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Better to be out of a job for standing on your principals and your 
beliefs. You would at least be in the company of a distinguished 
group of scientists and scholars who paid the same price for standing 
up for their principals.
Creationist's seem not to have any problem standing up for their principals.

This is just my personal view from the flat planet at the center of 
the solar system.

Don Stidsen



>ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
>Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
>*****************************************************************************
>
>Of course, ideally science centers would not to give in to this kind of
>pressure.  I can, however, understand how it happens.  We are in the
>process of developing new life science experiences including at least
>one that explicitly deals with evolution, but we also are in a hotbed of
>support for ID, including our junior Senator.  You can stand on
>principles, but in the current funding climate, you could end up
>standing on the street corner, out of a job.  It is also clear to me
>that trying to argue or debate evolution vs ID is a fruitless endeavor.
>The faith that leads to ID is not based on misunderstandings of the
>facts, it is based on a belief system that provides the people who hold
>those beliefs with great value.  It is not amenable to persuasion. 
>
>I have found the discussion of this issue by Cobern (1994) to be very
>helpful.  See an online preprint at http://www.wmich.edu/slcsp/112.htm.
>Too many science centers present the "school" version of science, giving
>science special privilege in the realm of knowing and placing it
>superior to other ways of knowing.  By focusing on knowing instead of
>understanding, we miss the opportunity to engage in a real dialog.
>
>Creationists are not idiots and they do not suffer from a lack of facts.
>If they did, decades of repeated attempts to present the facts more
>clearly and directly would certainly have had some impact.  Scientists
>and science centers that want to make progress in this area need to
>start from that premise and they need to be honest about the nature of
>science as a human construction and a belief system.  Simply presenting
>the "facts," as we see them, more clearly, more directly, more often,
>etc. is not likely to move the dialog forward.
>
>
>David L Smith
>Director of Professional Development
>Da Vinci DiscoveryCenter of Science and Technology
>http://www.discovery-center.org
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Informal Science Education Network
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jonah Cohen
>Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 6:28 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: IMAX and evolution
>
>ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
>Centers
>Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
>institutions.
>************************************************************************
>*****
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Carolyn Levi [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Monday, March 21, 2005 4:52 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: IMAX and evolution
>
>
>This is a direct quote direct from the article -- boldface is mine:
>"Hyman Field, who as a science foundation official had a role in the
>financing of "Volcanoes," said he understood that theaters must be
>responsive to their audiences. But Dr. Field he said he was "furious"
>that a science museum would decide not to show a scientifically
>accurate documentary like "Volcanoes" because it mentioned evolution.
>"
>=====================
>And you know, I think Dr. Field is right to be furious. If science
>centers
>are willing to knuckle under to religious fundamentalists and give
>science
>the short end of the stick... then what's that say about us? Who can be
>expected to stand up for science if not us? If we are not for ourselves,
>who
>will be for us?
>
>Jonah Cohen
>Outreach & Public Programs Manager
>Science Center of Connecticut
>
>"God grant me the company of those who seek the truth, and God deliver
>me
>from those who have found it."
>
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