NEWSLETTER

of the

American Scientific Affiliation & Canadian Scientific Christian Affiliation


VOLUME 33 NUMBER 1                                                                    FEBRUARY/MARCH 1991


NEWSLETTER of the ASA/CSCA is published bi-monthly for its membership by the American Scientific Affiliation, 55 Market St., Ipswich, MA 01938. Tel. 508-356-5656. Information for the Newsletter may be sent to the Editor: Dr. Walter R. Hearn, 762 Arlington Ave., Berkeley, CA 94707. 0 1991 American Scientific Affiliation (except previously published material). All rights reserved.
[Editor: Dr. Walter R. Hearn / Production: Rebecca Petersen]


CASUALTIES OF WAR?

NOTE: Although copy for this issue was set before Operation Desert Storm's missiles began firing, printing was delayed over an unpaid bill. ASA's publication schedule and budget may be early casualties of the Gulf war and accompanying recession.

December giving did not peak as it usually does. January dues and renewals ran about 20% below expectations. Many members have been preoccupied, understandably. Others may be in financial straits themselves, possibly unemployed. Some may have been caught up in the wartime emergency. We pray that both the hostilities and ASA's financial setback will soon end. Your support for ASA in its 50th Anniversary year would be most welcome. -Bob Herrmann

HICKERNELL ELECTED; NEW ROLE FOR LINCOLN?

Physicist Fred S. Hickernell of Phoenix, has been elected by the ASA membership to a five-year term on the five-person ASA Executive Council. He replaces retiring Council member Stanley Lindquist. Fred's fast Council meeting will take place at WHEATON COLLEGE in JULY, in connection with the 1991 ASA ANNUAL MEETING celebrating ASA's 50th year.

At its December meeting in Ipswich the Council pondered a question being asked elsewhere in the world: Can there be too much democracy? In its early years, like most other organizations, ASA placed a single name on its ballot. Provision for writing in other names existed, but few people did. In fact, few members even bothered to vote. So, why not give voters a real choice? The nominating committee could put up two candidates as equally matched as possible and the membership could choose between them. At the time that sounded like a great idea.

In a sense, democracy has worked. Given a choice, more members vote. But the candidates are always so well matched that out of, say, 600 votes cast, a difference of 10 votes would be considered a landslide. Usually the runner-up is short only a couple of votes. We thus lose by a hair the service of a superbly qualified person, equally willing to serve ASA.

This year, physical chemist Kenneth A. Lincoln, a spark plug of the San Francisco Bay local section for years, came in second. The Council would like to see Ken (and others who stand for election in the future) play a significant national role. To maintain balance on the Council (e.g., this year a physical scientist from a western state), one year's nominating committee seldom renominates the person with fewer votes the year before. But runner-ups could automatically be assigned some other official function.

We don't know how the deliberations actually went, but we know we shouldn't waste the potential service of some of our most dedicated members. If ASA continues to put up two nominees, maybe voting should decide which one is to serve on the Council and which on an ongoing "Strategy Committee" or as "Special Advisor to the Council." One would face ASA's immediate problems; the second could engage in creative thinking on ASA's behalf, free of "die burden of the budget." Any better ideas?
(Incidentally, the new Council member is Fred senior, not his son Fred J. Hickernell, math professor at Hong Kong Baptist College.-Ed.)


HESS IS PRESIDENT; COUNCIL DELIBERATES

Messiah College biology professor Gerald Hess is the 1991 president of the Executive Council and hence of the American Scientific Affiliation. In the normal succession of officers, physiologist Ken Dormer of the U. of Oklahoma Medical Center moves up to vice
president and biologist Elizabeth Zipf of BioSciences Information Service becomes secretary-treasurer. Calvin College physicist Howard Van Till continues as immediate past president until he leaves the Coun cil at the end of 1991.

Election of these officers was ratified at the December Council meeting. Despite threats of war and economic recession, Council members were optimistic about the outlook for ASA in its 50th year ahead. They took up many issues and acted on some important ones.

They looked favorably on a proposed ASA resolution endorsing "the teaching of evolution as science" (see Oct/Nov 1990 Newsletter, p. 4) while searching for a general mechanism to handle mernber-proposed resolutions that might appear potentially divisive.

Three levels of government exist in ASA: 1) members at large, electing a Fellow to the Executive Council each year and voting on all constitutional amendments; 2) Fellows, electing members of senior qualifications and experience to their own number (about 10 percent of the membership); and 3) the Executive Council, electing its own officers, who automatically become the officers of the whole Affiliation. Can an organization like ASA that is basically an open forum "take action" without sacrificing some of its openness or spiritual unity? Do we have an organizational commitment to "do the truth"?

