Director of the Human Genome Project a "creationist dupe"
by KrauzeBiologist PZ Myers raised a big stink over Francis Collins' participation in a program describing the Holocaust as "Darwin's Deadly Legacy". In addition to being the director of the Human Genome Project Collins has also written The Language of God, showing how his faith in God can co-exist with science. Myers, a self-described "godless liberal", didn't like it one bit and accused Collins of providing "a smiling mask of benign ineffectuality to insanity".
When Myers heard that Francis Collins was going to be interviewed in the film "Darwin's Deadly Legacy" he once again blew a gasket: "I have no idea what role Collins is going to play in this dishonest piece of trash, but I hope he is properly ashamed of being associated with it." It later turned out that Collins was just interviewed about his book, and that he had in fact criticized the thesis of the film.
But Myers has now had a chance to watch the film, and he has decided to put Collins back on his "shit list":
Francis Collins is still in the program, in the second half. His contribution was to help Kennedy argue that evolution is inadequate, that "man is a special creature," and go on and on about how complex the genome is. Collins is back on my shit list. He may not have supported the Hitler connection, but he is a creationist dupe arguing against scientific theories.
Let's look at the scientific theories Collins is supposedly arguing against. Myers doesn't tell us in what area Collins thought evolution was inadequate, so we'll have to skip that. I don't know of any scientific theory on how to measure "specialness", and if Stephen Jay Gould were to be believed, things in that area is on religion's turf anyway. And what scientific theories are being contradicted by saying that the genome is complex? Apparently, disagreeing with what PZ Myers considers Unquestionable Truth is enough to get you labelled a "creationist" nowadays. I guess Answers in Genesis will have to add "Francis Collins, Human Genome director" to their "list of famous creationists" now.
ID critics will often say something along the likes of: "Why must ID supporters always try to make it look like science and religion is incompatible? If only they would stop their attacks on science, we could all live peacefully together." But Myers slaps that dream to the ground. Here we have a biologist whose blog has been featured as the "number one science blog" on Nature, attacking a mainstream scientist for saying that "man is a special creature". Does anyone doubt that if the Discovery Institute closed down tomorrow, Myers would have no problem identifying Francis Collins as the new "enemy of science"
August 27th, 2006 at 11:41 am
Makes you wonder if Myers would give Collins tenure, eh?
Comment by MikeGene — August 27, 2006 @ 11:41 am
August 27th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
The comment section at Pharyngula also contains some gems:
Comment by Krauze — August 27, 2006 @ 12:48 pm
August 27th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
LOL. The wild-eyed rage. The pack mentality. The authoritarian-type personalities. All on display. It's quite illuminating to see all this turned on someone like Francis Collins. Like we know, it's never been about "science" or "evolution." Those were/are Trojan Horses.
BTW, I noticed that PZ does seem to buy into the Hitler = Catholic meme. Wasn't someone in our comments section trying to whitewash PZ's point on this issue?
Comment by MikeGene — August 27, 2006 @ 1:08 pm
August 27th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
Collin's real offense was to suggest the reality of God. Look how they accuse others of lying while butchering historic analyses.
Comment by Bradford — August 27, 2006 @ 1:13 pm
August 27th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
More PZ:
Don't you think it is about time that PZ and fellow critics answer the burning question?
Is Collins a creationist?
Comment by MikeGene — August 27, 2006 @ 6:48 pm
August 28th, 2006 at 2:57 am
Mike,
I just wish they would stop telling lies and pretending that they think that religion and "science" (which is really a synonym for Metaphysical Naturalism) have no conflict.
Worse yet, I wish they would stop lying and saying they are not the ones fueling the conflict.
Comment by thesciphishow — August 28, 2006 @ 2:57 am
August 28th, 2006 at 2:22 pm
Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who is this yapping dog PZ Myers? Really now, who cares what he says. Let him whine and rant to his doting toadies. At least it keeps him and his kind off the streets.
Comment by kornbelt888 — August 28, 2006 @ 2:22 pm