September 14th, 2008
UK educator who called for teaching creationism should be fired
When a clergymember is appointed as education head of Britain’s Royal Society and he then advocates teaching creationism in science class, is he just looking out for the best interests of children or is he trying to sneak religion into the classroom?
The latter, in the strong suspicion of two Nobel Prize winners who want Rev. Prof. Michael Reiss (pictured), a Church of England minister, sacked, reports the Guardian.
‘I warned the president of the Royal Society that his [Reiss] was a dangerous appointment a year ago. I did not realise just how dangerous it would turn out to be,’ said Sir Harry Kroto, a Royal Society fellow, and winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
Sir Richard Roberts, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work on gene-splicing, was equally angry. ‘I think it is outrageous that this man is suggesting that creationism should be discussed in a science classroom. It is an incredible idea and I am drafting a letter to other Nobel laureates - which would be sent to the Royal Society - to ask that Reiss be made to stand down.’
Zoologist Richard Dawkins, a Royal Society fellow, said: ‘A clergyman in charge of education for the country’s leading scientific organisation - it’s a Monty Python sketch.’
But the Society says: “Michael Reiss’s views are completely in keeping with those of the Royal Society.” That’s what worries some, given that the Society has forged some strong financial links with the US-based Templeton Foundation (”We support work at the world’s top universities in such fields as theoretical physics, cosmology, evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and social science relating to love, forgiveness, creativity, purpose, and the nature and origin of religious belief.”)
‘The thing the Royal Society does not appreciate is the true nature of the forces arrayed against it and the Enlightenment for which the Royal Society should be the last champion,’ Kroto said.