As we understand it, a mechanism being explored is for resolutions to reach the Council only via a commission or standing committee. The Council could reject a resolution, or reword it, but could not adopt it in the name of ASA. Any "Council-approved" version would then be submitted (with arguments pro & con?-Ed.) to the body of Fellows by mail ballot for official adoption or rejection.

A NAME TO REMEMBER

Scientific breakthroughs produce lots of neologisms ending in on. Nuclear physicists have gone from protons to bosons to muons to gluons. Molecular genetics is full of introns and exons. At first we thought a "templeton" was short for DNA-template-on. Now we know it's the name of ASA member John M  Templeton, of The Templeton Plan (his book on financial investment), The Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, and The John Templeton Foundation.

The Templeton Foundation has funded a campaign to attract new subscribers to Perspectives on Science & Christian Faith, primarily through direct mail to selected lists.

A letter and attractive brochure ("Broaden Your Perspective") offers a free copy to inquirers, plus a copy of Teaching Science in a Climate of Controversy to new subscribers. Beginning in 1989, about 3,800 pieces were mailed in Phase 1, yielding 120 responses (43 new subscriptions). Some 10,000 pieces were mailed in Phase II. As responses continued to come in, Phase III began, a mailing of 61,500 pieces. ASA's overall goal is 1,600 new subscribers.

A brand-new project is a science/theology dialogue on university campuses to be known as The Templeton Foundation Lecture Series. The series will be organized by the American Scientific Affiliation. ASA Executive Director Bob Herrmann was notified in Oct 1990 of an initial one-year grant of $66,000 to ASA to support one lecture at each of ten major universities.

Since a number of organizations were invited to submit proposals, we can be proud of ASA for winning the grant on a competitive basis. On the other hand, one of John Templeton's main themes is a "theology of humility," which he believes the study of science should produce. So let's say instead that we're grateful-to God and to The Templeton Foundation-for this new opportunity to co-sponsor significant lectures that should make ASA more widely known in the process.

ON TO WHEATON

A " wheaton" is neither a subatomic particle nor a piece of cereal DNA (see above), but the place to hear more details of what's happening in ASA. The 1991 ASA ANNUAL MEETING will be held at WHEATON COLLEGE in the Chicago area on JULY 25-29. As ASA's 50th anniversary celebration, the meeting will focus on the history of science and on ASA's role in the science/theology dialogue.

The Annual Meeting comes a bit earlier this year, so please respond early to the call for papers and registration materials when they arrive. Advanced registration deadline is May 31. For this "midwestem year" and special occasion, twice the usual number of registrants are expected. Local arrangements chair Al Smith is checking out nearby hotels/motels for the expected overflow from the Wheaton dormitories. Register early!

On program chair Jack Haas's tentative schedule, both the Affiliation of Christian Geologists and Affiliation of Christian Biologists will gather Thursday morning, July 25. Others are welcome to join them. Registration for the ASA meeting itself begins Thursday afternoon, before an evening keynote lecture by U. of Wisconsin science historian David Lindberg. The meeting ends with lunch on Monday.

The 1991 theme, "Celebrating the Past and Looking to the Future," has special meaning for our 50th anniversary year. Several speakers, including Mark Kalthoff, author of a Ph.D. dissertation on ASA, will survey ASA's history and prospects. Former journal editor Richard Bube will look to the future in his banquet address.

MESSIAH MEMORIES

By the Feb/Mar Newsletter we start getting excited about the coming ASA ANNUAL MEETING while the last one is still fresh on our minds. Several people recall the same vivid experience: banking low into Harrisburg's airport, they realized that what they were flying over that looked exactly like news photos of Three Mile Island, really was that notorious Susquehanna River nuclear plant. At least Grantham wasn't downwind of TMI.

The plenary sessions, papers, and discussions made for a full prograin. Some folks took a break with a visit to the National Military Park at Gettysburg, 30 miles SW, soon to be brought to mind again by the Civil War series on PBS television. Others went SE to Lancaster County and the quaint Pennsylvania Dutch country. Moming joggers discovered that the Messiah campus itself, though replete with modem buildings, included a quaint covered bridge across Yellow Breeches Creek.

