Posted on 02/03/2003 3:53:13 AM PST by kattracks
Irrelevant. An abortionist can remove a splinter or lance a boil as effectively as a pro-life doctor -- but I would expect a professor at a Catholic teaching hospital to refuse to write a letter of recommendation for the former.
Make that "I wouldn't have"
I should add that if a physics student asked me for a letter of recommendation, and it was known to me that the student believed the universe to be 6000 years old, I could not in good conscience give that student a good recommendation...unless, of course, the student could convince me of that also.
What would you do with me? I believe the universe is 15.875 billion years old (approx) from our space/time coordinates and at the same time that it is 7 days old from God's inception space/time coordinates plus 5763 years from our space/time coordinates (the Adamic age, based on the Jewish calendar.) My conclusions are based on the inflationary model, relativity and the Word of God.
They should start that now and do it until the "investigation" slinks away.
That's right. I predict that the "complaint" will go nowhere, precisely because the Justice Department will not participate in a frivolous claim. A letter of complaint has been filed, and it will be looked at, as are all such letters. A junior lawyer will write a memo. A decision will be made by his superiors in the civil rights division about the merits of the complaint, whether it justifies further action. Then they will write a response to the effect that they decline to get involved.
What you seem to be saying, or this student seems to be saying, is that the school--or at least this professor--has to teach creationism as science, rather than evolution, and be graded differently than the rest of the class or student body who are being taught evolution--and that this student can define curriculum for the rest of the class or student body. If that's the case, why doesn't this student take a class in which creationism counts towards a science/biology credit or transfer to a school in which creationism is the biology course?
This is QUITE true. As far as applicability to the medical field is concerned, evolutionary doctrines of origins are still all show and no go. AFAIK, nobody has demonstrated evolution producing one new species of germ in real time, and germs are about as good an example as you can get if you absolutely had to evolve something new because the math most favors it. All we can demonstrate with evolution are new traits in old species of germs.
He is discriminating on belief not knowledge.
If you set up an appointment to discuss the writing of a letter of recommendation, I will ask you: "How do you think the human species originated?" If you cannot truthfully and forthrightly affirm a scientific answer to this question, then you should not seek my recommendation for admittance to further education in the biomedical sciences.
He doesn't use the words "correctly" and "adequately". He uses "truthfully" and "forthrightly".
Hell, I can't wait for the churches to finally become federalized, then there will be no friggin' ambiguity. Once and for all we will be told just what to believe in, pure and simple. One church, one faith one god, you are either with us or you are a terrorist. Thank god for GWB, the way, truth and light!
No, silly. He can teach "evolution" (meaning evolutionary theory of origins of species) until he's blue in the face, and require that students demonstrate knowledge of all the rationale and theory. Just like a professor in the religion department can teach "Judaism" or "Catholicism" or "Hinduism" or what have you. But if getting Federal dollars he can't exercise his duties in a religiously discriminatory way; he has to leave it open to the student whether to profess this kind of "evolution" as personal belief.
If a student can memorize and regurgitate the materials presented by the professor with a high enough degree of accuracy, the student should receive a recommendation on their merits.
But if professors begin to believe they have a right to dictate how the student subsequently uses that knowledge in their practice, or their potential new employer round files the students resume because it lacks a Letter of Recommendation from the professor of the students major, we would be giving our conservative job futures into the hands of a bunch of liberals.
Intelligent design by a Creator is not completely without merit. Evolution is a best guess theory that cannot explain many facts that are observable. i.e. A spider has oil glands in its legs that allow it to walk on the sticky substance coating its web. Either its web couldn't catch a thing (lacking sticky substance) while the spider evoluted oil glands on its legs or the spider got trapped by its web but was infected by the evoluted oil gland virus, spontaneously enabling it to escape.
If professors force students to ignore these problems in order to receive letters of recommendation God help this world. Mastering a professors material should be the only criteria for recommending the student.
So if he taught only creationism and refused to write letters of recommendation (to students who had actually taken his class, that is) to students who believe in evolution, that would not have been discriminatory?
This is what the student said:
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."
What Mr. Spradling seems to be saying this that he couldn't have taken this class because it was a "den[ial] of his faith as a Christian." I wonder if Spradling had taken other science classes, if he plans on taking more, and will he sue if his religious beliefs come in conflict with science?
He decided ahead of time that nothing Dini could teach him would change his mind. He's a typical close-minded creationist.
That's what grades are for. Recommendations go beyond that or they would be of no use whatsoever.
You are employing the same logic as the liberals who are against the teaching of spelling, or who believe that there are no wrong answers in arithmetic.
Sorry, but evolution is basic biology, just as the fact of an ancient, expanding universe is basic cosmology. You cannot substitute your feelings for science and expect scientists to accept that as equally valid.
Suppose a math student asked for a recommendation from a professor, after insisting that pi=3, based on his interpretation of the Bible? Should he be "forced" to "think inside the box"? Or should the professor be compelled to ratify his choice, by being required by law to sign his name to a statement he doesn't believe, praising the student's grasp of mathematics? Was Galileo required to do much more than this?
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