NEWS LETTER

of the

AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC AFFILIATION - CANADIAN SCIENTIFIC & CHRISTIAN AFFILIATION

Volume 22 Number 6  December 1980/January 1981

ADESTE FIDELES ...

That old Christmas carol reminds us that another year has rolled around, our eleventh at editing this Newsletter. It also recalls a wonderfully contemporary typographical goof in a mimeographed sermon on the Protestant Reformation:
the three great reformational principles came out "solar gratia; solar fides; solar scriptura." In an age of declining nonrenewable energy sources the Reformation must certainly continue-like the preacher said.

It looks as if our Affiliations and Newsletter will also continue, Deo volente. Last summer the editor had an epidermal carcinoma scraped off his forehead (before it could do any damage, laudate Deum!). Somehow that made us reevaluate life's priorities in a more immediate way than had either a 5-point earthquake or a volcanic eruption. High among our priorities is the effective witness of our Affiliations to both the Christian community and the scientific community. It is a pleasure to work with all of you in making that witness a reality.

Thank you for your cooperation, support, and patience with us during 1980. Gratia Domini n ostri Jesus Christi sit vobiscum. Amen.

The new ASA director is described as "a Fellow of the ASA" who doesn't want his identity revealed until "he can first arrange and announce the severance of his present ties with his employer." As a scientist and player of "biography" (a 20-questions-type game, sometimes called Botticelli), the editor deduces that "X" is (a) "a living American male," and (b) neither a retired codger nor an unemployed hippie. Beyond that, the editor will have to stay in suspenders like everybody else.

Personally, though, we were so glad for the news from that Jolly Old Elf that the editor sent Elgin twice the suggested year-end gift, to pay our bills and help Whoever-It-Is get off to a good start. Hope you did the same.

In other letters Harry has tried to explain various aspects of our direct-mail advertising campaign for new JASA subscribers. Direct mail is the easiest and cheapest way to reach a lot of people with an idea, which is why so many organizations use it. Affiliation members concerned that unwanted advertising is coming to them because of their ASA/ CSCA address listing can write to Elgin, asking that their name be coded to keep it from being part of any future exchange of mailing lists. One goof in the JASA mailing was enclosure of a note written by someone at the advertising firm. The note, which got in without Bill Sisterson's O.K., came out sounding more "hard-sell" than Bill would have permitted. But with all those hassles, however, we note that the print run for the December JASA is up to 8,500, with about 7,000 designated for subscriptions of some sort. We're getting there.

We say, "All hail the Noble Harry," as he jousts with awesome computers, aggressive advertisers, and various other windmills on our behalf.

In this issue you'll find a questionnaire that can be removed without damaging the rest of the Newsletter, folded, stapled, and mailed to Richard F. Haines of Los Altos, California.

Richard is a NASA research scientist working at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, on human vision, optics, perception, and physiology. He has a B.A. from Pacific Lutheran College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Michigan State. He has written Observing UFOs (Chicago: Nelson-Hall) and UFO Phenomena and the Behavioral Scientist (Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, 1979), and is an associate editor for Kronos: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Synthesis.

Richard Haines discovered ASA by attending the 1979 Annual Meeting at Stanford with fellow psychologist Bob Houston of American Airlines. As a Christian active in Palo Alto's Grace Lutheran Church, Richard, who is now putting together a book on Christian responses to UFO phenomena, would value responses from Affiliation members. He promises to let us in on the results without violating confidentiality. He described results of a somewhat similar survey of the American Astronomical Society (which yielded a 55 percent response) in a Stanford University report of January 1977.

CANADIANS ELECT

At the annual General Meeting of CSCA members held 25 Oct 1980 in Toronto, Steven R. Scadding of Guelph was reelected and Richard K. Herd of Ottawa was newly elected to three-year terms on the executive council beginning January 1981. Serving as CSCA president next year will be Robert VanderVennen of Toronto, replacing Dan Osmond. Doug Morrison of Fergus remains as assistant executive secretary.

