Well, I read the blog posts and all the comments following after it. Pretty
dissapointing; not only the blog posts but also the comments following.
Dembski's warning to ASAers who would like to post is...interesting.
Here are two comments I have to add:
1. Dembski is basically upset at the ASA because of its stance (most of the
time) against YEC. Yet isn't the goal of ASA to reach out to Christians in
science? Sure, we could fill PSCF with anti-Dawkins articles, but would it
accomplish as much? Does Dawkins read PSCF? No, the impact of PSCF is
mainly within Christian circles, and therefore, in my opinion, there is
nothing wrong with countering the issues of science/Christianity that are
the main issues *within* the Christian community. Within the Christian
community, those issues are more of poor science than atheism. Putting it
another way, the Christian community doesn't have a big problem with atheism
(within the church); it does often have a problem with elevating a YEC
stance to the level of biblical doctrine.
Does ASA ever actively "attack" YECists and IDists? Do we merely critique
their views (and fairly, at that)? That is my impression. Case in poing:
in the latest issue of PSCF, an author (Haarsma?) critiqued ID, Behe was
allowed to respond, the original author responded, and another author tied
it up from an unbiased perspective. Does that sound like an "attack" on ID
Christians? Dembski has a problem with ASA because he says we are
"attacking" fellow Christians. To see where this really is a problem, he
need look no further than his own post and that of O'Leary. Perhaps Dembski
should reread what is on his own blog. With our attitudes towards fellow
Christians, our actions speak louder than words.
2. The other thing that is regrettable is the complete lack of intellectual
independence of the blog's readers/commenters. They seem to know nothing
more about ASA than what Dembski has carefully fed them. I remember one
said that he hadn't heard of ASA before the blog post, but that they (ASA)
seemed to be in the wrong. Does he really think he got a fair perspective?
Perhaps the UcD readers should broaden their horizons and see some differing
perspectives?
For the record, I don't mean to attack the Dembski, O'Leary, or any other
IDist. But I do think that they occasionally cross the line, as we have
seen in this instance.
-David Buller
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Received on Wed Apr 25 12:27:17 2007
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