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And They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our … Plagiarism?

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Charles Darwin

And we Christians wonder why sometimes non-Christians don’t trust us very much.

You may have heard that the Christian group Living Waters, led by New Zealand evangelist Charles Comfort, was handing out Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” on college campuses across the country. Comfort, naturally, wasn’t just interested in commemorating the 150th anniversary of the book: Rather, Comfort served up a nifty little rebuttal of evolution and also pointed out that Darwin’s work has been used to bolster racism. He was, in short, taking the classic tome of evolution and using it against evolutionists.

Turns out, Comfort was also allegedly taking someone else’s introduction.

Stan Guffey, a professor at the University of Tennessee, is a Darwin booster who, in 1997, wrote a three-page biography on Darwin that was handed out on campus and eventually was used on a pro-Darwin Web site. Now, Guffey alleges that Comfort just picked up his biography and used it practically verbatim in Living Water’s introduction to “Origin of Species,” according to Rikki Hall, writing for Metro Pulse.

Comfort put his introduction on the Web months ago, and several bloggers who monitor anti-evolution efforts noted differences in style between the biography and the rest of the introduction. A brief computer search uncovered the source, and they confronted the author and publisher about the apparent plagiarism months before the book was printed. Guffey says he was never contacted for permission to use the biography. Both the author and publisher declined to comment for this story. Contacted by phone, [publisher] Bridge-Logos publicist Shawn Myers said it was the first she had heard of matter, so she was unable to respond.

Now, I’m on record as saying that God and evolution can coexist quite nicely: Evolution doesn’t threaten my faith at all, and frankly, I think there are more pressing matters facing Christians these days.

But, if you’re going to take on the scientific community by utilizing their most “sacred” book, you gotta make sure that your behavior is above reproach. To plagiarize someone else’s work is a fine way to undermine the rest of the project, if you ask me. And it kinda violates the whole “thou shalt not steal” commandment, too.

Really, that whole “living above reproach” thing is a good motto for Christians pert near all the time, don’t you think?

Tags: college, Creationism, Darwin, evolution, faith, intelligent design, Living Waters, science
Posted in culture war, education | Permalink

A Window to Truth

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

A portion of Yale's "Education" window

Mark I. Pinski, one of the better-known names in the realm of religious journalism, offers a pretty salient look in yesterday’s USA Today at the sometimes fractious relationship between faith and science, looking both to the past and the present.

Pinski suggests (rightly, I think) that President Barack Obama’s appointment of renowned scientist Francis Collins (a committed evangelical Christian and author of one of my favorite books, “The Language of God“) to head the National Institutes of Health, is an effort to heal some of the riffs between science and faith. He also finds inspiration in Yale’s famed Tiffany window called “Education,” which has graced the university for around 120 years.

The window, commissioned by businessman Simeon Baldwin Chittenden back in 1889 puts science and faith on center stage, flanking an angelic-like woman with her eyes cast upward. Pinski notes that a thumbnail picture of the window can be found on the Web site for the BioLogos Foundation (an organization founded by Collins).

Collins earned his Ph.D. in chemistry at Yale in the early 1970s, and I find no mention of the Chittenden window in his writings, or whether the NIH head has contemplated its significance to his own life. But in a commentary for the Christian Broadcasting Network, he displays sentiments consonant with the window’s message.

“The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome,” Collins said. “God can be found in the cathedral or in the laboratory. By investigating God’s majestic and awesome creation, science can actually be a means of worship.”

It’s a beautiful window, reflecting I think beautiful, and truthful, sentiments. Collins is one of my heroes, and I hope he does fantastic work in his new position.

Tags: Collins, education, Francis Collins, religion, science, stained glass, Yale
Posted in culture, education | Permalink

Fractured Theology

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

The New Oxford Review ran a piece from Tom Beaudoin, an associate professor of theology at Fordham University in New York City. Beaudoin (who, I think, deserves special kudos for having a last name that includes all five vowels) has compiled a short “Theology According to Student Bloopers.” It’s not so much an example of bad theology as it is of bad English—and it helps explain why I try to stick to words of two syllables or less.

My favorite:

“Theocratically, God is so far more advanced than mankind. And while there is nothing you can do to impress God enough to give you internal life, universal salvation is a huge turn on.”

