Disingenuous
Coming the day after a candidate for President of the United States had to issue a formal statement on the tenets of his religion, this article in today's Boston Globe struck me as a little odd, if only for its timing.
The battle between science and creationism has reached the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where a former researcher is claiming he was fired because he doesn't believe in evolution.
Nathaniel Abraham filed a lawsuit earlier this week in US District Court in Boston saying that the Cape Cod research center dismissed him in 2004 because of his Christian belief that the Bible presents a true account of human creation.
Abraham, who is seeking $500,000 in compensation for a violation of his civil rights, says in the suit that he lost his job as a postdoctoral researcher in a biology lab shortly after he told his superior that he did not accept evolution as scientific fact.
Now Woods Hole is a pretty prestigious scientific institution, and one would hate to find out that it is run by a bunch of anti-religious zealots (which is clearly what Mr. Abraham is claiming), but I wonder what Mr. Abraham was thinking when he applied for a position with a biological research organization whose work is premised upon the very theory that Mr. Abraham rejects.
He has a master's degree in biology and a philosophy doctorate, both from St. John's University in New York, a university spokeswoman said. He was hired by Hahn's marine biology lab in March 2004 because of his expertise working with zebra fish and in toxicology and developmental biology, according to court documents. He did not tell anyone his creationist views before being hired. Hahn's lab, according to its website, studies how aquatic animals respond to chemical contaminants by examining ". . . mechanisms from a comparative/evolutionary perspective." ...
Eugenie C. Scott, executive director for the National Center for Science Education, which defends the teaching of evolution in public schools, said Abraham was clearly being disingenuous when he applied for the job because he was hired to work in the field of developmental biology.
"It is inconceivable that someone working in developmental biology at a major research institution would not be expected to deal intimately with evolution," she said. "A flight school hiring instructors wouldn't ask whether they accepted that the earth was spherical; they would assume it. Similarly, Woods Hole would have assumed that someone hired to work in developmental biology would accept that evolution occurred. It's part and parcel of the science these days." [Emphasis added]
Well, whatever he was thinking, the match was obviously a poor one. It's not like Mr. Abraham is starving for his beliefs: he has secured new employment, one more congenial to his principles.
An Indian citizen, he now works at Liberty University, a Christian university in Lynchburg, Va., founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
What a country.
The battle between science and creationism has reached the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where a former researcher is claiming he was fired because he doesn't believe in evolution.
Nathaniel Abraham filed a lawsuit earlier this week in US District Court in Boston saying that the Cape Cod research center dismissed him in 2004 because of his Christian belief that the Bible presents a true account of human creation.
Abraham, who is seeking $500,000 in compensation for a violation of his civil rights, says in the suit that he lost his job as a postdoctoral researcher in a biology lab shortly after he told his superior that he did not accept evolution as scientific fact.
Now Woods Hole is a pretty prestigious scientific institution, and one would hate to find out that it is run by a bunch of anti-religious zealots (which is clearly what Mr. Abraham is claiming), but I wonder what Mr. Abraham was thinking when he applied for a position with a biological research organization whose work is premised upon the very theory that Mr. Abraham rejects.
He has a master's degree in biology and a philosophy doctorate, both from St. John's University in New York, a university spokeswoman said. He was hired by Hahn's marine biology lab in March 2004 because of his expertise working with zebra fish and in toxicology and developmental biology, according to court documents. He did not tell anyone his creationist views before being hired. Hahn's lab, according to its website, studies how aquatic animals respond to chemical contaminants by examining ". . . mechanisms from a comparative/evolutionary perspective." ...
Eugenie C. Scott, executive director for the National Center for Science Education, which defends the teaching of evolution in public schools, said Abraham was clearly being disingenuous when he applied for the job because he was hired to work in the field of developmental biology.
"It is inconceivable that someone working in developmental biology at a major research institution would not be expected to deal intimately with evolution," she said. "A flight school hiring instructors wouldn't ask whether they accepted that the earth was spherical; they would assume it. Similarly, Woods Hole would have assumed that someone hired to work in developmental biology would accept that evolution occurred. It's part and parcel of the science these days." [Emphasis added]
Well, whatever he was thinking, the match was obviously a poor one. It's not like Mr. Abraham is starving for his beliefs: he has secured new employment, one more congenial to his principles.
An Indian citizen, he now works at Liberty University, a Christian university in Lynchburg, Va., founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
What a country.
posted by Diane at 4:02 AM
2 Comments:
They don't like brown people at Liberty. Mr. Abraham is in for another jolt, I'm afraid.
Well, if a hospital hired someone who turned out to be a practitioner of voodoo, they would probably find a way to get rid of them, too.
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