Ted,
It might be "instructive" to see how Francis Collins has thought
about the origins questions himself. Not that he would necessarily be
an expert, but simply an illustration of how one prominent scientist
who is also a Christian has dealt with some of these issues (if, of
course, he is interested in sharing his views on these topics).
As for the broader question of "noise" on this list, I'd encourage
everyone to read the ASA statement of faith
(http://www.asa3.org/ASA/faithASA.html). I do this not so much to
enforce conformity, but to make sure everyone knows the character of
the "organization". Thus, general views of scripture, Christian
theology, the relationship between science and faith, etc. are
outlined here.
I'd also remind us all that there is a difference between a chat room
and an email discussion group of the sort we have (or at least have
traditionally had) here. To cut down on frivolous one-liners, some
groups of which I'm a member restrict posts to 4 in any one 24-hour
("literal") period. While I have no plans to moderate in order to
enforce such a rule, it may be productive for each contributor to
personally live by such a rule.
List manager,
TG
>I was pleased to learn that Francis Collins will join the listserve for one
>week, starting this weekend. I am concerned, however, about the level of
>noise on this listserve these past few weeks, mostly concerning origins,
>which has generated a lot of name-calling and garbage. If this were the
>norm for the listserve, I would not be on the listserve, I have far too many
>things to do than to keep my finger on the delete button. It's a good
>argument to hire a moderator, though I doubt that will happen.
>
>Here is my request: for the week that Dr Collins is available, at least,
>can we agree please not to discuss these recent topics, and limit our
>conversation to issues related to his expertise (ie, genetics and
>biotechnology)? Even if there had not been so much noise, I think this
>might be a reasonable request, but under the circumstances I think it wholly
>justified. Can we agree to this?
>
>Ted Davis
-- _________________ Terry M. Gray, Ph.D., Computer Support Scientist Chemistry Department, Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado 80523 grayt@lamar.colostate.edu http://www.chm.colostate.edu/~grayt/ phone: 970-491-7003 fax: 970-491-1801
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