The Affiliation of Christian Biologists (ACB) headed for the woods rather informally, but the Affiliation of Christian Geologists (ACG) did their field trip up right. With the aid of Messiah's Mark Wolgernuth, geologist Frank Roberts had produced a 14-page booklet describing every detail to be seen on a 74.2-mile trip through the "upper Triassic Gettysburg basin," including such as the battle of Little Round Top. A note pointed out that the intruding "diabase dike" had kept Union soldiers from digging trenches there. Frank's guidebook posed a few questions: "Is the pseudostratification of the diabase due to intrusion of a succession of pulses of magma or is it sheet structure due to unloading?"

Worshipping together, a high point of ASA meetings, seemed especially uplifting at Messiah. Saturday's devotions were led by mathematician Harold Heie, academic dean at Messiah and onetime ASA member. He spoke from Titus 2:7 (TLB) on "the signs of those who love truth." At the simplest level they include hunger for more truth, combined with intellectual humility. At a deeper level they include courage to speak the truth, combined with willingness to speak it in love. Heie said polarization ruins the process of testing truth, which requires dialogue. ASA's resistance to polarization gives him hone he said

On Sunday morning, Ron Sider drove over from Eastem Seminary in Philadelphia to help us "think biblically in an ecological age." It was a powerful sermon that we hope will appear in Perspectives. Expressing his own appreciation for ASA's sane approach to controversy, Sider urged us to seek  a more active educational role in the evangelical community. 

Sorry. For the video tapes, contact Karen Brunstrom in the ASA office, P.O. Box 668, Ipswich, MA 01938.-Ed.)


BULLETIN BOARD

1. Colin Russell, professor of history of science & technology at London's Open University, was awarded the 1990 Dexter Award for "outstanding contributions to the history of chemistry" at the fall American Chemical Society meeting in Washington, D.C. Funded by Dexter Chemical Co. and administered by the History of Chemistry Division of ACS, the award was established in 1956. Many ASAers met Russell at the 1985 Annual Meeting at Oxford University; others know him as the author of Cross-Currents, a book showing clearly the influence of Christian faith on many pioneers of science.

2. The Center for Theology & the Natural Sciences (CTNS) at Berkeley's Graduate Theological Union announces that its J. K. Russell Fellow in residence this spring will be Holmes Rolston, III. Rolston, professor of philosophy at Colorado State in Fort Collins, is author of Science and Religion: A Critical Survey (1987), Environmental Ethics (1988), and Philosophy Gone Wild (1989). He will give a public lecture on "Respect for Life" on Feb 8 and be the focus of a day-long conference on "Genes, Genesis, and God in Natural and Human History" on Feb 16. For information contact CTNS, 2400 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA 94709; tel. 415-848-1417.

Monday's devotions included memonial resolutions led by Bob Herrmann and selections from the writings of Ren6 Descartes chosen by science historian Ted Davis of Messiah. Saying that the frequently maligned "Cartesian dualism" still has some substance, Ted read what Descartes had to say about such themes as divine providence and redemption. One thing Descartes knew from his experience as a soldier on the Protestant side in the Thirty Year's War: War ruins everything.

Standing out above all other years was the worshipful music selected and led by physics grad student Larry Martin of the U. of North Carolina and wife Susan. The congregational singing of great hymns of creation and redemption was marvelous: "For the Glory of the Lord"; "All Creatures of Our God and King"; "Holy, Holy, Holy." By Sunday morning, Larry and Susan had assembled a small choir whose joyous anthem filled the gymnasium area we used for plenary sessions. That was a reminder, for any who needed it, that laboratories aren't the only places to worship God.

(Only the audio tapes from Messiah are available from ASA Tape Service, c/o Sanders Christian Foundation, P.O. Box 2094, Hamilton, MA 01982-0094, contrary to what we said in the Dec/Jan Newsletter.

3. Access Research Network (ARN) is a new parent organization for Students for Origins Research (SOR). ARN chair Dennis Wagner and executive director Mark Hartwig are both ASA members. Mark says the Network will "provide accessible and reliable information on issues related to science, technology, and society." SOR, now 13 years old, will continue as a division, publishing Origins Research in the current format. The SOR Bulletin will be renamed and expanded to include reviews and analysis on a wide range of science topics. Contributions to help with the reorganization and expansion are requested: Access Research Network, P.O. Box 38069, Colorado Springs, CO 80937-8069.

