Good clarification 
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I should also clarify that I think YEC’s should be kept out of all scientific fields, including those for which the age of the earth is not a particularly pertinent issue. Not in the form of an official and formal ban. But if someone is applying for a job or academic position and reveals that he is YEC, it should have about the same effect as if he had stripped naked and started dancing on the table.
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You also need to learn how not to discriminate against others with public funds.
Okay, so you’d support public funding for YEC related scientific research then. Thanks for your support. Perhaps you can help me convince everybody else on here?
One should always be discriminating in how one uses public funds. Especially when it is as scarce as those supporting scientific research.
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How is this directed at me??
If you are talking about scientific grant funding, then you should know that most grants are pretty specific about what they will fund. Further, the grant writer has to describe the methodology to be used (or developed) and how it will be applied. YEC have kind of sunk their own boat when it comes to methodology, so if there discrimination here, it’s based on scientific merit not religious belief.
If there is more to be said along these lines, let’s move it to another thread.
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Only if YEC-related research met significant scientific hurdles same as any other research like getting an nserc grant etc
In my limited experience, whether it is the RATE project or countless other papers on major YEC institutions. They would not currently qualify.
The discovery institute claims to be non-partisan and then on their front page I see culture-war articles, fox news, attacks on the democratic party and I could not find scientific research.
The institute for Creation “technical papers” do not qualify.
I could not find actual research at answers in genesis and one leading “college” paper linked accepting evolution to compromise that allowed for homosexual students to no longer be harassed or expelled.
I am struggling to find research that would qualify.
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To the best of my knowledge the DI does not offer or coordinate any sort of grant funding to independent researchers, nor does AiG or CRI (not sure about the Bradley Institute). If ID/Creation researchers are serious abut competing for public funds, they could start by emulating that model, and demonstrating a willingness to compete.
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To the extend a putative YEC scientist can do good science without letting their demonstrably false views of natural history pollute the science they do, I couldn’t care less what they believe in their private lives. I mean we just have to accept the reality that two-faced people, like Andrew Snelling, exist, who appears to have been able to live a double-life as a mainstream geologist publishing articles accepting the true age of the Earth, while also publishing religious apologetics masquerading as science in various “creation science” outlets, wherein he argued effectively that his other work in established geology is wrong.
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Do we need a new topic for research funding?
I don’t know that we have to accept this. If someone demonstrates that he is either a) so incompetent as a scientist that he thinks YEC is true, or b) so dishonest and unethical that he will publish something under his name that he believes to be untrue, why does he deserve a place in the field?
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I don’t think Snelling is representative of how a YEC student entering into the science is likely to end up. There are maybe a few dozen authors contributing to Creation Science journals, and only a handful of those are funded in any way by those organizations. More will end up teaching at various Bible colleges (Bob Jones, etc.). Most will end up in secular professional or academic roles, doing mainstream scientific things.
It would be interesting to see some stats on where these students end up professionally.
With respect to (a) I don’t think we can (nor should) hire people on the basis of what they privately believe in their own heads, even if I happen to think those beliefs are totally ludicrous. When it comes to doing a job I think what matters is qualifications, work-ethic, and how well they work together with colleagues. Unlike how they do at places like AIG, I wouldn’t ask someone what they believe at a job-interview and ask them to sign statements of faith. I would look at their references, their qualifications, and generally try to assess their character.
I know it’s a strange sort of situation to then possibly discovering later on that someone you hired to do a job they might even do with competence, runs around in their free time saying the field in which they possibly do good work is all wrong because the Bible says so. Weird. Possibly indicative of mental health issues or cognitive problems.
But unless he does something illegal, or lies about what goes on in that field or at his place of work(or something of some other sufficiently unethical nature), I don’t think one can legally fire them merely for having these beliefs and telling others about it.
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No, and I am not suggesting they should be, though I probably have not been very clear about that.
OTOH, if one is at the point of deciding whether to hire or promote someone in a scientific field and find that he has issues of some sort that prevent him from understanding/accepting a fact as simple and basic as that the universe is not 6000 years old, I believe it would be entirely legal and appropriate to consider this as a strike against this candidate, or even as an outright disqualifying factor.
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Gee, why would YECs ever feel discouraged from going into science?
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Perhaps because large chunks of Astronomy, Biology, Geology, Nuclear Physics (via Radiometric Dating), etc, etc contradict their beliefs?
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Well, for one, for my part I have never witnessed the church actually encouraging young people to pursue research science, even apart from the YEC contention.
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The policy that Faizal outlined seems perfectly reasonable to me. Would you hire a flat earther as a geology consultant for your oil company?
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Incompetent people should be discouraged from entering fields in which they will fail.
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Your sarcasm shine right through, and I understand your reasons here. Nonetheless I think this deserves serious consideration.
Self selection: As we see in the OP, a lot of YEC students may choose not to pursue a career in science because they perceive it as “atheistic” in some way. I think that perception is wrong, but no doubt it exists.
Internal criticism: Once embarked on a career in science, there may be conflicts between belief and science fact. There could also be criticism from other scientists depending on how that person’s beliefs are expressed. I strongly suspect that most YEC in science careers choose an area where there is no direct conflict with their beliefs. They may also compartmentalize their beliefs, demarking the difference between faith and science. I have worked with numerous doctors, scientists, and students from many religions, Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist (and probably even a few YEC). None of these people expressed any difficulties with the science they were conducting. Surely this must be the case for some YEC in science careers too.
External criticism: I have encountered many former YEC who left their church because of the criticism they received from family, friends, and communities. Their offense; daring to understand and accept science. The social pressures on young YEC to “toe the line” on church dogma are enormous, and some two-thirds of them end up leaving their church, or leaving religion entirely.
Re-reading what I wrote, maybe the internal/external labels should be switched around. My point remains that some very serious criticisms of YEC careers in science come from within the YEC community itself. The solution, if one is to be found, must come from within the YEC community as well.
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