Creationists are certainly clever. A student is suing Michael Dini, a Texas Tech biology professor, for discrimination because Dini will only write letters of recommendation for students who “truthfully and forthrightly affirm a scientific answer” to the question: “How do you think the human species originated?” The creationist-minded student, with help from right-wing groups, contends that discrimination against creationists violates his civil rights — and of course, John Ashcroft seems to agree.
Ellen Goodman describes the creationists’ tactics, and points out the absurdity of treating fundamental theories in a scientific discipline as matters of personal preference. A biologist who doesn’t have a scientific explanation for the origin of species is not a biologist. “It’s like refusing to recognize someone who doesn’t believe in gravity for a PhD program in physics,” she writes. What’s next? “Astrology for astronomers? Feng Shui for physicists?”