of the Affiliation
of Christian Geologists on a ballot
amending the ACG constitution to
add "treasurer" to its list of officers. At first that office was
deemed unnecessary, with ACG
dues handled through the ASA office. Ken has already taken on
responsibility for production of The
News! of ACG and preparation of
the first ACG directory. Ken continues to organize financial support
for Sierra Leonean student Kabba
Ja oh, now enrolled in agricultural
studies at Dordt College in Iowa.
In the Spring issue of his "Kabba
News," Ken reported a potentially
devastating setback. Kabba's complaints of fatigue and other
symptoms led to his hospitalization in late April and a diagnosis of
polymyositis. The Dordt "family"
faithfully prayed for Kabba as he
went in and out of a respirator.
His student medical insurance is
good for $25,000, but intensive care
has been expensive and Kabba was
soon transferred to the U. of Iowa
Hospital in Iowa City. Ken announced a local fund-raiser in June
to take care of some residual tuition costs and anticipated medical expenses. (Address for contributions:
Third World Fund, Office of College Advancement, Dordt College,
Sioux Center, IA 51250.) Ken has
been in touch with Kabba's halfbrother, Paramount Chief Alimany
Kulio Jalloh 11 of Sierra Leone.
Robert VanderVennen of the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto was the speaker at the Feb 9
Homecoming at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois.
Before moving to Canada, Bob
taught chemistry at Trinity Christian.
John Van Zytveld of the
Physics Dept of Calvin College in
Michigan held a Fulbright grant
during the 1990-91 academic year.
John spent three months at the Institute of Electronic Structure &
Lasers at the Greek Foundation for
Research and Technology on the Island of Crete. Despite distractions
of history and scenery, he claims
to have been working on the
electronic properties of amorphous
semiconductors.
Abraham Vema is now a student at Dallas Theological Seminary
in Texas. Abraham has kept in
touch since Canadian IVCF director Tim Berney suggested in 1985 that
Ke look for a post-doctoral position
through the ASA/CSCA Newsletter.
A native of India, Abraham had an
M.S. in agricultural chemistry and
was expecting his Ph.D. in animal
biochemistry from Allahabad University. He has since done post-doc
work at Cork in Ireland, returned
to India in 1988 as a junior scientist at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, and in 1989
became a senior scientist in the
Dept. of Biotechnology for the
Government of India in New Delhi.
Then in 1990, "in a dramatic way,"
God enabled him to enroll at Dallas in a four-year Master of Theology program.
Peter J. Vibert, research
biophysicist at Brandeis University,
was sad to see the demise of 'The
New England Christian of the Evangelistic Association of New
England, with the May 1991 issue.
EANE began publishing the monthly
newspaper (then called New
England Church Life) in 1982 in
connection with a Billy Graham
Crusade in Boston. Peter chaired
the editorial committee from the
beginning. He saw the paper grow
into a real "community newspaper"
for New England Christians, who
often felt isolated. It won several
professional awards from the Evangelical Press Association and was increasing its paid circulation and
advertising revenues. To break even
would have required a tripling of
1990 circulation, however, so the
EANE board, chaired by Stephen Macchia, decided the paper was too
large a drain on finances. Editor
Carlene Hill will remain at EANE
as communications director. (Of
publications started in the first half
of the 1980s, over 80 percent
folded within five years, we're told.
Science '80 lasted six. ASA's
SEARCH, begun in 1988, is still
going strong, but it piggybacks on
Perspectives on Science and
Christian Faith.-Ed.)
Dorothy Woodside of La Verne,
California, was scheduled to leave
in July for a year's service in Zambia at the Chitokoloki Mission
Hospital. As a nurse, Dorothy has
always had a strong interest in missions. She earned a degree in Christian education from Talbot Seminary
for better preparation after spending
18 months as a short-termer in
Bucaramanga, Colombia. In school
nursing for the past 12 years, she
has been open to new directions
since her husband, Ed Woodside, died in 1985. Chitokoloki is
nominally a 100-bed hospital
(sometimes with up to 180 patients)
with a leprosariurn and tuberculosis
sanitarium. Dorothy expects to be
delivering babies for pregnant
women who walk a long way from
villages as their time nears.
Although the national language is
English, her first task will be to
learn enough of one of two tribal
languages, Luvale, to be understood.
The hospital is in the bush at the
end of a 600-kni road. Mail service
is said to be "iffy" but try: Nurse
Dorothy Woodside, c/o Barbara
Oolman, P.O. Box 27, Chitokoloki,
Zambesi, Zambia, Africa. She is
volunteering her services, but
donations toward her expenses can
be sent to C.M.M.L., P.O. Box 13,
Spring Lake, NJ 07762-0013, with
a note that the support is for
Dorothy Woodside.
POSITIONS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE. Physics: Tenure track position for Fall 1992. Contact: (ASA member) Dr. James Rynd, Physical
Science Dept, Biola University, La Mirada, CA 90603. Biology: Tenure track position, rank open, for Ph.D. committed to undergrad teaching and research in animal physiology or cell biology, beginning Aug 1992. Contact: Dr. Gary Tallman, Natural Science Division, Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA 90263.
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