The anti-evolution fundamentalist crusade

Now that the furore over the tanking ID phauxmentary is calming down, it would be nice to talk about the real persecution that is taking place. This is somewhat apt, as a claim of scientists in fear of denying evolution was also made in a recent thread.

Whilst Expelled suggested that people have supposedly been persecuted for their pseudoscientific belief in intelligent design, the real campaign of the dark-age hordes goes unnoticed by most.

So, here we go, a list of individuals who have been 'expelled' - persecuted, attacked, sacked, threatened etc, for accepting evolutionary theory and/or doubting the fundiegelical dogma.

More details (and information below) avaliable here. Whilst we haven't reached the level of a mathematician being pulled apart by motorbikes (Taleban afghans; although Bruno might say being burned at the stake was pretty bad), the modern anti-science fundiegelical crusade in the west is real.

Steve Bitterman was an instructor who taught the Western Civilization course at Southwestern Community College in Red Oak, Iowa. In 2007, at the age of sixty, he was fired because he did not teach the story of Adam and Eve as literal truth.

Alex Bolyanatz was an assistant professor of anthropology at Wheaton College, a Protestant liberal-arts college in Illinois. He had been popular with both students and his fellow teachers, but in the spring of 2000, he received a letter from his provost issuing a stern rebuke: “During your term at Wheaton College,” Stanton Jones wrote, “you have failed to develop the necessary basic competence in the integration of Faith and Learning, particularly in the classroom setting.” Jones castigated Bolyanatz for not treating creationism with respect and instead teaching evolution as the plain, scientific truth.

Likewise, Richard Colling graduated from Olivet Nazarene University and taught there for twenty-seven years. A man of strong religious convictions, he argued that one could believe in the Christian God and still accept the scientific truth of evolution. In 2004, he published a book about this belief, and for his pains, he was barred from teaching general biology or having his book used in the school.

Nancey Murphy of Fuller Theological Seminary did not have that shield [i.e. Tenure], and so when her negative review of Phillip Johnson’s Darwin on Trial aroused Johnson’s ire, she had to fight for her job. Johnson, a lawyer who was one of the instigators in rebranding creationism as “Intelligent Design,” has never displayed a grasp of basic biological facts, but that didn’t stop him from calling up a Fuller trustee and starting a campaign to get Nancey Murphy fired.

Gwen Pearson taught biology at the Permian Basin branch of the University of Texas, located in the city of Odessa. Her three years as an assistant professor ended with assaults on her integrity and her physical self.

Her crime? Teaching evolution. She got out while she could.

Chris Comer was not so lucky. A dedicated employee of the Texas Education Agency, Comer was serving as Director of Science when she forwarded a brief e-mail message mentioning that the philosopher Barbara Forrest would be giving a talk at an Austin public events center. Forrest and her colleague Paul Gross are authors of Creationism’s Trojan Horse, a book which details how creationism has masqueraded as serious science in order to slip particular religious beliefs into the public schools. For sending a brief “FYI,” Comer was forced to resign

Paul Mirecki was professor of religious studies and department chair at the University of Kansas. He planned to teach a class called “Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies,” but canceled those plans after events took an unfortunate turn. He had displayed an acerbic tongue in online discussion forums, and on further reflection apologized for his less temperate remarks, concluding that the class was better taught at another time; that apology and change of plan did not prevent two men from beating him in the street one December morning, for the crimethink of having proposed the class in the first place. Sympathy for a physically assaulted human being did not stay the KU administration, who forced him to step down as department chair.

The real occurrence of violence gives death threats a certain cachet of intimidating force. Eric Pianka, a biologist at UT Austin, gave a speech before the Texas Academy of Science, which was presenting him with a distinguished-service award. In his speech, he articulated his fears that overpopulation will lead to a disaster for the human species. The story then took a twist which a fiction writer would be hard-pressed to surpass: a creationist named Forrest Mims claimed that Pianka advocated releasing the Ebola virus to eliminate 90% of the world’s population. Other creationists, like William Dembski, soon picked up the story, leading to online hysteria. Within days, Pianka himself and others in the Texas Academy of Science received death threats.

Judge John E. Jones III, a Republican and faithful Lutheran, delivered a landmark verdict in which he summarized the claims of Intelligent Design proponents as “breathtaking inanity.” Once the verdict was revealed, Judge Jones became the target of character assassination and even received death threats for the crime of doing his job.

Michael Korn sent threatening letters, adorned with skulls and crossbones, to several biology professors at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Several of the messages were delivered by slipping envelopes under the professors’ office doors after working hours; Korn’s missives referred to “killing the enemies of Christian society.” He then skipped town and is currently a fugitive from justice.

Oh, and I’ve also been alerted to the unfortunate case of Terry Gray, a Christian biochemist whose negative review of Phillip Johnson’s Darwin on Trial sparked an unhappy response from the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, which eventually forced Dr. Gray to recant.

So don't cry wolf, or create faux martyrs, because some IDer who can't formulate a grant application failed to get tenure, or some creationist was talked about in nasty way on the intertubz. There is a real-world crusade, and it's an anti-science one.

That is something Ben Stein and the other ID sophists don't want you to know.

Have fun!

[edit on 11-5-2008 by melatonin]

Wonderful post.

It concerns me to think that in a way we are, as a species, regressing.

