Galileo 2003
  by Dr. David Eller

Many of the great liberators of modern history were born in February. Some, like Washington (22nd), Lincoln (12th), and Susan B. Anthony (15th) were political liberators. Others, like Thomas Edison (11th), Charles Darwin (12th), Galileo (15th), Giordano Bruno (17th), and Copernicus (19th) were liberators of the mind. Some paid for their liberating efforts with their freedom or, in the case of Lincoln and Bruno, their lives. It has always been dangerous to champion new ideas that challenge received truth, and the dark forces of ignorance and preconception have been ever ready to crush affronts to their authority.

That is why it saddens me to learn that those forces are just as evident, if not just as deadly, in the year 2003. I am referring to the case of Dr. Michael Dini, a biologist at Texas Tech University, who has become embroiled in a legal controversy over something as innocuous as his policy on letters of recommendation. Dini requires students who seek his recommendation for graduate or professional schools in biological fields to accept the central tenet of biology-the theory of evolution. He asks, "How can someone who does not accept the most important theory in biology expect to properly practice in a field that is so heavily based on biology?"

This might seem like a small matter. Surely biology students do affirm evolutionary theory, or else what sense does biology make? And surely students who do not affirm it can go elsewhere for a letter of recommendation. But no, student Micah Spradling took offense at this reasonable demand, calling it a denial of "my faith as a Christian." Enter the Liberty Legal Institute, a group of Christian lawyers, who have now filed a complaint with the federal Justice Department. If the Liberty Legal Institute (an interesting oxymoron) does not get satisfaction, it has already announced that its next step would probably be to file a suit against the university.

Anyone who works in or cares about education should be alarmed. The notion that a student could sue a teacher for what the teacher expects of students is truly scary. And that the student would take the case over the teacher's head is even worse. Dini is not forcing anyone to give up his or her belief but to be competent in one's field. Dini has not threatened to fail or expel anyone who disagrees but merely to withhold a professional favor, to which no student is entitled.

I am an anthropologist and a teacher of evolution. The idea that a creationist student could attend my class and sue me horrifies me. I cannot say for sure, but I would not be surprised if Spradling enrolled in Dini's course intentionally to obtain legal standing to sue him. And I am absolutely sure that the whole mess smacks of the intimidation that theists engage in when they cannot hold their own in the "public square." When they can't win and don't want to play fair anymore, they use scare tactics to drive their opponents into hiding-sometimes in fear of their lives.

Galileo lived out his life under house arrest for heretical teachings. Bruno was burned alive at the stake. It is a sad commentary that, in the year 2003, teachers of "unpopular" views still must cringe in fear of power of religion.

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