The 1981 series of "Christianity and Learning" lectures sponsored by Toronto's Institute for Christian Studies will be given February 25-27 by Stanley L. Jaki, Distinguished University Professor at Seton Hall University, South Orange, N.J. Author of Brain, Mind, and Computers, The Relevance of Physics, The Road of Science and the Ways of God, and the recent Cosmos and Creator, the Benedictine theologian and physicist will deal in his ICS lectures with a Christian anthropology. Titles of the lectures will be "Fallen Angels," "Glorified Apes," and "Unconquerable Men."

For further information on these free public lectures, write to Institute for Christian Studies, 229 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 1R4.

Jordan College president DeWayne Coxon says that two excellent educational programs will take place on his Michigan college campus in January, cosponsored by the Energy & Education Action Center of the U.S. Dept. of Education and the Energy Administration of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. On January 10, "Expo 81: Solar & Wind Power" will be the topic; on January 24, "Earth Sheltered & Passive Solar Housing." Tuition fee for either course is $65. For information, contact: Linda Bouwkamp, Energy Programs, Jordan College, 360 W. Pine St., Cedar Springs, MI 49319.

If Michigan on a chilly January day isn't your idea of where to hook into the sun, how about Israel, February 19 to March 3? That's when the "second Annual Solar Tour to Israel" will take place, cosponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Energy, The Mother Earth News, and Solar Age magazine. For information, contact: Herb Sebree, Tour Director, Jordan College, 360 W. Pine St., Cedar Springs, MI 49319.

The Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship at Calvin College in Michigan has chosen as its research top-Jc__F6--r-t981------82, "The Nature and Role of the Behavioral Sciences: A Christian Analysis." The Center is a "think tank" established in 1976 to promote "rigorous, creative, and articulately Christian scholarship addressed to the solution of important theoretical and practical issues." At the 1978 ASA Annual Meeting at Hope College, members of the Calvin Center presented papers from their 1977-78 study of "Christian Stewardship and Natural Resources."

Persons wishing to be considered for possible appointment as a Visiting Fellow to the Center should send a letter of application containing a vita plus (1) a statement of the applicant's interest in the topic, (2) a statement of work already done related to the topic, and (3) a statement of the specific contribution the applicant might make to the study. The appointment of Visiting Fellows, from 1 Sept 1981 through 31 July 1982, will carry the responsibility of teaching two courses and will be consistent with the terms governing regular faculty positions at Calvin College.

A CHRISTIAN ENGINEERING SOCIETY?

One thing keeps leading to another, it seems. Paul Leiffer, engineering professor at LeTourneau College in Texas, showed the Aug/Sept Newsletter to his boss, David Hartman, chair of LeTourneau's Engineering Division. Dave enjoyed reading the news of other Christians in science and technology, particularly the note about Christian anthropologists getting together. For the past four years he has been toying with the idea of an association of Christian engineers. Several engineering professors across the country have shown interest and a name has even been proposed: International Society of Evangelical Engineers. That name gives the acronym ISEE, the words of a man healed of blindness by Christ (John 9:25).

We already have a lot of engineers in ASA/CSCA, Dave, and more are always welcome. (See the following story, for example.) You could start an engineering division of our Affiliations while waiting for enough people to start ISEEand you wouldn't have to keep borrowing Paul's copy of the Newsletter.

ENGINEERING DEBUTS AT DORDT

Charles C. Adams, who spent eleven years as an analytical engineer in the aircraft industry and teacher of physics and chemistry at a Christian high school, is now director of the Engineering Program at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa. Charles moved to Dordt in September 1979 to work with such people as chemistry professor Russ Maatman in setting up engineering curricula at the relatively small (1,200 student) Christian liberal arts college.

Dordt's new program is coming along more or less on schedule, with plans to graduate their first engineers in the spring of 39" They plan to  offer programs in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and various sub-disciplines of engineering science. "A good part of our effort," says Charles, "is in developing engineering programs that will be distinctive both in their Christ-centeredness and in their integration with the overall liberal arts emphasis of the college. If that sounds contradictory, see my article, "Engineering in Reformed Perspective," in the September 1980 issue of Pro Rege, the Dordt faculty journal, where the problem is addressed directly."