4. Evangelical Scholarship Initiative (ESI) is a new program funded by the Pew Charitable Trust, providing $30,000 grants to selected scholars within the evangelical community. The Initiative's first effort was to solicit research proposals in fall 1990 from scholars in the humanities, social sciences, and theological disciplines. The announcement arrived a bit late to inform ASAers this year, but scholars in need_of support for future years might contact Nathan 0. Hatch, Director, or Michael S. Hamilton, Project Coordinator, Evangelical Scholarship Initiative, G151 Hesburgh Library, U. of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556. (ESI is evidently a new grants-in-aid program similar to that of the Institute for Advanced Christian Studies; several ASA members have had IFACS support to complete books, including psychologist Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen and geologist Davis Young.-Ed.)

IN PRINT

For roughly the first 50 years of our existence, ASA hardly came to the attention of either the Christian or the scientific community. That seems to be changing, as our name (if not always our address) gets into a variety of print media.

Examples:

The "Lifestyle" section of the Fort Lauderdale (FL) Sentinel (5 Aug 1990) carried a story by religion editor James Davis headlined "Challenger at heart of ethics study. " It was based on an interview with Edward Allen of Boca Raton about "a conference on professional. ethics by a fellowship of scientists and religious leaders." Ed, "part of a study group with the American Scientific Affiliation, based in Ipswich, Mass," meeting that weekend, was identified not only as a systems engineer with the Glenbeigh hospital chain, but as a Christian since his youth and a member of ASA's Commission on Industrial & Engineering Ethics.

Bob VanderVannen of Toronto has mastered the art of publicizing CSCA in national Christian magazines in Canada: he sends a B&W photo with a timely story tailored to each publication. Bob "scored" a front-page story in both Christian Week (20 Nov 1990) and Calvinist Contact with write-ups of the 20 Oct meeting at the U. of Toronto on "Christianity and Nation Building."

A strategically placed story appeared in the new Christian journal "by and for graduate students" (mentioned in the Dec/Jan Newsletter, pp. 3-4). Vol. 1, No. I of Crucible carried Larry Martin's "Still Teaching Science in a Climate of Controversy," based on his interviews with the authors taped at the Messiah meeting, plus excerpts from the ASA booklet and Larry's own comments. Since the 4-page article was essentially a book review, Larry was able to end it with the price of the booklet and ASA's Ipswich address.

A remarkable mention of ASA appeared in another strategic place, the Sept 1990 issue of NSTA's The Science Teacher. Richard E. Dickerson, director of UCLA's Molecular Biology Institute and member of the National Academy of Sciences, included the following paragraph at the beginning of his article, "Letter to a Creationist: Seeking the Middle Ground" (pp. 49-53): 

I might add that I am enrolled as a Friend (an associate) of the American Scientific Affiliation, an organization of Christian scientists (not "Christian Scientists") that has been in existence since 1941. 1 regularly read their quarterly, "Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith." Although many members of the ASA describe themselves as creationists, they are not "young-Earth" creationists like the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) in San Diego, and do not see any inherent clash between religion and science.

Frequently a letter to the editor provides an opportunity to get ASA's name into print. In the Dec 1990 issue of American Journal of Physics, for example, Howard Van Till responded to an earlier story about Carl Sagan's "appeal to the world's religious community." Howard wrote that "our care for this planet gains its deepest significance, I believe, not as an act of reverence for a sacred Earth, but as an act of thankful love for Earth's divine Creator." He signed it not only as a Calvin College professor but also as "President, Executive Council, American Scientific Affiliation."

An account in the Wall Street Journal (22 Oct) of Scientific American's treatment of science writer Forrest Mims (see LAST WORDS, below) gave two ASA members an excuse to respond. The 9 Nov issue included letters from Mark Hartwig and John Wiester as well as from Mims himself. John's letter ended thus:

The American Scientific Affiliation, composed of more than 2,000 scientists who are also mainstream Christians, recently published 'Teaching Science in a Climate of Controversy." This booklet helps science teachers distinguish the science of evolution (which answers the questions of how and when) from the religious doctrine
of creation (which answers the questions of who and why). It also raises certain unanswered questions in connection with Darwinian evolutionary mechanisms.

For this, our booklet was banished from science classrooms by the manager of the Math/Science Unit of the California Department of Education and our reply to an
arrogant caricature of it was refused by the California Science Teacher's Journal. Fundamentalists aren't the only bullies on the block. 


World
magazine's story on the Mims situation (10 Nov) included comments by Jack Haas, identified as a Gordon College chemistry prof and "editor of the Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation."

WHEREVER GOD WANTS US: 16.

