Biology Professor Refuses to Recommend Students Who Don't Believe in Evolution

Texas Tech ^ | January 29, 2003 | Michael Dini

[matthew_the_brain]

Letters of Recommendation

Before you ask me to write you a letter of recommendation for graduate or professional school in the biomedical sciences, there are several criteria that must be met. The request for a letter is best made by making an appointment to discuss the matter with me after considering these three criteria:

Criterion 1

You should have earned an "A" from me in at least one semester that you were taught by me.

Criterion 2

I should know you fairly well. Merely earning an "A" in a lower-division class that enrolls 500 students does not guarantee that I know you. In such a situation, all I would be able to provide is a very generic letter that would not be of much help in getting you into the school of your choice. You should allow me to become better acquainted with you. This can be done in several ways:

1) by meeting with me regularly during my office hours to discuss biological questions. 2) by enrolling in an Honors’ section taught by me. 3) by enrolling in my section of BIOL 4301 and serving as an undergraduate TA (enrollment is by invitation only). 4) by serving as the chairman or secretary of the Biology Advisory Committee.

Criterion 3

If you set up an appointment to discuss the writing of a letter of recommendation, I will ask you: "How do you think the human species originated?" If you cannot truthfully and forthrightly affirm a scientific answer to this question, then you should not seek my recommendation for admittance to further education in the biomedical sciences.

Why do I ask this question? Let’s consider the situation of one wishing to enter medical school. Whereas medicine is historically rooted first in the practice of magic and later in religion, modern medicine is an endeavor that springs from the sciences, biology first among these. The central, unifying principle of biology is the theory of evolution, which includes both micro- and macro-evolution, and which extends to ALL species. How can someone who does not accept the most important theory in biology expect to properly practice in a field that is so heavily based on biology? It is hard to imagine how this can be so, but it is easy to imagine how physicians who ignore or neglect the Darwinian aspects of medicine or the evolutionary origin of humans can make bad clinical decisions. The current crisis in antibiotic resistance is the result of such decisions. For others, please read the citations below.

Good medicine, like good biology, is based on the collection and evaluation of physical evidence. So much physical evidence supports the evolution of humans from non-human ancestors that one can validly refer to the "fact" of human evolution, even if all of the details are not yet known. One can deny this evidence only at the risk of calling into question one’s understanding of science and of the method of science. Such an individual has committed malpractice regarding the method of science, for good scientists would never throw out data that do not conform to their expectations or beliefs. This is the situation of those who deny the evolution of humans; such a one is throwing out information because it seems to contradict his/her cherished beliefs. Can a physician ignore data that s/he does not like and remain a physician for long? No. If modern medicine is based on the method of science, then how can someone who denies the theory of evolution -- the very pinnacle of modern biological science -- ask to be recommended into a scientific profession by a professional scientist?

If you still want to make an appointment, you can do so in person during office hours (M-Th, 3:30-4:00), or by phoning my office at 742-2729, or by e-mailing me at michael.dini@ttacs.ttu.edu

Citations

Ewald, P.W. 1993. Evolution of infectious disease. Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 298.

Ewald, P.W. 1993. The evolution of virulence. Scientific American 268:86-98.

Morgan, E. 1990. The scars of evolution. Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 196.

Myers, J.H. and L.E. Rothman. 1995. Virulence and transmission of infectious diseases in humans and insects: evolutionary and demographic patterns. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 10(5):194-198.

Nesse, R.M. and G.C. Williams. 1994. Why we get sick. Times Books, New York, pp. 291.

_____1997. Evolutionary biology in the medical curriculum -- what every physician should know. BioScience 47(10):664-666.

Rose, Michael. 1998. Darwin's Spectre. Princeton University Press, Princteon, NJ. pp. 233.

Seachrist, L. 1996. Only the strong survive: the evolution of a tumor favors the meanest, most aggressive cells. Science News 49:216-217.

Stearns, S.C. (ed.) 1999. Evolution in Health and Disease. Oxford University Press. pp. 328.

Trevathan, W.R., Smith, E.O. and J.J. McKenna (eds.). 1999. Evolutionary Medicine. Oxford University Press. pp. 480.

Williams, G.C. and R.M. Nesse. 1991. The dawn of Darwinian medicine. Quarterly Review of Biology 66:1-22.

