Religious Right pushes for "Academic Freedom" in teaching as

[Brendan M Barrett]

Hello,

I had just read through this string and wanted to point out the rather open-minded tone
of the respondents. It just reinforces the "organizational neutrality with respect to the
substantive disagreements that divide researchers on questions within, or outside, their
fields of inquiry" that is the basis for scientific debate. It is, of course, not absolute nor
without the occasional personal component but this is not the point of the laws being
proposed. They have little to do with religious or intellectual freedom, rather it is
equivalent to intellectual censorship.

As was well-noted, these laws will cut both ways. Instead of increasing thought and
truely substantive debate between groups that disagree, these laws will stiffle that which
it claims to "guarentee" or "protect." Those who are most often shouting science down
are not interested in a common ground...and these voices will only grow louder with
these laws.

There are responsibilities when accepting and using public grant money, but there is the
same responsibility if the organization receives tax-free status when collecting
donations to perform purely religious work. Will bible study classes have to provide
equal time for Darwin when study Genesis?

Cheers,

Chip

Brendan "Chip" Barrett
Martin Ryan Marine Science Institute
National University of Ireland, Galway
Galway, Ireland