More from the Mideast: In the Dec/Jan issue we sighed with relief over cancellation of ASA's mideast tour on the eve of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. For balance we offer some positive comments from Stan Anderson, who wrote from Sultan Qaboos University. On a two-year leave from Westmont College, Stan is in Oman serving as head of the Chemistry Dept at that university. Despite the crisis in the Gulf, "Oman is far removed from tensions and very peaceful." In fact Stan doubts that Oman would be directly affected even in the event of hostilities.

Primarily Stan wrote to tell us about positions open at SQU in all
Areas--- 'of engineering and geology and in his department in particular. The university needs help in implementing a typical North American course/unit semester system. Stan is looking for chemists in physical, analytical, and inorganic with a minimum of five years of teaching experience-including at least one full professor able to take his place as department head. Ability to direct undergrad research is important; facilities are all new. Benefits include yearly round-trip tickets for up to three dependent children under 18, free housing, no taxes, partial school fees paid, and competitive salaries (given those perks). Contact: Prof. Stanley E. Anderson, Head, Dept. of Chemistry, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 32486 Al Khod, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.

NOTE: Stan wrote on 18 Oct 1990 and this is being written a week before the U.N.'s Jan 15 deadline. A lot may have happened by the time you're reading this. The Weary Old Editor (WOE is me
Ed.) doubts that the long-term costs of occupying an Arab country after even a "quickie" war have been adequately counted by either "side." We've written the White House and called its hot-line to register our comments. (tel., 202-456-1111. A person, not a machine, listened each time.) Now we're praying this "Prayer for Saddam Hussein and George Bush":

0 God, you fill the universe with light and love. In you we live and move and have our being. We pray for Saddam Hussein and George Bush. Enlighten their minds and fill their hearts with the power of your creative love. Guide their actions so that all civilians and soldiers in the Persian Gulf area are protected from the sufferings of war. Inspire their decisions so that the crisis in the Middle East is resolved peacefully, and all people of the world learn to walk in ways of justice, love, and peace. Amen.

(That prayer, a "Call to Prayer & Fasting," and practical advice for communicating with elected officials about the Persian Gulf crisis were part of a December mailing from the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America. BPFNA requested contributions to pay for its "urgent" extra mailing. Address: 499 Patterson St., Memphis, TN 38111.-Ed.)

LOCAL SECTIONS

METROPOLITAN NEW YORK
The section's Executive Council suffered a hemorrhage in 1990 as Randy Issac, Stan Rice, and Dennis Roark moved elsewhere. At the Nov 3 meeting at The King's College, which drew about 50 people to hear speaker Paul de Vries on science and ethics, new members were elected to the Council.

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA

In Oct 1990 ASA executive director Bob Herrmann and wife Betty stopped off on their West coast swing to make several appearances in the Bay Area. (So did the Cincinatti Reds, for die World Series. Both the Herrmanns and Reds did well.-Ed.)

On Saturday, Oct 20, a public meeting in Berkeley drew about 25 people to hear Bob bring news of ASA activities and discuss "God and the New Science," with many references to the book he wrote with John Templeton,
The God Who Would Be Known (Harper, 1989). That meeting was held in the Crouch Library of American Baptist Seminary of the West, a room used also by New College Berkeley and (on Sunday mornings) by The Fellowship of His People, a small "house" church in which Jack Irvine is active. Jack & Beverly arranged for the room and set up the coffee and cookies. Sid Niemeyer brought the official ASA coffee pot. Larry Lagerstrom presided. Literature from ASA and from Berkeley's Center for Theology & the Natural Sciences was available for browsing.

The God Who Would Be Known is an overview of "the awesome magnitude, intricacy, beauty, and order of Creation." Like so many other books by ASA authors falling "in between" science and theology, it has not sold well despite its Harper imprint. The authors have recently taken to direct-mail advertising (in their own names, not ASA's) aimed at "fellow members of the two priesthoods."

In Bob's words, "The tragedy of our times is that the theologians, those who should be most interested in contemporary scientific exploration, seem to be the least interested-if not actually being threatened-by the new science. For them this book provides a challenge and a framework for theological interpretation, drawing upon the best minds in both science and theology-the many scientists and the few theologians who have had the courage to enter the dialogue of faith."  (The God Who Would Be Known can be ordered through the ASA office, P.O. Box 688, Ipswich, MA 01938.-Ed.)

