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Christianity Today, February, 2008 |

ID Tagged

Faculty member at Iowa State University denied tenure for supporting intelligent design.

Jocelyn Green | posted 1/10/2008 08:55AM

When Guillermo Gonzalez, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, was denied tenure at Iowa State University (ISU) in November 2006, department head Eli Rosenberg said the decision had nothing to ...

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Tom P

Posted: January 13, 2008 7:25 PM

The naive idea, that it is possible to draw a clear line between scientific, religious and philosophical ideas is rupturing and breaking down before our very eyes. Those who question the insecure and fragmenting, orthodoxy that is hurriedly trying to paper over the cracks to preserve the possibility of such a demarkation, between philosophy and science, are subjected to rejection and loss of tenure. Not only have we lost our heads, in being unable to tell the difference between an idea and a test tube, but we have truly become men without chests.

Mark Roberts

Posted: January 12, 2008 1:12 PM

If you believe "ID isn't based on science but an explanation to justify a belief", what is it in Dr. Gonzalez's "The Privileged Planet" that is not science? Dr. Gonzalez's work in astrophysical habitability zones is stuff of genius! Take a look at Dr. Marks' web site EvoInfo.org. This is astonishing insight into sources of information in the evolutionary process. Don't repeat the mantras of others without being uninformed. Gonzalez and Marks are victims of the thought police in the Darwinian mafia. Check out ExpelledTheMovie.com.

BobC	Posted: January 12, 2008 1:18 AM

A faculty member who doesn't understand the science of evolution would give any university a bad reputation. What intelligent student would want to have anything to do with a university that employs a faculty member too dumb to understand important scientific facts? Evolution is accepted by virtually every biologist in the world for a good reason. I would like to quote from a book recently published by the National Academy of Sciences. "Scientists no longer question the basic facts of evolution as a process. The concept has withstood extensive testing by tens of thousands of specialists in biology, medicine, anthropology, geology, chemistry, and other fields. Discoveries in different fields have reinforced one another , and evidence for evolution has continued to accumulate for 150 years." Evolution-denier Guillermo Gonzalez is a disgrace to his profession. Evolution is not an opinion. It's a proven fact. Intelligent Design is a belief in magic.

Science student

Posted: January 11, 2008 10:56 AM


Would you hire a science instructor who didn't believe in gravity? Evolution is as well established as gravity.

Carole Ryan

Posted: January 10, 2008 9:06 PM


The article documents bigotry on both sides. Unfortunately, as usual, it's all about who has the power and money.

Raymond Takashi Swenson

Posted: January 10, 2008 1:20 PM

I have read Professor Gonzalez' book, The Privileged Planet. It is very similar to the book Rare Earth, in which two secular scientists address the question of how many of the stars in our galaxy might have a planet with intelligent life. Their conclusion is that the characteristics of earth that make it suitable for large complex animals, let alone intelligence, are so unusual that it is possible the earth is the sole planet in the galaxy with intelligent life. That book was OK with the scientific community. Professor Gonzalez' thesis is that, in addition to the rarity of life, the earth is peculiarly situated to make scientific discovery possible. The most obvious example is the coincidence in apparent size of the sun and the moon, which make total solar eclipses and unique observations of the sun's corona possible. His book is just as scientific in its analysis as the other one, and an article based on the book was in Scientific American!

Thomas Gray

Posted: January 10, 2008 1:13 PM

The analogy for a scientist who believes in creation as that of a math teacher who believes Pi = 3 is incorrect. There is a basic difference between a testable mathematically provable law today and a theory of what occurred in the past. Evidence of fossils that appear similar in bone structure is not evidence that they were related. The famous series allegedly showing horse evolution has been shown to be not valid. A belief that horses always were horses like they are today is not in contravention of any science. Science really cannot speak with authority on these issues of past history, it can only offer suggestions in the way of circumstantial evidence that can appear to be in harmony with one view or another. Scientific investigation must always be subject to challenge and review. ID does not have to be defined in terms of giving a specific method of formation of the earth. It simply offers a challenge to the adequacy of Darwinian processes, a valid activity within science.

John S

Posted: January 10, 2008 12:37 PM

A general problem with articles like this is that "ID" is ill defined. We have no idea what Gonzalez's beliefs consist of. Is G saying that he believes that the earth is fairly young (i.e. less than 10,000 years old) and that most animals (horses, elephants, tigers, dolphins, catfish, etc.) came into existence looking fairly close to what they look like today? In that case he is believing in something in wild contravention of scientific evidence: giving him tenure would be like giving tenure to a math teacher with the "unconventional" belief that Pi=3 or that angles can be trisected with straightedge and compass. On the other hand, maybe G thinks the basic narrative of an old earth with evolving life is true, but he personally thinks it received some direction by God (an intelligent Designer). In which case the school has a policy of hiring only atheists to teach biology, which is outrageous.

JLarson

Posted: January 10, 2008 12:00 PM


Check out www.expelledthemovie.com. At least Christians aren't being quiet about it. Edmund Burke said all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men to do nothing.

Keith

Posted: January 10, 2008 11:43 AM


I find it hard to fathom that intelligent design and Darwinian evolution cannot exist side-by-side in a secular classroom. Frankly, it takes more faith to believe macro evolution based on the evidence.

Troy Nunley

Posted: January 10, 2008 11:23 AM

Although my own views on this topic do not clearly line up with any of the groups represented above, I am still shocked at the bigotry to which Gonzales (et. al.) are being subjected. And when that bigotry masquerades as a defense of the dictionary (i.e. a proper understanding of what "science" means), a concern over the propriety of teaching certain things on in the right classes, or other bogus rationalizations it reminds me of just how desperately vice needs to wear its opposing virtue as a mask. Intolerance will find a way to sell itself as tolerance, opposition to free thought as a defense of science, attacks on innocent dissenters as necessary self defense... Sick.

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