Re: Phil Johnson on Focus on the Family

Moorad Alexanian (alexanian@uncwil.edu)
Tue, 27 Apr 1999 15:15:12 -0400

I should like to relate my interaction with the biology department in our
university. I wrote a letter to the editor disagreeing with an op-ed article
on evolution. Per chance I spoke to a Christian professor in the biology
department and while in the conversation asked him if he had read my letter.
He said he had not read the letter in the newspaper but that my letter was
posted on the bulletin board of the biology department and that they were
getting ready to answer my letter. The reply to my letter came in the
newspaper and was signed by 13 faculty members of the biology
department---it seems that the other half of the department did not wish to
sign the letter and my Christian friend did not sign the letter either. I
suppose numbers count! There seems to be a division in biology departments
on this issue but I do not see any Christian professors writing letters to
the editor expounding their views. Is this brought about by scientific
pressure? I do believe that tenure and promotions in most universities are
based on certain intangibles as, for instance, your faith and how strongly
you show it. I think Johnson is right! Let us face it university faculties
are composed mostly of liberals and radicals. Where does a Christian fit in
such a system?

Moorad

-----Original Message-----
From: Allan Harvey <aharvey@boulder.nist.gov>
To: asa@calvin.edu <asa@calvin.edu>
Date: Tuesday, April 27, 1999 2:54 PM
Subject: Re: Phil Johnson on Focus on the Family

>At 01:29 PM 3/27/99 -0800, Arthur V. Chadwick wrote:
>>At 12:20 PM 4/27/99 -0600, Allan wrote:
>>>On more than one occasion Phil Johnson has lamented the hostility he gets
>>>from Christians in academic science. Yet here he is (and not for the
>>>first time) on a widely circulated medium slandering the integrity of his
>>>brothers and sisters in academia. While I'm not in favor of hostility
>>>(though I confess having some within me), one must say that, to a large
>>>extent, Johnson brings it upon himself.
>>>
>>>At 01:29 PM 4/27/99 -0400, Ryan Rasmussen wrote:
>>>>Did anyone get a chance to listen to Dr. Phil Johnson on Dr. James
>>>>Dobson's Focus on the Family radio show today? They basically trashed
>>>>Darwinistic Evolution during the beginning of the show and moved into
>>>>trashing Theistic Evolution and anything else that included evolutionary
>>>>theory. By the end of the show they were accusing Christians that work
>>>>in scientific academia as selling out to naturalism in order to further
>>>>their own professional goals. At one point Phil said that the reason
>>>>Christian higher education does not take a hard stance against
>>>>evolutionary theory is beause the parents of the students that attend
>>>>these schools want their kids to go on to ivy league schools and
>>>>therefor must be educated in the secular theory of evolution in order
>>>>for this to happen. They then went on to congratulate each other on
>>>>their recent publications.
>>
>>Am I missing something here? Did he say something that was not true?
>>Since I didn't hear his comments, I cannot respond to the trashing of
>>Johnson with anything except questions as to what it was that he said that
>>you would challenge. If you can't deal with the problem factually, it
>>would probably be best not to engage in character assassination.
>
>What he said (as reported by Ryan Rasmussen, I didn't hear the program
>myself) was that Christians in scientific academia are "selling out to
>naturalism in order to further their own professional goals"). That (and
>similar comments about such people "selling out" and being
>"accommodationists" in previous interviews) was what I was referring to
>as slandering his brothers and sisters.
>
>Art, I would hope that you would not be in agreement with that
>characterization of, for example, the academic Christians in science with
>whom you interact on this list (even if you don't agree with their
>interpretations of scientific evidence and/or Scripture). If you *do*
>think they (we, since I'm peripherally in that category) are so devoid of
>integrity, I at least commend you for keeping your postings on this list
>focused on the science rather than attacking our characters.
>