HOW TO START SOMETHING. NO. 34

When biology professor Wayne Linn told us about a big symposium on "Hunger: Causes and Cures" held on his campus, we figured he probably had something to do with getting it organized. It turned out he had a lot to do with it, so we asked him for some details. We'll try to excerpt his account without losing what seems to be a sense of wonder at the way a simple idea snowballed into "the dominant activity on campus." There may be even a hint of warning that sometimes the "best way not to get involved is not to even start getting involved."

In fall 1978 at Southern Oregon State College in Ashland, Wayne's mind was on hunger, both from his understanding of Christ's teachings and from his experiences on a Peace Corps assignment in Africa from which he had returned three -years before. Several others on campus shared his concern to raise the level of awareness of that critical social issue among students and faculty. So a small group began getting together for informal discussions and, before the term was over, planning had begun for a symposium on hunger to take place a year later.

"By the end of winter term in 1979, word of the symposium was being circulated by the media, especially in the school newspaper, which assigned an interested reporter to our committee. A lot of hunger-related organizations wanted to do something, which meant that the steering committee of six swelled to 35 representatives from a dozen organizations. The Campus Christian Ministry was deeply committed from the beginning and provided valuable input in leadership, contacts, and ideas for programming. With their participation the endeavor became a joint community campus effort enlisting many local citizens."

Over a hundred people were in on some aspect of planning and executing the symposium, with dozens of others recruited by them to help. Once the symposium organization was formed, committees were appointed and positions of responsibility assigned. Wayne became financial director and one of two co-chairpersons, the other being professor Ira Edwards, originator of the project. Wayne urged the program committee to put together the best program for the purpose, saying that he would find the funding-a pledge he almost choked on.

Wayne says that a big hurdle was finding and defining that purpose: "What theme, emphasis, or point of view out of the whole scope of hunger-related issues should be pursued? What was most important? What could be presented most effectively, considering our circumstances? Out of our diverse interests the committee finally decided we should present a broad spectrum of topics, not 'pushing' or promoting any particular position or content-a goal I think we achieved."

Because they wanted to bring the relevance of the topic 11 right on home," the committee decided to address local and regional issues as well as global issues, and to enlist as many local people as possible. In all, some 40 individuals participated in symposium presentations. Wayne feels that prayer played a big role, since many of the committee members and leaders were Christians. A big factor in the success of the symposium was getting a commitment from the main speaker early in the planning stages. Scheduling Frances More Lapp, author of Diet for a Small Planet and Food First, as the main speaker helped to generate interest and cooperation from many sources, including some needed financial support from the Associated Students of SOSC.

Wayne says he could write a whole paper about funding such a project. "in spite of all their noble statements," he says," getting money from foundations is a time-consuming, futile channel of effort. And since most hunger organizations are scratching for money themselves, you're actually competing with them. So funding boils down to what you can raise locally from individuals, businesses, and groups."

With the dates set for 15-17 November 1979, a main speaker scheduled, initial funding, and increasing interest, the steering committee began working out a full three days of intense programming, with all kinds of options for anyone showing any interest in hunger. Five major speakers of national reputation were lined up-actually six, but the sixth speaker, representing the food processing industry, cancelled out the day before the symposium. The editor of Food M6nitor, Lyn Dobrin, who was attending the symposium along with many other notables steeped into the breach as a replacement.

With Ms. Lappd speaking on "Needless Hunger: What is the Appropriate Response of Americans," the other speakers were Mark Bollwinkel, dean of Than School of Theology in Malaysia, on "Our Agricultural System in Global Perspective"; Dwyte Wilson, president of the Oregon-Washington Farmers Union, on "The Farmers' Response to Hunger Issues"; Peter Sage, district representative for Congressman Jim Weaver (who could not attend), on "U.S. Policies Affecting World Hunger Issues"; and Glenn Olds, president of Alaska Pacific University, on "Ethics and the World Community; Human Hunger and World Hunger."

The Cosmopolitan Club sponsored a popular panel on "Third World Hunger" in association with the film, One Planet: Two Worlds. Wayne cautioned that students from foreign countries, who belong to such clubs, seldom come from a background of chronic hunger, so they tend to view the issues slightly differently from what one might expect. He suggests talking the issues over with them beforehand.