[matthew_the_brain]

. So much physical evidence supports the evolution of humans from non-human ancestors that one can validly refer to the "fact" of human evolution, even if all of the details are not yet known

[matthew_the_brain]

Freep this clown


michael.dini@ttacs.ttu.edu

[eshu]

Astronomy Professor Refuses to Recommend Students Who Don't Believe in Solar System

[matthew_the_brain]

how coy, and not at all analogous........plenty of visual proof of the solar system, no visual proof of us evolving from a pool of slime.....unless you folks have a Zapruder film now documenting it?

[NativeNewYorker]

Would you recommend someone for the clergy if they didn't believe in G-d or Christ?

[Blood of Tyrants]

First, don't waste your time with this bozo. He is a liberal and anti-Christian.

Why is the belief in evolution necessary to be a doctor? A good doctor treats the physical, mental, and spiritual being. It has also been proven that prayer is a powerful healing agent for ill patients.

IMHO, the lack of "treatment" of the spirtual being inside every one of us is the major cause of crime in the world.

[stanz]

So what if he is a liberal and an anti-Christian (which you have no proof of). He's a scientist who has to vouch for future scientists. That's the only criterion here.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I ask again, why is the belief in evolution necessary to be a doctor? People are NOT going to evolve over the life of the doctor (or even 1000 lifetimes).

[AzSteven]

how coy, and not at all analogous........plenty of visual proof of the solar system, no visual proof of us evolving from a pool of slime.....unless you folks have a Zapruder film now documenting it?

Is that the one that shows a mysterious flash of light from the grassy knoll, said to be Darwin observing the slime pool though his binoculars?

[Blood of Tyrants]

The vast majority of medical doctors are not so much as "scientists" as mechanics for the human body. You study the symptoms, make test measurements, come up with possible diagnoses, select the most probably, and then treat accordingly.

AGAIN: Why is the belief in evolution necessary to be a doctor? Humans are not going to evolve in the doctor's lifetime and he won't be required to treat a "pre-human".

[Dimensio]

That's not quite an accurate parallel. It would be more like an astronomy professor refusing to recommend students who refuse to accept a heliocentric solar system.

[ml/nj]

I guess this guy wouldn't like me very much.

But I have a very short argument that I present as contradiction to evolution. When I made this argument to a professor at UVa this past fall when I visited there, he was speechless (and the student who was listening sort of stood there silently with his eyes bulging out of their sockets). I really wondered if he was going to keep teaching the class the following week.

ML/NJ

[Dimensio]

Well there is the whole problem of how bacteria cultures reproduce quickly enough to 'evolve' in a matter of months. Someone who understands the selective pressure created on bacteria when antibiotics are introduced into their environment might be more likely to administer them responsibly.

[Schnucki]

Would you recommend someone for the clergy if they didn't believe in G-d or Christ?

I don't get it. It's the evolutionists who have rejected science.

[stanz]

He finds it necessary I suppose because he espouses this view and feels that anyone seeking his recommendation should be in agreement. Why would he want to recommend someone who would be at odds with evolution which is a biological discipline?

[Dimensio]

A good doctor treats the physical, mental, and spiritual being. It has also been proven that prayer is a powerful healing agent for ill patients.

Is there any specific god to which appropriate prayers are addressed, or do prayers to any god work?

[labowski]

Well, I'll be a monkeys Uncle..............................

[Dimensio]

It's the evolutionists who have rejected science.

When in doubt, rely on intellectually bankrupt arguments like 'evolution is not science'.

[Hodar]

People are NOT going to evolve over the life of the doctor (or even 1000 lifetimes).

Untrue. Asians typically had an average height of 5'2 or less for hundreds of years. Within the past generation the AVERAGE height has increased by 6 inches. This is a change that is sustained and continuous. This is largely due to diet, but as studies have shown, change occurs. Domesticated cat brains are smaller today than there were 75 years ago. Cats USED to hunt mice for food. Now they are kept in apartments and fed from the can. They no longer need the brain capacity they once did. Bottom line is that we are changing, slowly; but we are changing nonetheless. It's measureable, it's quantifiable and it's factual.

[Dimensio]

But I have a very short argument that I present as contradiction to evolution.

Well...let's hear it.