- Mister Science Minister, Do the Right Thing and Resign:

Comment on the G&M article: Minister won't confirm belief in evolution
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090317.wgoodyear16/BNStory/National/home


It is in the highest scientific tradition to state that you do not accept a theory as “scientific fact” and to debate it – just ask Albert Einstein. But to refuse to even discuss it on religious grounds drags us back to the dark ages where they prosecuted Galileo as a heretic for suggesting that the Sun not the Earth was the center of the Universe.


The separation of religion and the state is vital to our society, its development and our basic freedoms. For Harper to put in place a Science Minister that refuses to even comment on, on a scientific level that is, any generally established scientific theory based on religious beliefs is not only indicative of an extreme right wing ideology but outright dangerous.


There is nothing wrong with having strong religious beliefs, of course, but when they pose the real possibility of interfering with the proper execution of his job, and in the case at hand I think the indications are that there is, then he should do the right thing and resign.

Lloyd MacIlquham