Re: Gish's questionable statements

Stephen Jones (sjones@iinet.net.au)
Sun, 14 Jan 96 06:34:04 EST

Bill

I answered a copy of to this personally, but then I realised you had
posted it to the Reflector as well. I have also made some changes
to this second copy. Delete the first one. Thanks

On Sat, 13 Jan 1996 00:42:12 -0500 you wrote:

BH>I'd like to suggest that the disagreement between Jim Foley and
Stephen
>Jones about Gish's truthfulness might be settled by material that is in the
>public record. One of the regular posters to talk.origins documented a
>number of assertions Gish made several years ago -- one of them about the
>closeness between the genome of a bullfrog and a chicken I believe -- that
>indicate either a lack of knowledge or at least considerable carelessness
>with facts. I believe some of this material has been saved in the
>talk.origins archives. If it isn't there, I might be able to find it,
>either in my own archives or those of a couple other people who archived
>talk.origins pretty completely, at least for a time.

Thanks for this.

I do not deny that Gish makes "questionable statements", but that is
not what is asserted. What is asserted is that he is "dishonest".
Now that requires that the accuser knows somehow that Gish
deliberately says or writes something as true that he knows to be
false.

Natural justice requires that the accuser not act as judge, jury and
executioner, but that the accused be regarded as innocent until
proven guilty and he/she be given an opportunity to aswer his/her
accusers.

The right thing to do would be for the poster to talk.origins and
other
to send the documentation on Gish's earlier assertions to him for
his right of reply. Then that should be also posted to talk.origins.

I suspect that has not been done because critics of the ICR like
to portray them as "dishonest", because that effectively
marginalises them and their criticisms of Darwinism can then be
ignored.

God bless.

Stephen

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