"I sometimes wonder whether this is a uniquely American phenomenon. I never ran into creationists and the like in Canada, and certainly not in Europe. There are lots of fanatical Europeans, but they seem to steer clear of scientific issues."
Michael Ruse argues that the religion-science divide is largely due to the evangelical roots of religion in this country and ramifications of the civil war (agricultural versus industrialism). In contrast, in Europe, the legacy of the Catholic church, Inquisition and Reformation have all reduced the tolerance for religious intrusions into other realms. Whether that is an over simplification, I don't know. Ned ***************************************************** Ned Dochtermann [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.unr.nevada.edu/~dochterm/ 775-784-6781 Graduate Group in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology Fleischman Agriculture Building, Room 145 University of Nevada, Reno ***************************************************** "Beyond such discarded fundamentals as 'matter" and 'force' lies still another amidst the inscrutable arcana of modern science, namely, the category of cause and effect." Karl Pearson -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of William Silvert Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2007 2:49 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: misinformation portrayed as science I was surprised to see Seitz's name associated with this nonsense, but a quick check on Wikipedia confirmed that he is one of the way-out skeptics (as well as on whether smoking causes cancer). This is a sad state of affairs. What gets into these people? I sometimes wonder whether this is a uniquely American phenomenon. I never ran into creationists and the like in Canada, and certainly not in Europe. There are lots of fanatical Europeans, but they seem to steer clear of scientific issues. Bill Silvert Portugal ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ruhland, Christopher T" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU> Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2007 9:21 PM Subject: Re: misinformation portrayed as science > I (along with every other member of my department) received a mailing that > = > included this "article " yesterday. The mailer included a petition > against= > climate change research. In addition there was a short letter from Dr. > Fr= > ederick Seitz (former president of the National Academy of Sciences) > urging= > me to sign this petition.
