Professor's Snub of Creationists Prompts U.S. Inquiry

New York Times ^ | 2/02/03 | NICK MADIGAN

[kattracks]

UBBOCK, Tex., Feb. 2 — A biology professor who insists that his students accept the tenets of human evolution has found himself the subject of Justice Department scrutiny.

Prompted by a complaint from the Liberty Legal Institute, a group of Christian lawyers, the department is investigating whether Michael L. Dini, an associate professor of biology at Texas Tech University here, discriminated against students on the basis of religion when he posted a demand on his Web site that students wanting a letter of recommendation for postgraduate studies "truthfully and forthrightly affirm a scientific answer" to the question of how the human species originated.

"The central, unifying principle of biology is the theory of evolution," Dr. Dini wrote. "How can someone who does not accept the most important theory in biology expect to properly practice in a field that is so heavily based on biology?"

That was enough for the lawyers' group, based in Plano, a Dallas suburb, to file a complaint on behalf of a 22-year-old Texas Tech student, Micah Spradling.

Mr. Spradling said he sat in on two sessions of Dr. Dini's introductory biology class and shortly afterward noticed the guidelines on the professor's Web site (www2.tltc.ttu.edu/dini/Personal/letters.htm).

Mr. Spradling said that given the professor's position, there was "no way" he would have enrolled in Dr. Dini's class or asked him for a recommendation to medical school.

"That would be denying my faith as a Christian," said Mr. Spradling, a junior raised in Lubbock who plans to study prosthetics and orthotics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. "They've taken prayer out of schools and the Ten Commandments out of courtrooms, so I thought I had an opportunity to make a difference."

In an interview in his office, Dr. Dini pointed to a computer screen full of e-mail messages and said he felt besieged.

"The policy is not meant in any way to be discriminatory toward anyone's beliefs, but instead to ensure that people who I recommend to a medical school or a professional school or a graduate school in the biomedical sciences are scientists," he said. "I think science and religion address very different types of questions, and they shouldn't overlap."

Dr. Dini, who said he had no intention of changing his policy, declined to address the question of his own faith. But university officials and several students who support him say he is a religious man.

"He's a devout Catholic," said Greg Rogers, 36, a pre-med student from Lubbock. "He's mentioned it in discussion groups."

Mr. Rogers, who returned to college for a second degree and who said his beliefs aligned with Dr. Dini's, added: "I believe in God and evolution. I believe that evolution was the tool that brought us about. To deny the theory of evolution is, to me, like denying the law of gravity. In science, a theory is about as close to a fact as you can get."

Another student, Brent Lawlis, 21, from Midland, Tex., said he hoped to become an orthopedic surgeon and had had no trouble obtaining a letter of recommendation from Dr. Dini. "I'm a Christian, but there's too much biological evidence to throw out evolution," he said.

But other students waiting to enter classes Friday morning said they felt that Dr. Dini had stepped over the line. "Just because someone believes in creationism doesn't mean he shouldn't give them a recommendation," said Lindsay Otoski, 20, a sophomore from Albuquerque who is studying nursing. "It's not fair."

On Jan. 21, Jeremiah Glassman, chief of the Department of Justice's civil rights division, told the university's general counsel, Dale Pat Campbell, that his office was looking into the complaint, and asked for copies of the university's policies on letters of recommendation.

David R. Smith, the Texas Tech chancellor, said on Friday afternoon that the university, a state institution with almost 30,000 students and an operating budget of $845 million, had no such policy and preferred to leave such matters to professors.

In a letter released by his office, Dr. Smith noted that there were 38 other faculty members who could have issued Mr. Spradling a letter of recommendation, had he taken their classes. "I suspect there are a number of them who can and do provide letters of recommendation to students regardless of their ability to articulate a scientific answer to the origin of the human species," Dr. Smith wrote.

Members of the Liberty Legal Institute, who specialize in litigating what they call religious freedom cases, said their complaint was a matter of principle.

"There's no problem with Dr. Dini saying you have to understand evolution and you have to be able to describe it in detail," said Kelly Shackelford, the group's chief counsel, "but you can't tell students that they have to hold the same personal belief that you do."

Mr. Shackelford said that he would await the outcome of the Justice Department investigation but that the next step would probably be to file a suit against the university.

[realpatriot71]

So, do you believe that a student who is an atheist should be denied entrance to medical school?