The global perspectives were brought closer home with local participants and panels on local issues such as food production, land use, local hunger needs, and needless waste of food and food-producing resources. Even more personal opportunities to "do something" were offered in workshops on nutrition for adults, nutrition for children, gardening, simplifying one's lifestyle (by a panel from the Oregon Extension of Trinity College), and teaching hunger issues (by educators from Oregon State U.). A practical learning experience was the availability of three public meals that had been designed and provided at cost to point out wiser ways of managing one's eating habits.

Wayne was a bit surprised that the parts of the program described above were attended mostly by people in the community, whereas for college students the most popular feature by far was a film festival. For anyone planning such a symposium on another campus. Wayne strongly recommends including a film festival as a low-budget, concentrated, yet diverse aspect of the program. For a day and a half at SOSC, films were run continuously on a rotating basis. Titles included: A Fable, The Formula Factor, This World is Not for Children, Controlling Interests: The World of Multinational Corporations, One Planet: Two Worlds (including about four subtitled films), Excuse Me America,

Looking for Organic America, and Diet for a Small Planet. Many classes were required to attend certain parts of the program or do special-study projects related to hunger. The objective was total campus participation and total community participation.

For six weeks,before the symposium, a "media blitz" was mounted to saturate the area with news about the upcoming symposium using every outlet available. Did all that planning and publicity pay off? For one thing, the effort brought together for the first time many diverse groups who felt they had some stake in the issues. About a hundred organizations were asked if they wished to have a representative or literature available in an area set aside for people to get information on hunger-related groups, and over forty did send literature or representatives. In all, about 4,000 people took part in some aspect of the symposium.

Anyone who would like a copy of the "Hunger: Causes and Cures" symposium program, or other information about it, write to Dr. D. Wayne Linn, Department of Biology, Southern Oregon State College, Ashland, OR 97520. We're glad Wayne was there to help put together such a significant event, and appreciate his taking the time to describe it in detail. Fort Wayne it wasn' teven over yet at the time of writing -he was still trying to straighten out some of the financial records!

A story by Roger Lewin in the Research News section of Scienc&-f21-NM-tPM describes a lively scientific confrence on the topic of "Macroevolution" held recently at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History. The news article, "Evolutionary Theory Under Fire," reports that the "Modern Synthesis," Julian Huxley's 1942 term for the extrapolation of microevolutionary processes to changes above the species level, was effectively challenged at the conference by advocates of "punctuated equilibrium." Punctuated equilibrium (with some of its roots in the writings of Richard Goldschmidt in the 1930s) emphasizes rapid speciation after long periods of stasis.

Evidently the debate was sometimes acrimonious, but most participants considered the outcome positive because the meeting brought together paleontologists, geneticists, molecular biologists and others for the first serious discussion of the topic in "more than 25 years." Part of the conflict of ideas no doubt stemmed from differences in outlook of the different disciplines. Molecular geneticists tend to emphasize mechanisms taking place in the genotype (including point mutations); ecologists and others emphasize external selection pressures that eliminate phenotypes lacking suitable adaptive features. Between genotype and phenotype a lot goes on of which we are still ignorant.

"Recent creationists" who say that evolutionary theory is about to blow over will probably welcome this report as evidence that they've been right all along. Before they join hands with the "instant speciationists," though, they should realize that "what is an instant to a paleontologist is an unimaginable tract of time to either an ecologist or a population geneticist." As Harvard's Stephen Jay Gould said at the conference, "I'd be happy to see speciation taking place over, say, 50,000 years, but that is an instant compared with the 5 or 10 million years that most species exist."

"Recent-creationist" organizations making news from time to time include the Creation Research Society (CRS, some-_,thing of a counterpart to ASA/CSCA and publishers of a qG'6rterly journal), the Institute for Creation Research (ICR, publishers of Acts & Facts and participants in many campus debates on evolution), and the Bible-Science Association (BSA, publishers of Bible-Science Newsletter and sponsors of an annual Creationist Convention). Another organization advocating recent creationism is the Creation Science Research Center (CSRC), often confused with ICR because both are based in San Diego, California.

