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.

[HiTech RedNeck]

I sure would not want a doctor who believed in crystal healing instead of a good antibiotic

Straw man: no creationist doctor denies the well established science of medicine, such as antibiotics.

[balrog666]

LOL aside from the fact that they'd be continually lying? I know... you're just being silly now.

Could you tell the difference?

[Terriergal]

Is that your way of conceeding the point that 'God said it, I believe it, That settles it!' is a anti-scientific attitude.

YES! I believe it *is* an anti scientific attitude and as a Christian, it drives me batty! It's nothing more than a cop out. I can't stand Christians that hide behind that. Truth has nothing to fear from scrutinization. There is nothing against study written in the Bible... except that knowledgs is not an end in itself.

[unspun]

Perhaps. However, my namesake died 60 years before Darwin published. I assume you led off with your best point, so spare me the rest.

Wa.... Oh. Nevermind.

PS: Hope you can find those pesky transitional forms.

[HiTech RedNeck]

No but it would publish a book about how the pervious tenants were crooks.

Followed by assertions that they themselves were angels, you are obviously implying. But the Bible does not support this notion. It states that all men are sinners. If it were a human city hall trying to support its own agenda, it would cut those verses out so quickly the scissors would be red hot.

[Terriergal]

er... knowledgs = knowledge... sorry. :-)

[Terriergal]

"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?"

The biggest heap of manure in the article. Get everyone to believe that and then redefining "scientific" is easy!

[Terriergal]

"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?"

Ya know... I'd kinda tend to think one of the central unifying principles of biology and all sciences would be mathematics... but hey that's just old unscientific me...

[Terriergal]

And what, specifically, indicates that he is not allowed to challenge the theory of evolution?

the *fact* that if you do, you are ostracized and labeled "unscientific" - almost exactly like conservative blacks get called "uncle toms."

[PatrickHenry]

Hope you can find those pesky transitional forms.

Not a problem. Got lots, and more show up every day. They are certainly pesky for your side, however. If creationism were true there shouldn't be any at all. Transitional Vertebrate Fossils FAQ.

[general_re]

I know... you're just being silly now.

It's a facetious analogy, but with a serious point. Whether or not atheists make bad priests is really irrelevant to me - the point is that the people who run seminaries and administer churches seem to think so. And since a spot in seminary is not something that we can reasonably say a person is "entitled" to have, the seminaries are and should be free to decide for themselves who gets in and who doesn't, for whatever reason they see fit. Similarly, a letter from Dini is not something that we can reasonably say a person is "entitled" to have, so Dini should be free to decide for himself who gets one. If the fact that some people get one and others don't is enough to make one a bigot, then the seminaries are equally bigoted.

But that's just silly, isn't it? ;)

[RadioAstronomer]

Straw man: no creationist doctor denies the well established science of medicine, such as antibiotics.

You know this for a fact? I would rather place my health in a scientifically trained doctor who understands the evolutionary process that is manifesting itself in new strains of drug resistant bacteria. What if this had been a Neo-Pagan instead of a Christian who was suing? Would you still be supporting this lawsuit?

[Dinsdale]

Can't escape from this one: "all men are sinners."

I question that. Certainly I'm a sinner.

But a newborn? The whole original sin thing just strikes me like a computer programmer fixing a div by 0 by putting
sin += (SinEve/People.count);
in the constructor. By that I mean they had to assign sin to newborns or their whole logical construct falls apart.

No one gets into heaven exept by Jesus, dead babys need sin so they need redemption. Sounds like an initial oversight that someone patched up as I discribed above.

[general_re]

Go ahead and mock. As you sow so shall you reap.

I suspect that God's sense of humor is somewhat more well-developed than it is in some of those who would operate in His name ;)

[general_re]

you have, therefore, you are?

Descartes: "Cogito ergo sum."
God: "Sum id quod sum."
Popeye: "Sum id quod sum et id totum est quod sum."

[general_re]

Savage street conditions???

I lived in a neighborhood like that for a while. I think the problem was the savages, not the streets ;)

[Dinsdale]

We've agreed on something! (must be a sign of the apocalipse)

Would you also agree that someone who approaches the evolution debate with the 'that settles it' attitude SHOULD be dismissed as unscientific?

In my experiance when you ask scientists what caused the creation of the big bang the good ones will answer along the lines of 'I don't know, It will be difficult to even get data. It is really a philosophical question.'

The fact is that scientific method falls apart when you have limited or no data. Which is why the science for the creation of the first cell is so much more problematic then the evolution of higher forms for which there is much data in both the genome and the fossil record.

[shaggy eel]

,,, did Popeye live in your street too? Suprema situ?

[general_re]

the *fact* that if you do, you are ostracized and labeled "unscientific" - almost exactly like conservative blacks get called "uncle toms."

Now, now. Let's not go getting all liberal, arguing that people have right not to get their feelings hurt. I've been called much worse than "unscientific" in my life, and that was just the other day, by my wife...

[RadioAstronomer]

Hopefully you will now agree with me that there is no disparity among these accounts.

Indeed. I certainly see how if you exclude bits from each account, (yes, there is room to do such) you can run them together. Two questions.

1) Why would this interpretation be necessary for a divinely inspired book?
2) Would you accept this in a scientific paper?

If not, why is there this push to make the Bible scientific dogma?