Re: [asa] Baylor, Marks, and Uncommon Descent

I've no doubt Baylor has its problems and political issues like any other
big institution. Meanwhile, interested folks might want to check out the
most current newsletter from Baylor's Institute of Faith and Learning (
http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/43117.htm) to learn
about how all those meat puppet students are being religiously neutered --
not.

On 9/6/07, PvM <pvm.pandas@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dembski is quoted on ID
>
> <quote>
> You have to understand, in the current academic climate, Intelligent
> Design is like leprosy or heresy in times past," [Dembski] said. "To
> be tagged as an ID supporter is to become an academic pariah, and this
> holds even at so-called Christian institutions that place a premium on
> respectability at the expense of truth and the offense of the Gospel."
> </quote>
>
> At the expense of truth and the offense of the Gospel... Now that
> seems ironic...
>
> Two events took place at Baylor, one in late 2006 when Baylor returned
> a grant which was going to pay for Dembski to work with Marks, the
> second event in the middle of 2007 when Baylor removed the webpages of
> Marks' Evolutionionary Information Lab because of concerns that the
> title may suggest a Baylor approved research program.
>
> Ironically, it may be Dembski's bragging and Luskin's interview which
> may have alerted Baylor to Marks' pages.
>
>
> http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/casey-luskin-interviews-robert-marks-director-of-baylors-evolutionary-informatics-lab/
>
> <quote Dembski>ere's a fun interview with my friend and colleague
> Robert Marks. I hope you catch from the interview the ambitiousness of
> the lab and how it promises to put people like Christoph Adami and Rob
> Pennock out of business (compare www.evolutionaryinformatics.org with
> devolab.cse.msu.edu).</quote>
>
> Of course a quick comparison shows no competition between the real
> labs and the two man website of Marks and Dembski.
>
> If Dembski wants to 'compete' in this area then he has a lot of work
> ahead of him. Andreas Wagner, Stadler, Pennock, Adami, Schneider,
> Gavrilets, Toussaint and many more who have shown how evolutionary
> landscapes are ultimately 'friendly' to evolutionary processes of
> variation and selection.
>
> The real issue seems to be straightforward
>
> <quote>On Aug. 30, Beckenhauer told Gilmore via e-mail that "there is
> now a long trail of information that inappropriately links independent
> research to the Baylor name," and he said the website issue centered
> on "misleading representations of your client and his collaborator
> (Dr. Dembski)."</quote>
>
>
> What surprises me however is how little press releases followed the
> event in which Baylor returned a grant while much is made of Marks'
> 'lab' when it seems to me that there exists a much stronger case
> against the former than the latter. After all, Baylor has all the
> right to control the use of its name.
>
> Oh well, when science is lacking, what else is there but to influence
> public perception, even if it eventually runs afoul of St Augustine?
>

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Received on Thu Sep 6 12:33:27 2007