There’s been a bit of controversy lately at Iowa State on the subject of “intellectual suppression” of intelligent design. Some pent-up drama from Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez’s tenure denial is still around, and Expelled brought the beast back to life. Of course, having Dr. Hector Avalos here helps to keep things interesting. The first ISU Daily article in this round, “Avalos: ‘Expelled’ wrong on Holocaust” has accrued almost as many comments and letters to the editor as the articles about Gay Pride week. The whole subject is frustrating, because I don’t think there is a controversy. No one should dictate what religious beliefs a person can or can not have.
In this country, separation of church and state is a necessity (due to the many faiths or absence of faith present). Therefore, religion can not be taught in state funded schools. Period. If people want to study things other than approved evidence based curricula, they are welcome to do so at home. Dr. Gonzalez is also welcome to study these things, but not while he is on the payroll of a public university to study science. If he was a religious studies professor, things would have been entirely different. The NY Times reports today about Dr. Francisco Ayala, a former Dominican priest and current evolutionary biologist and geneticist at UC, Irvine. Dr. Ayala’s thoughts on the ID / Evolution controversy are amazing, unlike any I have every seen. The article is: “Roving Defender of Evolution, and of Room for God”, which I learned about from the Knight Science Journalism Tracker.
Continue reading “God is ok with evolution, really.” →