Just to jump in a bit here, but whatever a person's belief as to the origin of life on this planet, it has no bearing on how good a physician they will be. Why? Because it's not important to understanding the "here and now". A mechanic does not need to understood the evolution of cars in order to work on a car today. All he needs to understand is how the cars today work and how to fix them.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you for your post, but I vigorously disagree. Dini says:

This is the situation of those who deny the evolution of humans; such a one is throwing out information because it seems to contradict his/her cherished beliefs.

The Constitution says:

First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Fourteenth Amendment:

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

If government money is being used in the act of violating a citizen's constitutional rights, then the government has a substantial interest because it would involve the government as party to the illegal conduct. They cannot just ignore it!

It seems to me this is the biggest problem that Professor Dini and Texas Tech could face.

[realpatriot71]

Interesting, but why should this force a professor to write a letter of recommendation for this or any student?

I wouldn't write a letter of recommendation for anyone unless my criteria was met as well.

[Alamo-Girl]

Rats, I meant to also mention the United States Supreme Court decision in Thomas v. Review Board. The Court said:

A person may not be compelled to choose between the exercise of a First Amendment right and participation in an otherwise available public program. It is true that the Indiana law does not compel a violation of conscience, but where the state conditions receipt of an important benefit upon conduct proscribed by a religious faith, or where it denies such a benefit because of conduct mandated by religious belief, thereby putting substantial pressure on an adherent to modify his behavior and to violate his beliefs, a burden upon religion exists. While the compulsion may be indirect, the infringement upon free exercise is nonetheless substantial.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you for your post!

I wouldn't write a letter of recommendation for anyone unless my criteria was met as well.

You can refuse a letter of recommendation for objective reasons - but you cannot discriminate against a student because of race, gender, age, religion, etc. And if you do such discrimination while at the same time receiving public funds, the government has a substantial interest in the matter.

[Nebullis]

Ignore the last parts of the comment.

Too late! I already chuckled.

I really don't see how believing in the evolution of humanity has anything to do with patient care or studying science. --Spradling

[realpatriot71]

I see your point, but in this case, its a recommendation letter. It's not about school admittance or about getting a loan or about getting a job. Don't we, as people, have a right to discriminate when we put our name on the line for a recommendation?

Personally, I think the professor is a bigot, but I would think he'd say the matter is about the science, not about the religion.

[Spirited]

I hope that the deep pocketed Alumni take a look and choke off the funds!

A few well placed letters to corporations which donate or support their football team should also bring a little interest from the administration.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you for your post!

Don't we, as people, have a right to discriminate when we put our name on the line for a recommendation?

Not on the basis of race, gender, age, religion, etc.

Personally, I think the professor is a bigot, but I would think he'd say the matter is about the science, not about the religion.

Indeed, if he becomes a defendent he may plead that he meant something else when he said a student would have to accept human evolution even if they had to give up their "cherished beliefs." But a prosecutor would use his own words against him.

If he were refusing the letter to anyone of a particular race, gender or age - the discrimination would be clear. But religion is protected under the same provisions and is also protected under the first amendment.

At post 253 I mentioned what I believe would be the professor's best move to stop this in its tracks since the student is evidently Christian.

[HiTech RedNeck]

It's not silly: devout Christians have had differing interpretations over whether the Bible teaches that or not,

It's never been a widely believed doctrine, like creationism is. The passage from which that was "deduced" talks about a round basin "10 cubits across" and "30 cubits around." This actually works pretty well (especially given that ancient artisans could fudge their cubits a little; they didn't have Stanley tape measures calibrated to some nationwide standard) when applied to the inside circumference and outside diameter of this particular basin.

[PhilipFreneau]

I am Christian -- have been all my life. But I have always had problems understanding Genesis the way it is commonly preached.

For example, it is written that God created the "Day" and the "Night" on the first "day". But he did not create the "greater and lesser" lights (the Sun and the Moon) to give light upon the earth until the fourth "day", the same day he created the stars. Therefore, the first three "days" had no 24 hour clock as we know it (the Sun). Those "days" could have been any length of time - even millions or billions of years.

Therefore, it is easy to assume that a "day" with the Lord is not the same as a "day" with man. It is just as easy to assume that when, on the fifth "day", God said, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven . . . etc., that God could have taken millions of years for that event, also.

That said, assume that on the sixth "day", when he said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind" . . . etc. , that event could have also taken millions of years.

Later on the sixth "day", God created Adam, the Son of God, in his likeness, along with his wife, Eve. Adam is referred to as the "Son of God" in the genealogy of Jesus in Luke, which ends with this passage: ". . . Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God." -- Luke 3:38

Now, that event (the creation of Adam) could have been instantaneous; and we all know that Adam had a son named Cain. Cain married a woman from the east of Eden (the land of Nod), and I assume she was not his sister. So it is possible there were other "men" and "women" on the earth at that time.

