Richard Sternberg came under fire from Smithsonian scientists over an article questioning evolutionary theory.
Posted on 10/06/2005 12:32:21 PM PDT by NYer
ping
Scientist who didn't get the memo.
Ping
It is hard to really say how grateful I am to this guy, for standing firm against these guys. His antagonizers should be brought up on violations of the Civil Rights Act, and subject to personal lawsuit by Mr Sternberg. We live in such a crazy time, where the defenders of political correctness, are allowed to legally destroy everyone who is in their way, yet the legal system gives us a toy sword to use against them. Hope the guy hangs in there and they get skewered for their actions.
It is hard to really say how grateful I am to this guy, for standing firm against these guys. His antagonizers should be brought up on violations of the Civil Rights Act, and subject to personal lawsuit by Mr Sternberg. We live in such a crazy time, where the defenders of political correctness, are allowed to legally destroy everyone who is in their way, yet the legal system gives us a toy sword to use against them. Hope the guy hangs in there and they get skewered for their actions.
Cardinal backs evolution and "intelligent design"
Reuters - Science ^ | 2005-10-04
Posted on 10/04/2005 12:21:01 PM PDT by Junior
Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn said he could believe both in divine creation and in evolution because one was a question of religion and the other of science, two realms that complimented rather than contradicted each other.
Schoenborn's view, presented in a lecture published by his office on Tuesday, tempered earlier statements that seemed to ally the Church with United States conservatives campaigning against the teaching of evolution in public schools.
A court in Pennsylvania is now hearing a suit brought by parents against a school district that teaches intelligent design -- the view that life is so complex some higher being must have designed it -- alongside evolution in biology class.
"Without a doubt, Darwin pulled off quite a feat with his main work and it remains one of the very great works of intellectual history," Schoenborn declared in a lecture in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna on Sunday.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1496517/posts
The Cardinal explains this, " Any system of thought that denies or seeks to explain away the overwhelming evidence for design in biology is ideology, not science.”
in the traditional Catholic way, "Science studies what is observable and scientists overstep the boundaries of their discipline when they conclude evolution proves there was no creator"
Science is not equipped to find or disprove a designer and it is obvious the good Cardinal understands this.
Unfortunately Richard Sternberg didn't. The man abused his position and cheated in order to insert his secterian views into a science journal. People like this do the cause of Christ harm.
I wanted to ping you to this article to hear your reaction to it. This describes the high tech lynching that even religious scientists(who other wise do excellent scientific work) may face if they step beyond the careful ideology of the Evolutionary Elites.
Note the section on e-mails. Note the under the radar investigation of Sternberg's back-ground. The pressure on him has been so great that he lost his wife to divorce on account of the politics of personal destruction.
Evolutionary Biology stands or falls based on experimental data and conclusions that can be falsified or tested and reliably reproduced. Time and discovery will ultimately direct the fate of evolutionary theory as a viable science. That has never been my real beef with evolutionists.
Having contempt and disrepect of traditional morality, the political gamesmanship of certain of the Evolutionary Upper crust is what I have a beef with. Its the disingenuous mind games that have folks such as the Kansas school board in an uproar. George Orwell's 1984 may have been describing the "newsspeak" of certain of the Scientific Elite. Sternberg was the victim of career killing high tech lynching...perhaps he and Justice Thomas can commiserate here!
Of course you have a Catholic with a Jewish name "Sternberg" so who knows if mis-directed anti-semitism isn't part of the issue here!
Why do you say that, in view of the following information from the article:
But Sternberg followed the procedure perfectly. He discussed publication with a fellow scientist at the Smithsonian, and before publication he had the article peer-reviewed by three molecular and evolutionary biologists — all with doctoral degrees.
Unless his position description specifically said, "You will not accept any articles that challenge Darwinian orthodoxy in any way," it appears to that he acted appropriately to the position.
This story was so huge ... but in article after article that I had read, they failed to mention he was Catholic.
The 'big picture' patterns just sort of rise to the surface don't they?
We've had several threads on this, back when it was news. Here's one: Smithsonian in uproar over intelligent-design article. Here's another, and it contains links to others:
Smithsonian Scientist's Complaint Backed [or "unsupported" -- about the Meyer ID article].
Of course you have a Catholic with a Jewish name "Sternberg" so who knows if mis-directed anti-semitism isn't part of the issue here!
Good ol' "Rick Sternberg" is actually named Richard von Sternberg.
Yes, it's very interesting. Since Catholicism is not generally associated with creationism - except for a few key points, the Church leaves most details up to personal judgment - one wonders exactly why this gentleman should be targeted with such hostility. I speculate that, in addition to his not holding the line on Darwinism, they were probably after him because he would be pro-life and opposed to gay marriage.
Interesting info, thanks.
The press seems to have dropped the "Von" part of his name...I wonder why that was?
Apparently the story is not over as the Smithsonian has stopped co-operating with Fed investigators who are looking into the apparent violations of Sternberg's civil rights. This story has some legs.
Still I just wanted to get your reaction.
With a German-aristocrat last name, who knows what kind of psychopath he might be? He could be a former concentration-camp guard, or worse!
Each side has a different story. Sternberg (or von Sternberg) says he's a martyr, and the Discovery Institute (the big promoter of ID) defends him:
Sternberg, Smithsonian, Meyer, And The Paper That Started It All.
On the other hand,the Smithsonian says he's a rogue:
Statement from the Council of the Biological Society of Washington regarding the publication of the paper by Stephen C. Meyer in Volume 117(2) of the Proceedings.
My opinion has no importance, really. I tend to distrust the Discovery Institute. But I'm not a witness, and I've made no independent investigation. So I don't know whether von Sternberg was acting properly. Scientists say there's nothing of value in the paper he published. I guess opinions vary.
When we let government take over "science", it eventually goes downhill.
Sternberg should have did his job and rejected the paper on the grounds that it's not science. He didn't. Instead he allowed the paper to be published as if it actually was science.
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