Re: [asa] Can God Love Darwin, Too?

Hi Louise,
 
Well speaking as a young faculty member who doesn't have tenure and has no chance of getting it (since the University eliminated it in the early 1990's - but that's a whole 'nother conversation), I'm not greatly alarmed or disturbed at what Pres. Bowling has done here. I appreciate your concern - you summarized it in a way that does make it sound alarming. But I think if you knew all the facts and faces involved you might think differently. There is obviously a lot that "outsiders" won't know. I trust Pres. Bowling's motives, wisdom, and leadership. If I didn't, I'd say so (in a careful way of course!). No one has been "thrown to the wolves" - as I said before, Pres. Bowling has been a great advocate for the science faculty. I believe this decision is an attempt to make the situation better for all, including Rick Colling, although Rick probably does not share that view. As I said before, I don't believe it is a content issue (as evidenced by your #s 2 & 3 below), although that is commonly assumed and it is even described that way by the author of the Newsweek article.
 
 
Best,
Charles
 
_______________________________
Charles W. Carrigan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Geology
Olivet Nazarene Univ., Dept. of Physical Sciences
One University Ave.
Bourbonnais, IL 60914
PH: (815) 939-5346
FX: (815) 939-5071
ccarriga@olivet.edu
http://geology.olivet.edu/

"To a naturalist nothing is indifferent;
the humble moss that creeps upon the stone
is equally interesting as the lofty pine which so beautifully adorns the valley or the mountain:
but to a naturalist who is reading in the face of the rocks the annals of a former world,
the mossy covering which obstructs his view,
and renders indistinguishable the different species of stone,
is no less than a serious subject of regret."
          - James Hutton
_______________________________

>>> "Freeman, Louise Margaret" <lfreeman@mbc.edu> 9/13/2007 4:23 PM >>>
Charles,
Thank you for the input; it is certainly useful to get the perspective of an insider in cases like this. Frankly, however, what you describe is in many ways more disturbing than reports I've seen in the media. Are you saying that the college president stepped into remove a member of the faculty from a core course and restrict the use of that professor's book on campus, when that professor's teaching was 1) consistent Nazarene doctrine 2) consistent with how the material has been taught for the past few decades and 3) consistent with how the material is being currently taught by his successors? If so, it appears he has thrown his faculty member to the wolves for the sake of appeasing a "vocal minority." Promising to reverse the situation when the situation grows less volitile seems like it will 1) encourage said minority to make darn sure the situation stays volitile and 2) offers no guarentee to the people currently trying to teach evolution in that environment. I can only hope they didn't turn the course over to someone without tenure.
 
__
Louise M. Freeman, PhD
Psychology Dept
Mary Baldwin College
Staunton, VA 24401
540-887-7326
FAX 540-887-7121

-----Original Message-----
From: "Charles Carrigan" <CCarriga@olivet.edu>
To: <asa@calvin.edu>, "<PvM" <pvm.pandas@gmail.com>, "<Ted Davis" <tdavis@messiah.edu>
Cc: "Kevin Brewer" <kbrewer2@olivet.edu>, "Priscilla Skalac" <pskalac@olivet.edu>
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:36:23 -0500
Subject: Re: [asa] Can God Love Darwin, Too?
 
Secondly - I would like to take this opportunity to shed some light on the events that have been occurring here at ONU regarding the removal of Rick Colling from teaching the general biology course here this year. Rick and the university have gotten some pressure from anti-evolutionists since the publication of "Random Designer" a few years ago. In the book, Rick basically tries to argue that evolution is compatible with Christianity. Although the majority of our constituents have no problem with our science here, there is a vocal minority that leans strongly toward Young-Earth Creationism. I believe that 2 members of the University's Board of Trustees are against evolution being taught at ONU, but most are not. The Nazarene Church has a tradition of a "big tent" approach to science from the theology standpoint, and so not many in leadership positions are so strongly opposed to evolution that they would ask for a professor teaching it to be removed. Dr. Bowling has written about this and made that case very strongly that Rick is not outside the bounds of Nazarene doctrine & tradition. When one YEC advocate asked Pres. Bowling if there were any YEC scientists here at ONU to 'provide balance', he stated that ONU doesn't have anyone like that, and that he doesn't think there is anyone like that in the entire Nazarene educational system. However, the pressure against Rick has been building. This past summer, President Bowling met with the natural science faculty and explained what he was asking from the Biology Department and why. It was clear to me that he was attempting to help the situation die down by removing Rick from the "bull's eye". In my opinion, he was doing his best that he thought necessary for the university and for Rick. I strongly support Pres. Bowling's decision here. The hope was and is that, after some time, the turmoil that is out there will subside; in Pres. Bowling's words, he was attempting to "make peace". However, I am not sure that Rick saw it this way, and the article in Newsweek has come since that meeting. I was very disappointed that the Newsweek article chose to state that Pres. Bowling "banned" the book from ONU courses. While I suppose that is technically true, the word carries with it too much baggage. Pres. Bowling stated that it was certainly possible that things could change in the future if the situation were to become less volatile. I was disappointed that the article was phrased in ways that made the good name of Pres. Bowling and ONU look bad, because it discredits the good science that is being taught here by many of our professors. In my opinion Pres. Bowling has been one of the greatest advocates for the science faculty here. He gave a message in Chapel in Jan. of 2006 where he discussed science & faith; I can send a copy of this to those who are interested.
 
Here are a few important facts that were not mentioned in the Newsweek article:
1) the science of an old Earth/Universe has been taught at ONU for at least 40 years that I know of - I'm sure it goes farther back than this but I'm not aware of who the faculty were before that time. ONU has been around for 100 years, but has not in all of those years offered college level science courses.
2) Other faculty members here at ONU have taught these same scientific concepts for many decades, and there has never been this kind of reaction to any of them.
3) Pres. Bowling made it very clear to us in the early Summer meeting that he was not in any way attempting to alter the content of the Gen. Biology course that he removed Colling from - Colling's removal from the course is not a content issue.
4) None of the other books out there that talk about science and Christianity have similarly been "banned", such as those by Falk, Collins, Young, Polkinghorn, Murphy, Ramm, Miller, etc.etc.
 

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Received on Thu Sep 13 23:03:23 2007