My conclusion? The other "men" (those from whom Cain's wife was born) evolved, either from the "waters" as many scientists believe (with the evolution beginning on the fifth day), or from the earth (on the sixth day). But God created Adam, the Son of God, directly, and in his own likeness. And from Adam came both Israel, and Jesus, our Lord and Savior. That is, there are two distinct sources of "mankind": the descendents of Adam and Eve who were created directly by God, and the descendents of man who evolved. This is easier to believe if you read this verse: "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." -- Genesis 6:1-2

And then there is this: "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen --1 Timothy 6:20-21

Finally, I bolded the above words "open firmament of heaven" for another purpose. I believe Heaven to be the earth's lower atmosphere -- the air we breath -- the air where the "fowls" fly (see Genesis 1:20) -- that which separates the waters above the heaven (the clouds) from the waters below the heaven (the lakes, rivers, and seas) (see Genesis 1:7).

And, of course, with God, all things are possible.

[Alamo-Girl]

Would you mind please also posting your views on origins to the collection at Freeper Views on Origins?

[bondserv]

Check out an explaination for Pi in the Bible. Post #412 of this thread.

[Alamo-Girl]

Fascinating! Thanks for the heads up!

[HiTech RedNeck]

Good medicine, like good biology, is based on the collection and evaluation of physical evidence. So much physical evidence supports the evolution of humans from non-human ancestors that one can validly refer to the "fact" of human evolution, even if all of the details are not yet known. One can deny this evidence only at the risk of calling into question one’s understanding of science and of the method of science. Such an individual has committed malpractice regarding the method of science, for good scientists would never throw out data that do not conform to their expectations or beliefs. This is the situation of those who deny the evolution of humans; such a one is throwing out information because it seems to contradict his/her cherished beliefs. Can a physician ignore data that s/he does not like and remain a physician for long? No. If modern medicine is based on the method of science, then how can someone who denies the theory of evolution -- the very pinnacle of modern biological science -- ask to be recommended into a scientific profession by a professional scientist?

All I can say about this is... BOY OH BOY what ignorant bigotry. Has Dini ever tested his own assertion by, say, surveying the empirical quality of the work of physicians that do, vs. those who don't, believe in evolution? I bet $100 to your $1 he hasn't.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for your post!

All I can say about this is... BOY OH BOY what ignorant bigotry. Has Dini ever tested his own assertion by, say, surveying the empirical quality of the work of physicians that do, vs. those who don't, believe in evolution? I bet $100 to your $1 he hasn't.

As far as I know, no such study has ever been made. I certainly wouldn't bet that he had made such a study.

Speaking of reactions, I was amazed at this particular sentence:

So much physical evidence supports the evolution of humans from non-human ancestors that one can validly refer to the "fact" of human evolution, even if all of the details are not yet known.

It is very troubling that he narrowed in on human evolution, thus indicating a bigotry towards creationists!

It is also troubling that he would call something a "fact" and at the same time acknowledge that all the details are (perhaps) not known. I can assure you the details are not fully known, and not only that - much of what has been previously taken as trustworthy is now coming into question - by research in the pro-evolution camp (i.e. not by creationists or intelligent design proponents.)

[Nebullis]

If he were refusing the letter to anyone of a particular race, gender or age - the discrimination would be clear.

No, it wouldn't be if the particular issue was relevant. For example, I can descriminate against a young woman for a part to play George Washington in a movie. Evolution is relevant to biology.

[Alamo-Girl]

I hope you don't mind my tacking another thought on the reply to you, but I feel like somewhere along the way it ought to be noted that Free Republic has many prestigious scientists posting here.

Even though they are mostly pro-evolution, I cannot think of a one who would word a website so carelessly as to give even a hint of discrimination much less a cause for action. I strongly suspect this Professor Dini just wasn't thinking as carefully as we have grown to expect around here!

[realpatriot71]

I guess we're going to have to disagree here, but I see your point. I don't think anyone owes anyone a recommendation for any reason, even if it's arbitrary, as I don't see "recommendations" being protected to anyone under the law.

Perhaps if the guy hadn't of been such a jackass, and just refused without reasons given, he wouldn't be in this mess.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Cain married a woman from the east of Eden (the land of Nod), and I assume she was not his sister

With the lifespans and prolific childbearing of that time, it could have been a niece. I wouldn't bet on her being an ape.