In the North Bay, Bob & Betty stayed with Chi-Hang Lee & Mae in Walnut Creek. On Sunday Bob spoke at Pacific Union College in Angwin, hosted by Gerald Winslow. The following evening he spoke at an informal get-together in Redwood City at the home of Ken Lincoln & Shirley. Then the Herrmanns were off to Fresno, where Bob spoke on "Human Engineering" at Fresno Pacific College and stayed with Stan Lindquist & Ingrid. From Fresno they headed to Southern California, with stops at Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

In other news from the section, Paul McKowen was honored on Sept 30 at a huge testimonial luncheon at Irvington Presbyterian Church in Fremont on his retirement from the pastorate. Walt Hearn represented ASA in the tribute to Paul & Mary Ellen's faithful witness.
ASA/CSCA NEWSLETTER

The section has often met at the Irvington church, and Paul has always given generously of his time to ASA. "Now," Walt said, "ASA hopes to see even more of him."

THE EDITOR'S LAST WORDS: 13.
This fall, just before I left Berkeley on a three-week trip to Houston, John Wiester spotted a Wall Street Journal story about a science writer dropped by Scientific American. The writer, Forrest Mims 111, had acknowledged that he was a conservative Christian who didn't believe in the Darwinian theory of evolution-even though that had nothing to do with the "Amateur Scientist" column which he was about to be hired to edit.

Later, John saw a "Commentary" piece in the L. A. Times (3 Nov) by U.C. Berkeley law professor Phillip Johnson, using the Scientific American editor's attitude to pound home a point Phil made at the 1990 ASA Annual Meeting: Science is beset by both "creation scientists"
and another kind of "fundamentalists." That other group, Johnson wrote, "has enormous clout in
. science and science education, and is prepared
to use it to exclude people they consider unbelievers. The influential fundamentalists are called Darwinists."

Wiester called Mims (in Seguin, Texas, near San Antonio), then called me to suggest that since I was "already in Texas," I should "drop in" on Mims, who had received little support from fellow Christians. Seguin isn't exactly a Houston suburb, but I called Mims, liked him, and drove the 180 miles to see him. By then his story was breaking all over the place. You may have read about Mims's dismissal in places as disparate as Science (9 Nov) and Christianity Today (19 Nov). Mark Hartwig has written one of the most complete accounts, in "Defending Darwinism: How Far Is Too Far?" in Origins Research (Vol. 13, Nos. 1-2, 1990 Double Issue. Write for a copy from SOR, P.O. Box 38069, Colorado Springs, CO 809378069).

1 can't tell the full story here, but trust your Weary Old Editor (WOE is me-Walt Hearn) that Forrest Mims is an upstanding guy whose case of religious discrimination is so strong that the Texas ACLU called him up to offer aid. With a B.S. degree from Texas A&M in political science, he has more empirical spirit that a lot of PhDs I know. (He excused hi self from our conversation to record atmospheric ozone and water vapor 
measurements at precisely the same time of day he has taken them for years-with his own homemade equipment.)

Forrest Mims has made his living as a science writer for 20 years. He's written some 70 books, mostly of the "how to do it" variety. His Getting Started in Electronics for Radio Shack has sold 800,000 copies. A true
" amateur scientist," he was the ideal choice to take over the column of that title in Scientific American, as even Jonathan Piel, the editor who dropped him, has admitted. Now, to avoid dealing with Mims, the magazine has dropped the column after 30 years.

Forrest has been deeply grateful for encouragement offered him by ASA members so far. He is not a litigious individual but he has been wronged and he wants Jesus Christ to be honored in the outcome. Here are several ways to help:

1. Editor Jonathan Piel of Scientific American is the person who turned against Mims after pressing him about his religious beliefs. Piel is now totally unresponsive,
" stonewalling" behind lawyers. Nevertheless, letters of protest from scientists identifying themselves as Christians might carry some weight if addressed to: Claus-G. Firchow, President, Scientific American, Inc., 415 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10017. You could suggest that Mims be reinstated, since in all of his writings on science he has never mentioned his religious beliefs, including his belief in creation.

2. Mims's ongoing, well-publicized case offers an opportunity to get scientific societies to go on record in opposition to discrimination against religious believers. In response to his documented complaint to an appropriate AAAS committee, Mims received a letter from the chair affirming the committee's "commitment to the principle that articles submitted for publication in journals devoted to science, technology and medicine should be judged exclusively on their scientific merit. A person's private behavior or religious or political beliefs or affiliations should not serve as criteria in the evaluation of articles submitted for publication." Write to Dr. Sheldon Krimsky, Chair, Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility, Directorate for Science and Policy Programs, AAAS, 1333 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005, to thank him for his committee's forthright stand against religious discrimination in science. Mims plans to attend the AAAS meeting in Washington, D.C., Feb 14-19, to address the Resolutions Committee and possibly the AAAS Council itself. If you go, look him up.

