The IDists have continually argued that they are being oppressed by some sort of Darwinist hegemony. One such case is that of Caroline Crocker, a biochemist who was released from a position as a visiting professor* by George Mason University and now claims that her academic freedom (to teach ID) was infringed. PZ highlights an account in the Washington Post and neatly skewers her claims, showing her to be an appallingly ignorant mouthpiece for DI talking points. In Fall 05, Crocker taught general biology at North Virginia Community College. This spring, she does not seem to be teaching there.
As the WaPo article notes, ID supporters aren't exactly innocent of playing hardball:
Nancey Murphy, a religious scholar at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., said she faced a campaign to get her fired because she expressed the view that intelligent design was not only poor theology, but "so stupid, I don't want to give them my time."
Murphy, who believes in evolution, said she had to fight to keep her job after one of the founding members of the intelligent design movement, legal theorist Phillip Johnson, called a trustee at the seminary and tried to get her fired.
"His tactic has always been to fight dirty when anyone attacks his ideas," she said. "For a long time afterward, I would tell reporters I don't want to comment, and I don't want you to say I don't want to comment. I'm tired of being careful."
It helps to remember Johnson's distain for theistic evolutionists and his view that ultimately his viewpoint will win out:
"After two centuries of naturalistic science ... it is Enlightenment rationalism that is feeling the pressure and dissolving ... The gospel of Christ is emerging from the trial with renewed strength. Certainly competing visions are welcome to participate in the great conversation that will occur after the fall of evolutionary naturalism, but I suspect there will be very few that can afford to pay the price." The Wedge of Truth, p. 162
---
* For non-academic readers, it is worth pointing out that a visiting professor is someone visiting a university to teach for a limited time; this may be someone who is a professor elsewhere or a distinguished scholar who is not. The term may also refer simply to terminal teaching appointments. Crocker's position was thus not tenure track and contained no promise of reappointment.
- Log in to post comments