RE: [asa] The Theocracy is Coming! [again]

RE: "Collins may indeed be a good administrator, but this appointment is a mistake. At the very least, Collins must remove himself as director of the BioLogos foundation, as holding both posts would represent an unwanted incursion of religion into the public sphere. "

That is the crisis confronting Dr. Collins now:

"Every preacher ought to be primarily a prophet of God who preaches as God bids him, without regard to results. When he becomes conscious of the fact that he is a leader in his own church or denomination, he has reached a crisis in his ministry. He must now choose one of two courses, that of prophet of God or a leader of men. If he seeks to be a prophet and a leader, he is apt to make a failure of both. If he decides to be a prophet only insofar as he can do without losing his leadership, he becomes a diplomat and ceases to be a prophet at all. If he decides to maintain leadership at all costs, he may easily fall to the level of a politician who pulls the wires in order to gain or hold a position." (H. C. A. Dixon, A. C. Dixon [New York: Putnam's, 1931], p. 277)

________________________________
From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On Behalf Of Nucacids
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 8:55 AM
To: asa@lists.calvin.edu
Subject: [asa] The Theocracy is Coming! [again]

Jerry Coyne sounds the alarm and throws down the gauntlet. Smell the threatiness:

"Well, we thought we'd seen the last of the theocracy of George W. Bush, but it apparently ain't so. The Scientist<http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55733/> reports (and this has been the buzz for weeks), that born-again Christian and BioLogos Foundation director Francis Collins is likely to be named as head of the National Institutes of Health

[...]

I am funded by the NIH, and I'm worried. Not about my own funding (although I'm a heathen cultural Jew), but about how this will affect things like stem-cell research and its funding.

[...]

We are just recovering from the theocracy of G. W. Bush, and I was happy that federally-funded stem-cell research was allowed to go ahead. Now what will happen?

[...]

Collins may indeed be a good administrator, but this appointment is a mistake. At the very least, Collins must remove himself as director of the BioLogos foundation, as holding both posts would represent an unwanted incursion of religion into the public sphere. I call for him to resign from BioLogos if he's appointed as head of the NIH. (That, of course, has the attendant benefit of putting the ever-amusing Karl Giberson in charge of BioLogos!)"

http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2009/05/27/collins-may-be-nih-director/

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Received on Wed May 27 12:10:01 2009