3. Subscribe to Science Probe! The Amateur Scientist's Journal, for yourself or for some bright young future scientist. No kidding, a publisher friend of Forrest's has answered Scientific American by starting a whole new magazine devoted to the kind of material that used to appear in its "Amateur Scientist" column. I saw the premier issue (Nov 1990), a thick, slick, attractive, informative magazine dedicated to the late C. L. Stong, editor of that column from 1955 until his death in 1975. Forrest Mims is editor and contributor of several of the articles for the first issue. Begun as a quarterly, the successful magazine will soon go bimonthly. (And guess which magazine it's already outselling on some newstands.

Serves 'em right.) Charter rates: I yr (4 issues), $9.95; 2 yrs (8 issues), $17.95; Science Probe! Subscription Dept, P.O. Box 54098, Boulder, CO 803214098.

Forrest Mims's address is 433 Twin Oak Road, Seguin, TX 78155 (tel., 512-372-0548). He would appreciate receiving a copy of any letter written on his behalf and welcomes further ideas for using his situation to stop censorship of those who hold theistic beliefs. (Because of past experiences, no doubt, Jews in scientific work came to Forrest's support before any Christians did.) What about the scientific societies to whichyau belong?

This issue of the Newsletter is dedicated to my much-loved brother, Dale  Hearn of Houston, who made the trip with me on 13 Nov 1990 to meet Forrest Mims. Bom 19 June 1920, Dale went into the hospital on 24 Dec 1990 and entered the full presence of the Lord on 5 Jan 1991.


ECCE 1991

I
n addition to being ASA's 50th Anniversary Year, 1991 begins the Year of the Ram on the Asian calendar. (In ASA history, 1954 was our memorable "Year of the Ramm"; that's when Bernard Ramm's Christian View of Science and Scripture was published.-Ed.). Further, 1991 has the same pattern of days as 1974 and 1985. If you'd saved calendars from one of those years, you could re-use them this year. If not, save your 1991 calendars to use again in 2002. (Do you realize that for a thousand years essentially no one in the world could do what many of us will be able to do, namely, to live through two palindromic years?-Ed.)

PERSONALS

N. Celeste Bailey has begun a postdoctoral fellowship in the Dept of Medicine at U.C. San Diego. Celeste moved from New York to California even before the awarding of her Ph.D. in biomedical sciences (immunology) in Dec 1990. She has had some unusually productive years as a graduate student, with over a half-dozen research papers on antibodies already in print and still others submitted.

David Block has returned to his post as professor of astronomy & applied math at Witwatersrand University in South Africa after a sabbatical year abroad. The 4 Oct 1990 issue of the British journal Nature featured his photo of the Rosette nebula on its cover. In the accompanying article, David acknowledged those who had helped and encouraged him in his research, including Reasons to Believe 'in Pasadena, California, Hugh Ross , s science-based apologetic ministry. David laughed when the Nature editor asked about that "observatory in Pasadena" that was new to him.

Richard H. Bube of Stanford U. added up the extracurricular talks on science and Christianity he gave last year and discovered that the number came to 35. He finished up strong in September as a Staley Distinguished Christian Scholar lecturer at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, filling three days with a public lecture and press conference, three chapel talks, and four classes, besides lunch and dinner meetings with faculty and students. Iowa ASAers there for part of
1 were Russ Maatman from nearby Dordt College and George Jennings from Le Mars. Dick & Betty then visited daughter Sherri in Rochelle, Illinois, where Sherri's husband Jim is associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church. Dick spoke to a large group of adults at the church on the interaction of science and Christian faith.

Jon A. Buell directs the Foundation for Thought & Ethics (FTE) in Texas, producer of the high school biology supplement, Of Pandas and People. 'Me book is being used in some schools despite strong statements by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) that its "theory of intelligent design" is really "scientific creationism" in disguise. The Sept 1990 NSTA Reports! warned, "Look Out for Creationist Text," saying that NSTA would not allow the book to be advertised in its publications. The Dec 1990 issue published excerpts of three letters protesting such censorship, countered with an article by former NSTA president Gerald Skoog defending NSTA's position. In Nov 1990, Jon Buell attended hearings of the Texas Board of Education on biology textbooks, where Pandas was not up for consideration. Texas A&M engineer Walter Bradley and U.T. Medical Branch biochemist Gordon Mills were among those who testified concerning overstatements about evolution in those texts. To overcome the naturalistic and humanistic philosophy permeating such books, Jon says, the solution is to "take good books to the schools on a grass-roots level." FTE needs support for that long-term strategy, he adds. (Address: P.O. Box 830721, Richardson, TX 750830721.)