CSFIC is featured in a news story in the 7 Nov 1980 issue of Christianity Today: "Creationist Tenacity Secures Subtle Shifts in Science Texts." The story, written by Tom Minnery, reviews the role of two southern Californians, Nell Segraves and Jean Sumrall, in the ongoing "California textbook controversy." Eighteen years ago the two women began to challenge the Curriculum Commission of the State Board of Education about evolutionary concepts presented in their children's elementary school textbooks. Ten years ago they and other evangelical Christians founded CSFIC to defend creationist beliefs and to publish alternative teaching materials. Nell Segraves's son Kelly is now director of the Research Center. Chemist Robert Kofahl (a Cal Tech Ph.D.) is science coordinator.

One reason we hear less about CSRC than other recent creationist organizations is that much of their activity is behind the scenes, at hearings of the Curriculum Commission or even in the courts. Also, according to Minnery, "CSRC chose to register as a public trust to enhance its credibility and to avoid being identified with, or dependent upon, religious groups. That is both its strength and its weakness. Unlike private religious organizations, public trusts are permitted to lobby and retain their tax-exempt status, but they are limited in the dollar amounts of donations they may receive, effectively excluding large foundation grants."

CSRC has so far been unable to get any of its own materials on the adoption list approved by the Curriculum Commission, from which local school boards choose the books they want to buy. Yet CSRC, along with other recent-creationist critics of evolution at textbook adoption hearings, has had an influence on California textbooks for the elementary grades. Textbook publishers, who can't afford to ignore the market in the nation's most populous state, have begun to be less dogmatic in what they tell the kiddies about how life began and where people came from. That's probably good for the future of science as well as for the kids, even if it isn't enough to satisfy the Creation Science Research Center.

Historian Mary Jane Mills sent us a copy of an editorial on "The Challenge of Creationism" clipped by husband Gordon Mills, biochemist at U. of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, from American Laboratory (Vol. 12, No. 8, Aug 1980). The editorial by Wayne Moyer, executive director of the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT), charges that scientists have become complacent "in the face of a 100-year-old challenge to our credibility espoused by proponents of biblical creationism."

Pointing to the pressures exerted on textbook publishers, boards of education, and even legislatures (see preceding story) to "reduce treatment of evolution while including ,scientific' creationism" in science teaching in the public schools, Moyer warns that the "creationist apologists are part of an emerging fundamentalist-conservative movement whidh is becoming increasingly political." He sees the "divine origin of man separate from nature" as the overriding doctrinal issue which fundamentalists feel their children may come to doubt if they are exposed to instruction in evolution.

Moyer suggests that concerned scientists respond by (1) contributing to the NABT Fund for Freedom in Science Teaching and supporting a new NABT Committee on Evolution Education, which will assume an educational role rather than a political one; (2) working with colleagues, teachers, departments of education, and other citizens to meet the issue before it is raised in one's state legislature, by speaking out on the meaning of evolution and science and offering support to officials under pressure from creationists; and (3) updating one's own education on evolution. Moyer suggests reading or rereading Darwin's Origin of Species, the Sept 1978 issue of Scientific American (devoted entirely to evolution), the discussion of human evolution in the June 1980 issue of Smithsonian, Dorothy Nelkin's Scientific Textbook Controversies (MIT Press, 1977), and NABT's Compendium of Information on the Theory of Evolution and the Evolution-Creationist Controversy (available at $4 from National Association of Biology Teachers, 11250 Roger Bacon Drive, Reston, VA 22090).

Mary Jane expressed skepticism toward several of Moyer's statements, including one about evidence for "the conserving nature of natural selection." The exhortation that biologists should "explain how the theory of evolution has predicted advances in their field" reminded her too much of her investigation of the Piltdown man hoax for a history seminar and of her prof's conclusion that errors are made when people look only for facts that prove their own thesis. She also considered Moyer's concern that "all science is under attack" by fundamentalists a simplistic way of accounting for the decline in popular trust of science.

with a master's degree in science and 17 years' teaching experience, sought to defend himself in July 1980 before the Eighth Circuit Court of South Dakota against dismissal as incompetent by the Lemmon (SD) Board of Education. Testifying as an expert witness against Dale was William V. Mayer, director of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study in Boulder, Colorado. Testifying as an expert witness on Dale's behalf was Richard B. Bliss, director of curriculum development for the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) of San Diego, California.

