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Scientist claims university unfairly discriminated
Source: Agencies |
February 14, 2011, Monday
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A CHRISTIAN astronomer who sued the University of Kentucky for religious discrimination says the perceived divide between faith and science is an "illusion."
Martin Gaskell claimed he lost out on a top science job because of his professed faith and statements he made that were taken to be critical of evolution. The controversy fueled the long-running debate between scientists and Christians who believe the Bible refutes some -scientific discoveries.
Gaskell said the two sides can find agreement. He has, as a devout Christian who uses the tools of science to study the universe.
"That's one of the things that people like myself really want to counter: is this idea of some sort of incompatibility between religion and science," said Gaskell.
The university reached a US$125,000 settlement with Gaskell last month in exchange for dropping the civil action. He said professors who discussed his employment misunderstood his faith and his views on evolution in emails that later became court evidence.
Gaskell, who studies supermassive black holes at the University of Texas in Austin, said he considers himself a "theistic evolutionist": a Christian who accepts Darwin's theory along with evidence that the earth is billions of years old.
"We believe that God has done things through the mechanisms he's revealing to us through science," he said. He has also written that evolution theory has "significant scientific problems."
"The question some people ask me is, 'If I were a biologist, and if I did have major doubts about the theory of evolution, would that disqualify me from being a biologist?'" he said. "And I'd firmly say, 'No ...'"
Some prominent scientists disagree with Gaskell on that point.
"You can't discriminate based upon religion," said Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education, a science advocacy group in Oakland, California. "You can discriminate based upon scientific views. It's perfectly legitimate to discriminate against a candidate based on whether that candidate's scientific views are acceptable to the discipline."
In one email, a professor said Gaskell's "public premise is to provide as much intertwining between science and religion as possible, and this will most certainly lead to misconceptions about scientific evidence."
Martin Gaskell claimed he lost out on a top science job because of his professed faith and statements he made that were taken to be critical of evolution. The controversy fueled the long-running debate between scientists and Christians who believe the Bible refutes some -scientific discoveries.
Gaskell said the two sides can find agreement. He has, as a devout Christian who uses the tools of science to study the universe.
"That's one of the things that people like myself really want to counter: is this idea of some sort of incompatibility between religion and science," said Gaskell.
The university reached a US$125,000 settlement with Gaskell last month in exchange for dropping the civil action. He said professors who discussed his employment misunderstood his faith and his views on evolution in emails that later became court evidence.
Gaskell, who studies supermassive black holes at the University of Texas in Austin, said he considers himself a "theistic evolutionist": a Christian who accepts Darwin's theory along with evidence that the earth is billions of years old.
"We believe that God has done things through the mechanisms he's revealing to us through science," he said. He has also written that evolution theory has "significant scientific problems."
"The question some people ask me is, 'If I were a biologist, and if I did have major doubts about the theory of evolution, would that disqualify me from being a biologist?'" he said. "And I'd firmly say, 'No ...'"
Some prominent scientists disagree with Gaskell on that point.
"You can't discriminate based upon religion," said Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education, a science advocacy group in Oakland, California. "You can discriminate based upon scientific views. It's perfectly legitimate to discriminate against a candidate based on whether that candidate's scientific views are acceptable to the discipline."
In one email, a professor said Gaskell's "public premise is to provide as much intertwining between science and religion as possible, and this will most certainly lead to misconceptions about scientific evidence."
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