Glenn Kirkland of Bethesda, Maryland, a physicist who retired from Johns Hopkins years ago to care for his mentally ailing wife, told us at the Messiah College Annual Meeting that Grace died peacefully on 22 May 1990 at age 79. To complete the series of videotapes featuring the course of her Alzheimer's disease, Glenn had invited the team from the U. of Maryland School of Medicine to make a third documentary just three months before she died, on what turned out to be her last visit home from foster care. Glenn's Perspective on Grace (13 yrs after diagnosis) is available for sale or rent, along with Caregiving with Grace (10 yrs) and the prizewinning Living with Grace (6 yrs), from Video Press, U. of Maryland School of Medicine, Suite 301, 32 S. Greene St., Baltimore, MD 21201. Videos on implications of this superbly documented case study for the medical and nursing professions are available from the same source. Alzheimer's does not run the same course in everyone diagnosed with it, but in the final video, "Glenn is a wealth of caregiver tips." Glenn was cited by Maryland Governor W. D. Schaefer for "tireless efforts in raising awareness regarding the important needs of families touched by Alzheimer's disease."

Joseph H. Lechner is professor of chemistry at Mount Vernon Nazarene College in Ohio. He's in his second year of chairing the college's Div. of Natural Sciences, and in May 1990 received the Sears Roebuck Foundation Teaching Excellence & Campus Leadership Award. About 700 colleges and universities participate annually, but Joe was the first to receive the Sears Award on his campus. He's excited about a course he's initiating in Feb 1991 on "Science and the Judeo-Christian Faith," which might even become part of the required general education core. He hopes to offer a progress report at the 1991 ASA ANNUAL MEETING at WHEATON COLLEGE. Meanwhile, Joe would welcome correspondence with other ASAers who have taught such an integrative course elsewhere. (Address: Dept of Chemistry, Mount Vernon Nazarene College, 800 Martinsburg Road, Mount Vernon, OH 43050.)

Stanley Lindquist was the subject of a major story in the I Sept 1990 Fresno (CA) Bee by religion writer John Taylor. The story was actually about Link Care Center but the photograph was definitely Stan, with a big smile on his face. He seemed to be smiling about the recognition Link Care has been receiving-as exemplified by the newspaper story and by the opening of Link Care East that same week. The new branch, housed in the Tuscarora (PA) Resource center in the Pocono Mountains, offers the same services of missionary selection, counseling, and rehabilitation for which Stan founded the Fresno Center. The story focused on the variety of Christian counseling services offered through Link Care and on the big demand for such services. (Thanks to Richard Arndt of the Office of 
Student Affairs at Cal State Fresno nw
for the clipping--Ed.)

PEOPLE LOOKING FOR POSITIONS. Physics: Larry Martin (435 Ridgefield Rd., Chapel Hill, NC 27514) seeks postdoc research, or teaching. Degrees in music, theology, physics; expects Ph.D. in theoretical solid-state, May 1991. Experience teaching college & high school; computer programming, with several published educational programs. Biology: Eric 0. Thomas (Dept. of Integrative Biology, U. of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; tel. 415-526-8110) seeks a tenure-track position in comparative endocrinology or physiological ecology. Has B.S., M.A. (biol, 1984, '87, U.C. Riverside); expects Ph.D. (zool, U.C. Berkeley) in 1991 with research on hormonal regulation of reproduction, amphibian mating adaptations, captive breeding of rare/exotic amphibians. Has taught comparative physiology, functional vertebrate morphology, physiological ecology; interested in creation/evolution issues. Available fall 1991 or winter 1992. Biology: Steven L. Jones (1640 Post Rd-C, San Marcos, TX 78666-7301; tel. 512-353-3971) seeks position at a 2-yr or 4-yr college. Expects M.A. in biology (minor in community college education) in May 1991. Coursework and experience primarily in organismic biology.

POSITIONS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE. Physics: Fall 1991, to provide leadership for 2 first-level physics courses for engineering, mathematical science, and natural science programs and to assist in teaching either math or engineering major courses; in dept offering majors in computer science and math, plus service courses in physics and statistics. Ph.D. in physics or closely related field required. Contact Dr. Wayne Cassel, Chair, Dept of Mathematical Sciences, Messiah College, Grantham, PA 17027; tel. (717) 766-2511.