Open letter to the University of Southern Queensland RE: Implicit endorsement of Young Earth Creationism.
19Sep. 10
Dear Staff, Associates and Representatives of USQ,
I am writing to you to inform you of concerns raised by a proposed seminar to take place at USQ’s Fraser Coast Campus, titled
“Creation and Evolution: scientific evidence, myths and challenges”.
The USQ produced flyer (Creation Seminar flyer_v2) advises that two expert scientists, Dr Don Batten and Dr Tas Walker of Creation Ministries International will challenge society’s largely uncritical commitment to the theory of evolution.
“This seminar forms part of our continuing commitment to engage intellectually with our community. We see it as part of our role to engage in debate about the most significant and sometimes controversial issues of the day. In 2011, we shall provide even more opportunity for such debate.”
The advertisements produced by CMI however advise that
“The only presenters at this event are CMI scientists”
and states that this is the first time in the history of Creation Ministries International that they have been invited to speak at a “secular” university. It may concern you to know that neither of the speakers advertised have any professional credentials in Biology, Evolutionary Biology or Theology. I point this out as a professional courtesy, and by the same token, feel obliged to point out that Creation Ministries International’s ‘Statement of Faith’ as seen on their website clearly states:
“The scientific aspects of creation are important, but are secondary in importance to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Sovereign, Creator, Redeemer and Judge.”
CMI are a religious organisation, not a scientific one, and while their membership does include some scientists, the organisation they represent has no standing in the scientific community and their stated goals are far from the advancement of the scientific enterprise. More precisely, the primary aim of this group is to promote its particular version of Young Earth Creationism and to undermine the theory of evolution wherever and whenever possible. They are also outspokenly opposed to abortion, gay rights, ‘pornography’ etc. and adopt the standard Religious Right position on a range of other social issues.
Former Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane and Governor General of Australia, Peter Hollingworth has stated that growing numbers of theologians and many other thoughtful Christians have found that there is no inevitable conflict between evolutionary theory and the belief that God created and continues with the creation of His universe. He goes on to warn in the foreword to Professor Ian Plimer’s “Telling Lies for God”
“If creationists argue that the Genesis account of creation is to be taken literally and that accordingly, science is wrong, then empirically minded students, when persuaded by the general theory of evolution, are very likely to conclude that the Bible itself must be correspondingly wrong. Thus instead of offering dialogue between Biblical faith and evolutionary science and then seeking a contemporary understanding of creation as a dynamic and evolving process, there is likely to be further estrangement between groups of people within our culture.”
My own concerns are that a University such as USQ appears to be giving implicit endorsement to CMI allowing and encouraging them to distort, misuse and misapply science, to pursue a religious agenda that is both divisive and not representative of mainstream Theology.
Please find below relevant position statements on the scientific validity of ‘Creation Science’ from peak scientific research organisations within Australia and internationally.
Australian Academy of Science
http://www.science.org.au/policy/creation.html
Geological Society of Australia Inc
http://www.gsa.org.au/pdfdocuments/management/POL_intel%20design_2008.pdf
The Australian Museum
http://australianmuseum.net.au/BlogPost/Editorials-and-opinions/Evolution-Statement
The Interacademy Panel on International Issues (IAP)
http://www.icsu.org/Gestion/img/ICSU_DOC_DOWNLOAD/1017_DD_FILE_IAP_Evolution.pdf
National Academy of Science (United States)
http://www.nationalacademies.org/evolution/IntelligentDesign.html
The American Association for the Advancement of Science
http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2002/1106id2.shtml
American Anthropological Association
http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/evolution.htm
American Association of Physics Teachers
http://www.aapt.org/Resources/policy/evolutandcosmo.cfm
The Biophysical Society (United States)
http://www.biophysics.org/Policy/PolicyIssues/PositionStatements/tabid/450/Default.aspx#Evolution
The Union of Concerned Scientists (United States)
http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/what_you_can_do/statement-on-science.html
The Paleontological Society (United States)
http://www.paleosoc.org/evolutioncomplete.htm
The National Science Teachers Association (United States)
http://www.nsta.org/about/positions/evolution.aspx
The Geological Society of America
http://www.geosociety.org/positions/position1.htm
The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (United States)
http://www.vertpaleo.org/education/index.cfm
The American Geophysical Union
http://www.agu.org/sci_pol/positions/evolution.shtml
National Association of Biology Teachers (United States)
http://www.nabt.org/websites/institution/index.php?p=92
The American Institute of Biological Sciences
http://www.aibs.org/position-statements/20050805_aibs_criticizes.html
Association for Women Geoscientists (United States)
http://www.awg.org/about/evolution.html
The Botanical Society of America
http://www.botany.org/outreach/evolution.php
Thank you for your time and thoughtful consideration,
Jayson D Cooke
October 14th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
Ha! I think Jayson feels threatened by a couple of Creationists giving a talk! He seems to have done an awful lot of work trying to stop them. How many hours did you waste on that one, Jayson? WHY? — he’s trying to control free-speech!! Arrest him!!! He’s doing just what he says the Creationists want to do!!! Surely if he regards what they have to say as religious and doesn’t want to hear it.….….…then don’t go Jayson.