It is unbelievable the ways in which some of the most intelligent people around are being lambasted by refusing to believe that ID actually happened.

Fundamentalism on the whole seems on the increase across religions and these mentalists are becoming more agressive, sneakier and generally more of a pain in the ass every day. I never thought I'd see the day when people would once again start believing in ancient myths as opposed to cold scientific theory.

Religion is, to me, inherently evil. I'm sorry if this offends anyone here, but there you go.

reply to post by melatonin


star and a flag. it's good to see someone is fighting the good fight and compiling how discrimination is really working

one story that was more public discrimination than institutional discrimination that caught my eye was Bill Nye (yes, the science guy) being booed when he was giving a speech and said that the sun really couldn't have stopped in the sky.

the more you know, right?

reply to post by madnessinmysoul


From here:

The Emmy-winning scientist angered a few audience members when he criticized literal interpretation of the biblical verse Genesis 1:16, which reads: “God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.

He pointed out that the sun, the “greater light,” is but one of countless stars and that the “lesser light” is the moon, which really is not a light at all, rather a reflector of light.

A number of audience members left the room at that point, visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence.

“We believe in a God!” exclaimed one woman as she left the room with three young children

Disgusting. I feel sorry for her 3 kids. They're likely to grow up thinking that nonsense is the truth.

Melatonin:

Good job. On this issue, I agree completely.

IMO the mudslinging against science is but one step in the march towards persecution of intellectuals. Get rid of them/us and you have a brainwashed populace ready to follow in the steps of Pol Pot. How great that America is flooded with firearms. Will they be used to protect me or hunt me down?


Thread Flagged.

You left some things out of your post.

About the first person , Steve Bitterman - " students say they complained
about his brash teaching style. According to the Register:
But students in the class,.. say Bitterman also told them to question their
religious beliefs and at one point in the heated debate told one of the
Osceola students, Kristen Fry, to “pop a Prozac.”According to the
Register, “Bitterman said the Prozac comment was a joke meant to disarm
a student who ‘was screeching at me,’” but clearly it misfired (and how
could it not?). "

Sounds like his students werent too happy with him, not the officials.
www.heardworld.com...

About the second person, Alex Bolyanatz- "Wheaton is an evangelical
Christian liberal-arts institution where all employees, from janitors to
professors, are required to sign a statement of faith. "

The college that he was teaching at is a religious one. Why did he get
a job at a Christian school if he wants to teach evolution only.
chronicle.com...

About the third person, Richard G. Colling , the Universitly he teaches
at , Olivet Nazarene University, is a Christian one also.
en.wikipedia.org...

I wont waste time going through the rest of your list, I'm sure the
circumstances are similar.

Dont you think these professors should not seek employment
at religious institutions if they strictly believe in evolution?

reply to post by josephine


maybe it's because religious belief and the theory of evolution aren't mutually exclusive things.

i'd care to guess that the majority of people on the planet that accept the theory of evolution are religious

Originally posted by josephine

Dont you think these professors should not seek employment
at religious institutions if they strictly believe in evolution?

In the same respect, if these other professors (that the movie making their claims about) want to teach religion, shouldn't they be teaching in a religious institution?

A somewhat forgotten thread that it entirely congruent with the generally overlooked 'mission statement' of this forum - shameless bump.

Originally posted by josephine
You left some things out of your post.

About the first person , Steve Bitterman - " students say they complained
about his brash teaching style. According to the Register:
But students in the class,.. say Bitterman also told them to question their
religious beliefs and at one point in the heated debate told one of the
Osceola students, Kristen Fry, to “pop a Prozac.”According to the
Register, “Bitterman said the Prozac comment was a joke meant to disarm
a student who ‘was screeching at me,’” but clearly it misfired (and how
could it not?). "

He told a bolshie student who couldn't handle having her beliefs questioned to 'pop a prozac'.

So what? That is not a fireable offence. And I'm sure the biblical literalists didn't like him. They tend to distrust anyone who isn't part of their group.

About the second person, Alex Bolyanatz- "Wheaton is an evangelical
Christian liberal-arts institution where all employees, from janitors to
professors, are required to sign a statement of faith. "

The college that he was teaching at is a religious one. Why did he get
a job at a Christian school if he wants to teach evolution only.
chronicle.com...

This is half the problem, so it was a christian institution. Again, so what? He was a christian.

Considering the expelled film whined about 'academic freedom' these instituitions themselves are a joke. He was teaching the science of anthropology, not biblical studies.

About the third person, Richard G. Colling , the Universitly he teaches
at , Olivet Nazarene University, is a Christian one also.
en.wikipedia.org...

Same here. He was a christian. All he said was that evolution and the christian faith can be reconciled. He wrote a book about it.

Dont you think these professors should not seek employment
at religious institutions if they strictly believe in evolution?

Why is this important? Evolution and faith can be compatible.

So your answer is basically that at religious HE instituions there is no academic freedom, and if you have beliefs inconsistent with some form of dogmatic faith you will be sacked, vilified, or hounded out the job.

Cool. Glad that's clear.

[edit on 15-6-2008 by melatonin]

Star and Flag. How true.

Blind people continue to remain blind, by not listening, and being ignorantly violent and destructive in response to the good wishes of people who just want to educate.

'Nuff said.


[edit on 28-9-2009 by KarlG]

Star & Flag

It's not just anti-evolution, it's anti-intellectualism.