The story in Acts & Facts, an ICR publication, makes Lloyd Dale sound like a thoroughly competent teacher hounded out of his job for recent-creationist beliefs, even though testimony revealed that he showed respect for the views of students who disagreed with him. The fact that he had won the South Dakota Outstanding Biology Teacher of the Year Award tends to back up ICR's evaluation of Dale. A decision in the case by Judge Roy Brandenburg Was to be forthcoming by 10 Oct 1980. Has anyone heard how it came out?

Acts & Facts thinks the case "could well find its way into the South Dakota Supreme Court." We've always shudr.1-ered at courts of law as places to decide scientific questions, even if they are the proper arena for questions of law and equity. The Eighth District Court was assured by expert witness Richard Bliss, who has taught science and biology for 26 years, that the creation model "could not tell how old the earth was for sure, but that the overwhelming amount of scientific data seemed to indicate it to be young." Well, this trial was at least one step ahead of the 1925 trial of John Scopes for teaching evolution in a Tennessee classroom: in the Scopes trial the judge ruled that expert witnesses couldn't even be heard.

The monthly Acts & Facts publication is available at no charge from the Institute for Creation Research, 2716 Madison Ave, San Diego, CA 92116, although ICR would appreciate a few bucks for printing and mailing costs.

F. Steve Cassells (Plano Archaeological Consultants, 1048 Purdue, Longmont, CO 80501; tel. 303-651-3789) wants to teach anthropology in a Christian college. Before becoming president of Plano Archaeological Consultants (PAC), Steve was the Colorado assistant state archaeologist, a U.S. Forest Service archaeologist, and an assistant professor of anthropology at Judson College in Elgin, Illinois. During his four years at Judson Steve taught cultural and physical anthropology, archaeology, and some sociology and geology-and also coached tennis and basketball. His M.A. in anthropology is from the. U. of Arizona. He would like to continue archaeological contracting with PAC during summers. Steve and his family are members of Calvary Baptist Church in Longmont.

Epiphanes K. Balian of Maine needs another psychiatrist with a comprehensive orientation to join him in private practice. Commitment to Christian values as a way of life is essential. Contact: E. K. Balian, M.D., 45 Hogan Road, Bangor, ME 04401. (Received 27 Oct 1980.)

Northwestern College in Iowa will have faculty openings for fall 1981 in biology and economics. Requirements in biology include a doctorate and competence in molecular biology, microbiology, developmental biology, and vertebrate physiology (with specialization in one of those areas). Requirements in economics include a masters degree (doctorate preferred) and ability to teach a broad range of economics courses from elementary to advanced undergraduate. Northwestern is affiliated with the Reformed Church in America. Send letters of application, with formal dossier or vita, to: Dr. Harold Heie, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Northwestern College, Orange City, IA 51041. (Received 28 Oct 1980.)

Miami University in Ohio has two tenure-track positions in geology. One requires a Ph.D. and postdoctoral research record in mineralogy, with interests in crystal chemistry, phase equilibria studies, crystal structure analysis, or clay mineralogy; highly desirable to have skills in operation of Philips X-ray diffraction and fluorescence spectrometry equipment. The other requires a Ph.D. in sedimentology, with interests in clay mineralogy, paleoenvironments, low temperature geochemistry, coal petrology or geochemistry, or modem dynamic sedimentary processes  highly desirable to have computer modeling and applied statistical skills. Contact: Dr. A. Dwight Baldwin, Dept. of Geology, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056. (Received 29 Oct 1980, from Ed Yamauchi, professor of history at Miami U.)

