carlsonjok
Posts: 3326
Joined: May 2006
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| Quote (OgreMkV @ April 28 2011,14:32) | | By going the route that they did, those two organizations alienated many of their supporters. |
I think you have gone off the rails right at this point here by confusing supporters of the NCSE with consumers of the services that the NCSE provides. The consumers are school boards, parent and students. Many of them are religious and all have to deal with the religious.
| Quote | If they had continued on without the 'accomodations', then all scientists could have unequivably supported them.
[snip]
It's that simple. Since the organizations' missions are to promote the teaching of good science, then they have over-stepped their bounds. Religion has nothing to do with science or science education. By including religion, they have made a huge step backwards from their mission and their goals. |
The first sentence is unsupported and demonstrably false. The fact is that the folks at the NCSE who made this decision are themselves scientists. Further, one of the themes of Ken Miller's writings on the subject is that believers can accept modern science. The various anti-evolutionists set up the (false, IMO) equivalence that one must choose between modern biology or your religion. The more strident atheists, like PZ and Jerry Coyne, will stand up and will agree that people must choose between religion or science. If the NCSE remains silent on the matter, as you would suggest they do, they cede the discussion to the two poles, who both insist people must choose. Remaining silent makes the whole discussion simpler, to be sure, but it also makes it a loser. Forcing such a choice will not solve the problem of religiously motivated interference in science education. It will exacerbate it. When faced with a conflict you will surely lose, the rational choice is to not play to your opponents strength.
To return to the part I snipped above:
| Quote | | Now, some scientists cannot support them because of the explicit religious statements. |
Organizations exist to perform their mission. In the NCSE case that mission is to promote science education and, I agre with them that means noting that people can accept evolution without giving up their most precious beliefs. If you want an organization that exists to solely do the bidding of their most strident supporters, there are plenty of them out there. They're called churches.
Related Note: I do find the BCSE statement quoted by SD to be problematic, though I consider it more intended as a statement to flatter the religious and not nesessarily a truth statement.
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It's natural to be curious about our world, but the scientific method is just one theory about how to best understand it. We live in a democracy, which means we should treat every theory equally. - Steven Colbert, I Am America (and So Can You!)
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