Re: Phil Johnson's Approach -- AIDS

Terry M. Gray (grayt@calvin.edu)
Mon, 24 Feb 1997 14:12:11 -0500

As I understand Phil's position on the HIV / AIDS connection, he believes
that, as with neo-Darwinism, the scientific establishment settled too soon
on a hypothesis and squashed dissenting opinion using all means
available--education, funding, etc. He relies on Duesberg and Duesberg
supporter, Nobel prize winning molecular biologist, Kerry Mullis, in the
same way that he relies on Mike Behe, Paul Nelson, Michael Denton, et al.
in the evolution argument. So the two agendas actually have a lot in
common.

TG

>Believing that Phil Johnson has done much good in raising the issue of
>metaphysical naturalism and carrying the debate, I have for a long time
>refrained from bringing up the issue that Glenn Morton has now done -
>namely Johnson's handling of AIDS.
>
>I was deeply immersed in Johnson's writings a couple of years back when I
>stumbled upon a letter he wrote to The Scientist (I don't have the citation
>at hand but will track it down) regarding the "establishment view" of HIV
>as the cause of AIDS. I was dismayed at his conspiratorial views and at his
>championing of Duesberg's views. The latter have been SO thoroughly
>reviewed and found wanting that no fair-minded and educated observer could
>have any doubt about their inadequacy in explaining AIDS. The events of the
>past couple of years have only made plainer that the "establishment view"
>that HIV causes AIDS is the right one and that Duesberg is just plain
>wrong.
>
>Phil Johnson's credibility as a judge of scientific evidence was, I
>believe, seriously damaged by his views on AIDS. This might matter less had
>he stuck to critiquing the philosophical foundations of the modern
>neo-Darwinian synthesis. But Johnson has all along insisted that "the
>evidence" in support of Darwinism was also faulty. Sadly his ability to
>weigh that evidence is probably inadequate.
>
>Thus - in part - the unhappiness some of us feel with Phil Johnson's
>"approach".
>
>Peter Vibert
>
>(formerly)
>Senior Scientist
>Rosenstiel Basic Medical
> Sciences Research Center
>Brandeis University
>
>(currently)
>Pastor
>Wading River Congregational Church
>Wading River, NY
>
>Guest Senior Scientist
>Biology Department
>Brookhaven National Laboratory
>Upton, LI, NY

_____________________________________________________________
Terry M. Gray, Ph.D. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Calvin College 3201 Burton SE Grand Rapids, MI 49546
Office: (616) 957-7187 FAX: (616) 957-6501
Email: grayt@calvin.edu http://www.calvin.edu/~grayt

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