Dordt College in Iowa is actively searching for an electrical engineer for August 1981, to teach some 2nd- and 3rd-year EE courses and help build up the EE component of Dordt's new engineering program. Experience both in industry and teaching is highly desirable, as is an advanced degree. "Enthusiasm for and commitment to a distinctively Christian approach to technology, as generally articulated in Dordt's statement of purpose, is a requirement." Dordt plans to add faculty as the engineering program grows, so will also be looking for at least one mechanical or electrical engineer to join them in August 1982. Send resumes to: Dr. Douglas Ribbens, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dordt College, Sioux Center, IA 51250. (Received 31 Oct 1980, from Charles Adams, director of the Engineering Program at Dordt.)

Westmont College in California will have one permanent and one temporary (one-year) position in biology open next Fall. The permanent position is in ecology and vertebrate physiology, the temporary one in genetics and embryology. Earned doctorate and aptitude for teaching and research in the context of a smallChristian liberal arts College essential for both. Women and minority candidates are especially urged to apply. Positions begin 1 Sept 1981. Applications accepted until 1 Jan 1981 or until a qualified candidate is found. For information and application forms, contact: Dr. Frank Percival, Chair, Biology Dept, Westmont College, 955 La Paz Rd, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. (Received 17 Nov 1980.)

Houghton College in New York invites applications for a faculty appointment in computer science. The college has a DEC 11/70 computer and offers a minor in computer science. Contact: Dr. Kenneth Lindley, Chair, Science & Mathematics Division, Houghton College, Houghton, NY 14744. (Received 1 Dec 1980.)

LOCAL SECTION ACTIVITIES

GUELPH

On November 4 the section held a public meeting on campus, showing Through Joy and Beyond, a film on the life of C. S. Lewis narrated by Lewis's secretary, Walter Hooper, and using Peter Ustinov's voice for Lewis. Haven't heard how many were in attendance.

OTTAWA

By the grapvine (from an Unidentified Flying Grape) we hear that Ottawa's brand-new section has already grown from ten members to thirty!

METROPOLITAN NEW YORK

The fall meeting held at The King's College in Briarcliff Manor on November 15 featured Lewis P. Bird, eastern regional director of the Christian Medical Society. Bird has a B.D. from Gordon-Conwell Seminary, S.T.M. from Chicago Lutheran Seminary, and Ph.D. from New York U. As an ethicist he serves as a consultant to the Kennedy Foundation in Washington, D.C., and to Kellogg Center at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. He is cochair of the CMS Medical Ethics Commission and of the Section on Medicine, Science, and Technology for the 7th annual meeting on the Holocaust sponsored by Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in December 1981. He is author of many articles, including four entries in Dictionary of Christian Ethics (Baker), edited by C. F. H. Henry and a chapter in Horizons of Science (Harper & Row), also edited by Henry. Bird was both an editor and author of Whole Person Medicine (IVP).

Jim Neidhardt reports that over 230 people attended, including many students from King's and Nyack colleges, and that Bird's lectures were very stimulating. The afternoon lecture was on "Lessons from the Holocaust for Modern Medicine and Science," the evening one on "Christian Concerns about Genetic Engineering."

In his first lecture Bird described three points of view taken by writers on the Holocaust concerning lessons for modern medical ethics. The first, that ethical parallels are inappropriate, is exemplified by Elie Wiesel (A Jew Today, 1978) and by Lucy Dawidowicz ("Biomedical Ethics and the Shadow of Nazism" in The Hastings Center Report, Aug 1976, Special Supplement).

The second point of view, that ethical parallels are of a general nature only, has been taken by Marc H. Tanenbaum ("Jews and Social Responsibility" in Evangelicals and Jews in Conversation, 1978), by F. D. Redlich ("Medical Ethics Under National Socialism" in Encyclopedia of Bioethics, 1978), and by Daniel H. Callahan ("The Lessons of the Holocaust for Contemporary Discussion of Medical and Biological Ethics" at the Fifth Annual Conference on the Holocaust, Temple U., Philadelphia, 1979).

The third point of view, that ethical parallels are of a specific nature, is taken by Francis A. Schaeffer & C. Everett Koop (Whatever Happened to the Human Race, 1979) and by Sheila & George Grant ("Abortion and Rights" in The Right to Birth, 1976).

