At 02:45 PM 6/2/00 -0500, Paul Nelson wrote:
>The Discovery Institute gave no money to Professor
>J.Y. Chen, either for the conference on the origin of
>body plans, or for his own research. The speculations
>about financial support from Discovery to Chen,
>posted here by Glenn Morton, are utterly groundless,
>and constitute a slander both against Professor Chen
>and the Discovery Institute.
For those who didn't read the original post carefully, it should be noted
that Glenn was not the slanderer here -- he was posting something (adding
his own cautionary phrases like "may be") somebody else had written in a
reputable journal. The (apparently inaccurate) charge was in an item by
Nigel Hughes in Evolution and Development. While I'm glad Paul was able to
correct things quickly for us, I hope he or somebody at the Discovery
Institute also writes an indignant letter to the editor of Evolution and
Development, asking for a retraction. Chen should get an apology as
well. Maybe the department where Hughes teaches should get a complaint
about such a reckless charge. Of course Hughes should be afforded an
opportunity to present any evidence he has before too many angry letters
get written.
Paul's note leaves unclear one other charge made in Hughes' article. Did
the Discovery Institute provide financial and/or organizational support for
the conference itself? I personally don't see anything wrong if they did,
as long as this was not deliberately hidden. If they played a *major*
role, it would have been appropriate for that to have been mentioned in
things like the official conference press release.
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| Physical and Chemical Properties Division | "Don't blame the |
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| 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80303 | say, or vice versa." |
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