Shortly after finishing Monday’s post, I discovered that the new issue of the Reports of the National Center for Science Education had turned up in my mailbox. It contained the following item:
Arthur Shapiro is a professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology at the University of California, Davis. Starting in 1981 and continuing through 2004, he was running a long-term study of the frequency of hybridization and its relation to population density in a particular species of butterfly. The research was undertaken at a ranch in northeastern California. The ranch’s owner had no problem with the research.
The owner later sold his ranch, and the new owners intended to convert the fields where the research was undertaken to a different crop. This created some issues about whether the study could continue, and Shapiro wrote to the new owners, on university letterhead, exaplaining that he would survey the new situation in the spring and decide if he wanted to continue the study. He got the following letter in reply:
Dear Dr. Shapiro,
I am writing to let you know that we are ending our agreement that allows you to study the butterflies on our ranches. Until your letter last December, we were not fully aware of your position with the University. We did not understand that you represented the Dept. of Evolution and Ecology. I do not believe that we are of the same conviction as to the creation of the earth. We strongly believe in a literal 6-day creation of earth, by God. That He and He alone sustains all living matter in an orderly fashion. We, as a family, do not support the study of evoution. Because of these differences we would choose that you no longer continue your studies on our property. We hope and pray that through your studies of God’s vast creation that you will come to know Him in a real and persoanl way.
Speaks for itself, I’d say.