Defending Science

As you well know by now, I am in favor of the responsible advancement of science and technology. But not everyone, it seems, shares my opinion. In particular, the current government administration in this country seems to put politics before scientific and technological advancement, and for that reason, the people at Defend Science are on the march.

From their latest e-mail:

No doubt you have heard of the recent testimony of former Surgeon General Richard Carmona to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on July 10, 2007. Dr. Carmona’s testimony was stunning exposure of the Bush Administration’s willingness to deny scientific truth in the pursuit of a political agenda. Defend Science is calling on people to voice their opinion to newspapers throughout the country with letters expressing outrage at not only the overt politicization of science to an unprecedented level, but its outright denial. As the Defend Science statement says, we must all “insist on an atmosphere where scientists are allowed to seek the truth, even when the truth conflicts with the views and policies of those in power... where science education and the popularization of the scientific method are valued...”

In his testimony Dr. Carmona stated that the discussion in the Bush Administration around stem cell research was “devoid of science” and that the policy around sex education was to “preach abstinence which I felt was scientifically incorrect.” He further revealed that his speeches were vetted for political content and his attempt to educate the public about issues ranging from stem cells to sex education “blocked at every turn.” In each case, Dr. Carmona indicated that science is denied in the face of political, ideological and theological considerations.

Check out http://www.defendscience.org/surgeon_general.html for media coverage and links to excerpts from the testimony, and add your voice to the discussion. Dr. Carmona’s testimony alone is an indictment of the Bush Administration’s public health policy, but it also points to the broader issue of why we need to defend science. There is an unrelenting assault on people's access to scientific knowledge, to the scientific method and approach to knowing about the world, to the scientific spirit. The more letters we write to local papers exposing and opposing this agenda the bigger the impact on the public discourse around the critical issue of defending science we will have.

We at Defend Science would appreciate your help in keeping us abreast of this effort. Please send us copies of your letters (send to multiple publications if you can), any posting you make to blogs or comment sections, and similar public outlets--and be sure to identify where you submitted the pieces. And let us know if your letter is published!

Are You Willing to Defend Science?

Over the past several years, scientific progress has been hindered somewhat by a concerted attempt to hide scientific results that don't conform to some person's or group's religious ideology. For example, NASA public affairs official George Deutsch attracted much heat (and eventually lost his job) after ordering that NASA websites be amended to change all references to the Big Bang to include the word "theory". Deutsch's reason for ordering the change was pretty simple: it did not mesh with his religious views of Intelligent Design.

Also notable in this debate was the 1999 vote by the Kansas State Board of Education to remove any mention of "biological macroevolution, the age of the Earth, or the origin and early development of the Universe", so that evolutionary theory no longer appeared in state-wide standardized tests.

Over the past decade, these attempts to force religion on people by attacking science (in clear violation of the First Amendment prohibition against the government establishing a national religion) have increased dramatically. Worse, the perpetrators of these actions have tried to argue that their religious beliefs are science (even though there are no testable hypotheses, and their "science" relies entirely upon faith). They argue that much of established science is only theory that cannot be proven to be true (ignoring the fact that it is virtually impossible to prove that anything is true, but rather easy to prove something false). They make their arguments in the face of (and fully ignoring) and observable evidence that argues in favor of the scientific theories.

If, like me, these kinds of things bother you, good. They should. But, you may be asking yourself, what can I do about it?

I'm glad you asked! (Even if it was only me putting words in your mouths).

You can sign the petition at DefendScience.org or donate money to their cause in order to help make people more aware of the assault on science that is going on in this country every day.

As Brian Granz (one of the petition's signers) wrote: "All people must employ critical thinking, must understand thescientific method, and discern clearly between fact and opinion, between truth andtheory, and between understanding and belief. It is essential for the progress andtruly for the life of humanity that we educate and inspire with science. It is ourresponsibility to do so, as scientific and educated and motivated people. This fireis not a mystical gift we were given, rather it is of our making and in it humanityshould take its greatest pride. The fire of science as a gift will also not be givento others supernaturally, rather we must share the warmth, force, and light of it.When threatened by mass fear of the unknown, we must stand up with courage anddefend the bravery of discovery, the human will to demystify, to know, and tounderstand."

Do your part, please.