Waitt said that as mountains go, St. Helens is pretty young, maybe 35,000 years old-which may explain its rather adolescent behavior. In spite of a long history of eruption earlier, it had been inactive since about 1857. The spectacular "lateral event" that blew all those huge trees down and killed people so suddenly was unusual for volcanic eruptions but not unprecedented. Many slides showing time sequences of the various eruptions were taken from great distances (understandably!). One group of slides showed human artifacts such as twisted steel towers, big semi-trailers flipped over, and bulldozers dented by flying boulders. Much evidence of what actually happened came from careful study of such artifacts. For example, the temperature of the stuff blowing by could be determined from the way the paint was burned off of automobiles that didn't make it out of the path in time. Alas, less than thirty people heard Waitt's talk, but all were fascinated by the power documented in his photographs.

Craig W. Ellison, professor of psychology and urban studies at Simpson College in San Francisco, California, has a new book out called Loneliness: The Search for Intimacy (Christian Herald Books, 1980). He and colleague Ray Paloutzian also have a chapter, "Loneliness, Spiritual Well-being, and the Quality of Life," in a forthcoming book, Loneliness: A Sourcebook of Current Theory, Research, and Therapy (Wiley Interscience), edited by D. Perlman and L. A. Peplau. That chapter includes a 20-item Spiritual Well-being scale devised by Ellison & Paloutzian. Craig was a workshop leader at the recent Conference on the Family held at Asilomar Conference Grounds in California, along with such other leaders as John Perkins, Bruce Narramore, Mel White, and Dennis Guernsey.

Al Fairbanks has taken a position as international student specialist for Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. He is already on duty in Minneapolis but his family has had to remain in Gurnee, Illinois, until they sell their house. He would appreciate prayer for their housing needs in Minneapolis and for the sale of their home in Gurnee. 

Richard A . Hendry says the whole family is learning something on his U. of Illinois sabbatical from Westminster College. Son Jon, a 4th-grader, is enrolled in a school where 44 percent of the kids are from outside the U.S. The Hendry kids thus have a chance to see more of the rest of the world in Urbana than back in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania where the teachers were on strike, anyway. Trying to synthesize a neomycin analog, Dick says a lot of chemistry has come along in the last six years, including the specialties of the lab he's in: mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy of Carbon-13. Dick and Joanne are both profiting from Bible studies and training programs at Twin City Bible Church, pastored by James Conway.

Judy Maxwell left Quito, Ecuador, in October to be assigned to the Summer Institute of Linguistics Center in Dallas, Texas, where her health problems can receive a closer look. Having spent seven years teaching in England and five in SIL's Technical Services Department in Quito, Judy hopes to become a full member of SIL and do literacy work somewhere. Her daughter Gisella, a May graduate of the Alliance Academy in Quito and a talented violinist, stayed in Ecuador to teach some violin pupils and prepare to audition at the Music Conservatory in Lausanne, Switzerland, in February. They were scheduled to be together in Dallas for Christmas.

Eric Miller, of IVCF's Twentyonehundred project was delighted to report on the reception of their evangelistic road show, Habakkuk, at the second annual International Multiimage Festival held in Vail, Colorado, in August. Over a hundred entries were screened and judged for artistic excellence. Habakkuk, which "paints the 20th century against the backdrop of ancient history," won the gold medal (top prize) in its category, and was the only production at the festival to receive a standing ovation from the audience of multi-image industry professionals. Some spoke of going back to their hotel rooms to read Habakkuk in the Gideon Bible. One said the show "communicates truth with emotional power." Many seemed to be directly confronted by the prophet's message. The show is now ready for showing to IVCF chapters and other interested groups. For information contact Eric at Twentyonehundred Productions, 233 Langdon, Madison, WI 53703.

Charles Thaxton of Probe Ministries in Dallas, Texas, says that the Forum sponsored by Probe at the U. of Alabama this fall was the second largest yet, with 119 classroom lectures. Of the 15 of those that Charles gave, he was particularly pleased by the positive response of a geochernistry professor who called his lecture on "The Origin of Life" challenging, informative, and interesting enough to have been scheduled for the whole department. After a large sorority meeting in which several women responded personally to Charlie's discussion of spiritual life, he got to see the miracle of "new life" played out once again.