Monday, February 06, 2006

When Theory Becomes Fact

The New York Times ran a story on Saturday about NASA's clarification about a scientist who claimed he was threatened for presenting his theories on global warming. One portion caught my attention:

In October, for example, George Deutsch, a presidential appointee in NASA headquarters, told a Web designer working for the agency to add the word "theory" after every mention of the Big Bang, according to an e-mail message from Mr. Deutsch that another NASA employee forwarded to The Times...

In October 2005, Mr. Deutsch sent an e-mail message to Flint Wild, a NASA contractor working on a set of Web presentations about Einstein for middle-school students. The message said the word "theory" needed to be added after every mention of the Big Bang.

The Big Bang is "not proven fact; it is opinion," Mr. Deutsch wrote, adding, "It is not NASA's place, nor should it be to make a declaration such as this about the existence of the universe that discounts intelligent design by a creator."

It continued: "This is more than a science issue, it is a religious issue. And I would hate to think that young people would only be getting one-half of this debate from NASA. That would mean we had failed to properly educate the very people who rely on us for factual information the most."


Sometimes, I'm absolutely amazed at the vitriol poured out upon those who insist that things such as evolution and The Big Bang are, in fact, theory. Take a read at this. While this is one post, it seems representative of the response seen when this subject comes up.

While I certainly agree that Intelligent Design doesn't fall into the realm of provable scientific fact, neither does The Big Bang. Yet one is perfectly acceptable to teach in the science class while the mention of the mere possibility that something intelligent may have been responsible for the universe around us is "anti-science". Amazing.