Eugenie Scott: The Dover Trial and the Scientist Hat

[dga471 (Daniel)]

@Tim

Although it expresses some ambivalence (due to Collins’ outspokenness about his support of religion), it is explicitly benefit-of-the-doubt (“give the guy a break”) and “wait-and-see”. Again, well short of seeking to undermine his legitimacy, let alone stating an “inherent contradiction” between being “both Christians … and effective working scientists”.

We’ve been through this before, Tim. Coyne actually came onto this forum asking @Eddie to apologize saying that he had ever opposed Collins’ directorship due to his religious beliefs. He also specifically claimed that he had never called for Collins’ resignation from the post:

@Jerry_Coyne

I’m sorry but you are making it up. I never opposed Collins being director of the NIH. I said I opposed his actions using his position as head government scientist to proselytize for theology and Christianity and to make statements about fine-tuning and the like. And I believe I said several times that I didn’t think he should be removed as director, and that he was a good scientist.

I have criticized the man strongly for mixing faith and science but have never called for his resignation; in fact, I have said the contrary. You can see the posts I’ve made about Collins here:

Eddie actually apologized to Coyne for not checking his words carefully. Yet later another blogger searched through more blogposts of Coyne and found clear evidence that he had called for Collins’ resignation.

Coyne Denies He Ever Opposed Francis Collins’ Nomination to Head the NIH

He also found lots of evidence which showed that Coyne did express resistance to Collins’ appointment to NIH director which was related to his religious beliefs and his public expression of them. Yes, Coyne probably never explicitly said, “I opposed Collins’ position at the NIH because he is a Christian,” but in my opinion there’s enough evidence in the link there to show that he strongly insinuated that.

Did Eddie Need to Apologize to Coyne?

As for this quote from @Jerry_Coyne: These are the quotes offered from Coyne in the blog post: Collins gets away with this kind of stuff only because, in America, Christianity is a socially sanctioned superstition. He’s the chief government scientist, but he won’t stop conflating science and faith. He had his chance, and he blew it. He should step down. Enough is enough. Collins is director of the NIH, and is using his office to argue publicly that scientific evidence—the Big Bang, the “Moral Law” and so forth—points to the existence of a God. That is blurring the lines between faith and science: exactly what I hoped he would not do when he took his new job. Collins gets away with this kind of stuff only because, in America, Christianity is a socially sanctioned superstition. He’s the chief government scientist, but he won’t stop conflating science and faith. He had his chance, and he blew it. He should step down. Well, we thought we’d seen the last of the theocr…