Re: [asa] Defendscience vs. Collins

Something else which is disconcerting;

A couple of years ago the same people were saying (http://www.defendscience.org/statement.html);

<cite>
To be clear: Many who continue to hold religious beliefs can and should rally to this call to DEFEND SCIENCE. This is not about science trying to destroy religion. It is about defending science from a specific right-wing political agenda which, coupled with a fundamentalist, Biblical-literalist religious ideology, is setting out to implement a program that will fundamentally pervert and undermine science and the scientific process itself.

Individual scientists may be atheists or agnostics, or may hold various religious beliefs; and their politics range over the full spectrum of political views.
</cite>

When such declarations are made in the name of science and then blithely brushed aside, it's easy to see why some would argue that scientific "tolerance" of religion is only a ploy to win over, and eventually crush, religious belief.

Were I an American I would be taking Merv's advice and writing a letter to congratulate the responsible party - perhaps somebody could locate and post the relevant details for the benefit of the group?

Blessings,
Murray

Ted Davis wrote:
> As Coope pointed out, this statement is full of religion -- or, irreligion to be more precise. This isn't science by any legitimate name. It's also overreaching, even when real science comes into it. For example:
>
> "Stephen Jay Gould and other evolutionary biologists have further emphasized that the evolutionary process does not follow any pre-determined course, (let alone one who's 'purpose' is to create homo sapiens or any other particular species)."
>
> I know Gould believed that, and perhaps he was right. But this is hardly science. And, it might well be inconsistent with genuine science -- ask Simon Conway Morris for a second opinion, I would say.
>
> Ted
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
> "unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
>

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Thu Sep 3 14:19:54 2009