Reasonable Darwinistas Splatter the Carpet Again!

Robert L. Crowther, Director of Communications--Center for Science & Culture,

writes:

NPR Exposes Attacks On Scientists Skeptical of Darwinism (www.evolutionnews.org)

Finally a mainstream media organization--and would you believe it is NPR?--is covering the glaring cases of viewpoint discrimination on America's campuses, and even at the Smithsonian Institution. The report (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5007508) on contemporary abuses of academic freedom aired today on All Things Considered and in it NPR's Barbara Bradley Haggerty describes the way Eugenie Scott and the National Center for Science Education have organized attacks on scientists known to harbor sympathies for intelligent design and to doubt Darwinism.

Scott probably thought that she could count on NPR to edit out remarks of hers that make her sound like Madame DeFarge, the execution-relishing Dickens character from A Tale of Two Cities. But they did not. Apparently, there are still some editors at NPR who think academic freedom means something.

Hagerty reports that NPR spoke with:

"18 university professors and scientists who subscribe to intelligent design, most would not speak on the record for fear of losing their jobs. One untenured professor at Kennesaw State University in Georgia wrote that talking to NPR would be 'the kiss of death.' Another said there is no way I would reveal myself prior to obtaining tenure."

I'm sure Madame DeFarge is searching out these secret skeptics even as you read this.

The first segment is about Richard Sternberg, the Smithsonian scientist with two doctorates in evolutionary biology who has been hounded by the NCSE and perfervid Darwinists at the National Museum of Natural History--deprived of his office, research materials and even his key to the building. Why? Because he had the temerity to publish a peer-reviewed article on intelligent design by Stephen Meyer, senior fellow of Discovery Institute.

(The after-the-fact censorship of Meyer's article didn't work; you and thousands of others have read it HERE.)

The Smithsonian's response to NPR's inquiries about the Sternberg case was to stonewall the reporter. Is anyone on Capitol Hill noticing this kind of behavior?

The story includes other organized efforts to get suspect professors fired or denied tenure or simply sent to Coventry, including biologist Caroline Crocker at George Mason University and astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez at Iowa State, among others.

Next question: will the NCSE and Co. try to get Ms Haggerty fired? You just can't have reporters going around, you know...reporting.

Here's the irony of the mouth-foamers' position: They've eaten one of their own! Dr. Sternberg holds two PhDs in Biology, one from my own Alma Mater, Binghamton University! His curriculum vitae is beyond repute. While he did not hold to the neo-darwinian orthodoxy of the Darwinistas, he's no creationist.

That didn't matter. He was not a True Believer. His decision to exercise academic freedom in an unprescribed way threatens Absolute Individualism. Therefore, he must be silenced.

Dr. Sternberg's Reasonable Darwinistian opponents attempted to utterly disgrace him in his profession. They've now succeeded only initiating a new story: How intolerant secular fundamentalists disguised as scientists flush academic freedom down the toilet when those they disagree with speak up.

Great job, mouth-foamers! Keep drueling on the carpet. Pay no attention to the sound of the broom closet opening. No, you have the grave responsibility of ensuring that all scientific discourse remain Reasonable. Onward, secular jihadists! Onward!

Just don't let the door hit you on the way out!