There are probably many people who do like hearing what they have to say. I know of plenty of religious people around (Muslims, Ba’hai, etc) other than Christians, who also believe someone created Earth (NOT using Evolution, as he quotes the Dr-of-religion-non-scientist-Hollingworth. — you fell into the same trap, Jayson, by also using a religious, non-scientist to make your point on a scientific issue.……oops!!).
October 14th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Hi Freethinker, I think you missed the point. Probably best if you read through the article again?
A major complain he was making is about the endorsement the university is gives by allowing them to speak at a university. It make it seem as if the university is endorsing their silly views, which are completely at odds with science.
Now if it was a talk about God, then thats their business. If they wanted to talk about “Why we believe jesus is superawesomecool” then thats fine, its a faith issue. But they aren’t talk about that, they’re making scientific claims that are factually incorrect.
And for the record, they still went on this their talk, except at a different location… if people want to listen to rubbish they’re allowed to.
Please take the time to understand the intentions first
October 15th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
There are plenty of people whose views I don’t think are valid (including yours, Areyousancho), but you have a right to liberty of expression to state your opinion in our society, and I respect that.
University is a place where a range of opinions should be debated. The Creationists think they have a valid argument, so no matter how unscientific you think it is, they should be free to express their opinion. Of course, debate it, that’s what should happen at a university, but don’t stop freedom of expression in the institutions which should defend liberty of thought.
Campaigning against a group which you regard as “silly”, is an overreaction. One would expect Jayson to have spent so much effort on a greater cause. If Creationists were threatening liberty in our society, then sure it’s worth a fight.
Do you get my point now, because I think you missed it first time.
October 21st, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Hello Jayson.D.Cooke,
I would like to congratulate you for standing up for free thinking. However I’m concerned that someone so supportive of free thinking and supportive of reason as being the basis of what you would make slanderous and untrue comments about people. I’m a USQ student myself and I don’t see why having *both sides* having their say is so upsetting, if there arguments are so unscientific then won’t this event provide an easy basis for rebutting their beliefs.
My concern is that in the letter you say “neither of the speakers advertised have any professional credentials in Biology, Evolutionary Biology or Theology” however both Tas Walker and Don Batten are both highly qualified.
Dr. Don Batten has a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from a recognized university (University of Sydney), he also has 20 years as a research horticulturalist.
Dr. Tas Walker also has a Ph.D in Engineering and also an honours degree in Geology both from the University of Queensland
Kind regards, Jonathan
October 21st, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Oops I published my previous comment before I corrected a mistake…
The second sentence should read:
However I’m concerned that someone so supportive of free thinking and someone supportive of reason as being the basis for what you beleive would make slanderous and untrue comments about people.
October 24th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Hi Jonathon and “Freethinker”,
Thank you for taking the time to reply. May I suggest that you also take the time to pick up a dictionary or even perform a Google search for the definition of “freethinker”, as this may alleviate some of your unnecessary confusion. Here’s the link to an online Free Dictionary to save you even further time and embarrassment: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/freethinker
and here is the definition they provide:
free•think•er
n.
One who has rejected authority and dogma, especially in religious thinking, in favor of rational inquiry and speculation.
If you do take the time to pick up a dictionary or perform a simple search, may I also recommend the search term ‘pseudoscience’?
It surprises me that I have to explain this but I am not responsible for the decision of the University of Southern Queensland, each of you grant me a flattering amount of credit which I’m grateful for but the truth is the decision to not hold the talk on one of their campuses was their decision to make, not mine.
I sought to inform the main body of the university that the talk was taking place as I believed it was to be held without their knowledge. When informed it was taking place they decided they withdrew their association. Case closed.
I don’t understand what’s confusing about this unless you are willing to grant me power I can assure you I don’t have, are willing to prevent me from voicing my views in the form of a letter(censorship), or are simply unaware of the facts of the situation and are instead basing your judgments and ‘reasoning’ on faulty premises.
In any case I can only suggest you contact the university if you are actually interested in why they decided to not hold the event on their property. Also you will be relieved to know that the event is now being held in a local church, a venue far more fitting all things considered, and I hope the other points you raised are adequately addressed in my most recent post. Assuming you are interested of course.
Jayson D Cooke
Griffith University Skeptics and Freethinkers
September 30th, 2011 at 9:28 pm
Hello Jayson,
Good to see some one at least giving a point of view and actually acting upon it.
Stay at Griffith, USQ has serious issues especially in the education faculty; many lecturers there would not have their applications replied to at most uni’s around Australia. The education faculty at USQ is a joke. No wonder it is so lowly rated, in fact its rating is so low it is hard to find! Most academics know it is a sausage factory.
Well done
Peter