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To: gondramB
His beliefs and credentials don’t seem to be in question. It is his position as a senior fellow in a group that works against science education. No science based department is going to want that association.

He is a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute. That is the group famous for their Wedge Strategy, which was leaked and posted on the internet.

Now, one passage from the Wedge Strategy reads,

We are building on this momentum, broadening the wedge with a positive scientific alternative to materialistic scientific theories, which has come to be called the theory of intelligent design (ID). Design theory promises to reverse the stifling dominance of the materialist worldview, and to replace it with a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions.

What does "science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions" mean? It sounds like somebody wants to censor scientific research where it does not agree with a particular religious belief.

I don't think that type of "science" or that type of censorship are good things, and I can imagine that the scientific community feels the same way.

Anyone who is a Senior Fellow in an anti-science group holding such a stated goal can't legitimately complain when the scientific community does not accept him with open arms. (Duh!)

32 posted on 05/28/2007 6:18:34 PM PDT by Coyoteman (Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.)
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To: Coyoteman

Wow! We certainly must not listen to those radicals at the Discovery Institute. Sounds like they are complete wackos, unlike the evos of Darwinism./sThe following from Discovery Institute website:

Mission Statement

Discovery Institute’s mission is to make a positive vision of the future practical. The Institute discovers and promotes ideas in the common sense tradition of representative government, the free market and individual liberty. Our mission is promoted through books, reports, legislative testimony, articles, public conferences and debates, plus media coverage and the Institute’s own publications and Internet website ( http://www.discovery.org ).

Current projects explore the fields of technology, science and culture, reform of the law, national defense, the environment and the economy, the future of democratic institutions, transportation, religion and public life, government entitlement spending, foreign affairs and cooperation within the bi-national region of “Cascadia.” The efforts of Discovery fellows and staff, headquartered in Seattle, are crucially abetted by the Institute’s members, board and sponsors.


230 posted on 05/30/2007 10:37:48 PM PDT by taxesareforever (Never forget Matt Maupin)
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To: Coyoteman
"What does "science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions" mean? It sounds like somebody wants to censor scientific research where it does not agree with a particular religious belief."

The irony is too delicious to pass up. If there is any censorship going on here it is clearly censorship of ID. You say they have published no peer reviewed papers but when someone does publish in a scientific journal they are immediately ostracized.

Further, you have a fixation w/ the so-called 'wedge" document but frankly I don't see it as a challenge to the regular practice of science at all. There is no call for outlawing "materialistic science" its merely a call for an alternative approach to science that could compete, possibly, in the world of ideas.

If the theories that come out of a science "consonant w/ Christian theology" don't hold water scientifically, by any measure, then they should be discarded, but to reject the concept out of hand is simply intellectual bias.

Afterall, if God did create the universe and everything, then a science that purposely looks the other way could be missing a lot.

261 posted on 05/31/2007 11:19:26 AM PDT by Pietro
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