(Thanks, Thunderstruck)

Tags: college, education, school, theology
Posted in education | Permalink

Creating controversy

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

A dinosaur from the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky. Photo by Anthony5429

When I was a religion reporter for The Gazette in Colorado Springs, Colo., I had the opportunity to visit the Denver Museum of Nature and Science with a Christian, creationist tour group — and one of the museum’s curators. It was, needless to say, a fascinating afternoon.

Now, The New York Times details a reverse scenario: A troupe of paleontologists taking a field trip to the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky.

The whole scenario feels a little bit surreal, like North Korea’s Kim Jong-il spending a weekend in Vegas, or Tila Tequila visiting the Amish. And, while the folks at the museum sounded gracious enough — “We’ll just give the freedom to see what they want to see,” said Terry Mortenson of Answers in Genesis — the scientists walked away unimpressed.

“I think they should rename the museum — not the Creation Museum, but the Confusion Museum,” said Lisa Park, a professor of paleontology at the University of Akron and a Christian.

To me, the battle over whether the earth was created over six days or over billions and billions of years seems a strange thing to squabble over. Oh, it’s not an insignificant discussion, by any means: If one side or the other suddenly threw up its collective hands and said, “you know what? We were wrong,” the consequences would be enormous — literally world-changing. But my faith doesn’t hinge on the argument. Either the Genesis account is literally true, or it’s not: Either way, I have confidence that God orchestrated it all — and He’ll tell me all about it soon enough.

Tags: Creation Museum, Creationism, evolution, Genesis, Kentucky, science
Posted in education | Permalink

Liberty, Give Me … Democrats?

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

Considering Liberty University was founded by the late Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority and one of the pillars of Christian conservatism, it’s perhaps not that surprising that students ran into a problem when they formed a College Democrats club there. As Amy Sullivan over at Time suggested, the real shocker is that such a group formed in the first place.

Indeed, when Brian Diaz first proposed the club last fall, he was flabbergasted the college, located in Lynchburg, Va., approved it. The group was able to campaign for Barack Obama last fall and celebrate his inauguration this January.

But on May 15, Diaz received word, via e-mail, that Liberty was removing any mention of the club from its Web site, and that the College Democrats would be, er, de-officialized.

Even though this club may not support the more radical planks of the democratic party, the democratic party is still the parent organization of the club on campus. The Democratic Party Platform is contrary to the mission of LU and to Christian doctrine (supports abortion, federal funding of abortion, advocates repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, promotes the “LGBT” agenda, Hate Crimes, which include sexual orientation and gender identity, socialism, etc). … By using LU or Liberty University and Democrat in the name, the two are associated and the goals of both run in opposite directions.

The controversy led many media folks to believe that Liberty’s College Democrats club had been, essentially, outlawed. Most media reports I read indicated the group was being forced to off-campus–a conclusion I might’ve jumped to, too, considering the e-mail sent to Diaz included the following quote from Liberty’s “Students Clubs and Organizations Policies:”

No student club or organization shall be approved, recognized or permitted to meet on campus, (my bold) advertise, distribute or post materials, or use University facilities if the statements, positions, doctrines, policies, constitutions, bylaws, platforms, activities or events of such club or organization, its parent, affiliate, chapter or similarly named group (even if the similarly named group is not the actual parent, affiliate or chapter) are inconsistent or in conflict with the distinctly Christian mission of the University, the Liberty Way, the Honor Code, or the policies and procedures promulgated by the University.

But hold yer horses, there, buckeroos. In an op-ed piece to the Christian Newswire, Liberty President and Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr., said that the club wasn’t being kicked out–just being distanced from Liberty’s official seal. After all, the parents who pay for their kids to go to Liberty aren’t coughing up good tuition money to see their kids go all liberal on them.

“While students are free to meet on campus, debate and discuss politics of every stripe,” Falwell writes, “the University will remain true to its’ core principles and not lend its’ name or fund groups that work to undermine the principles that make Liberty attractive to so many people.”

Hmmm. Lots of interesting issues surrounding this story. Love to hear from you as to what the biggest might be.

Tags: college, conservatism, democrats, Liberty University, Religious right
Posted in Uncategorized, education, politics | Permalink