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Canadian Intelligent Design Foe Refused Federal Grant for Darwinian Bias

by Hilary White

OTTAWA, April 5, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) has refused a grant to a McGill University professor allegedly because of his assertion that Darwinian evolution is not a theory, but established fact.

Dr. Brian Alters, Tomlinson Chair in Science Education and Director of the McGill University Evolution Education Research Centre, applied to the Council for $40,000 to study the popularity in the US of the Intelligent Design theory, which he says, is not a scientific, but a religious theory.

Alters’ proposed project is titled, “Detrimental effects of popularizing anti-evolution's intelligent design theory on Canadian students, teachers, parents, administrators and policymakers.”

The Ottawa Citizen reports that Alters received a letter from SSHRC peer-review committee saying he had failed to “substantiate the premise” of his study. The letter said that he had not provided “adequate justification for the assumption in the proposal that the theory of evolution, and not intelligent-design theory, was correct.”

Alters’ assumption not only that ID is an anti-scientific theory but that teaching it in Canadian schools would be “detrimental” betrays the widespread biases within the scientific community for any questioning of strict Darwinian dogma.

McGill has requested that the SSHRC reconsider its decision. “Evolution is not an assumption, and intelligent design is pseudo-science,” Alters told the Citizen. “I think SSHRC should come out and state that evolution is a scientific fact and that intelligent design is not.”

Alters was the only Canadian to testify in the Dover Pennsylvania school board case, that teaching the Intelligent Design theory in schools is unconstitutional. He called the ruling against ID “a major defeat for the proponents of a religious concept that attempts to introduce supernatural causation into science, where it simply doesn't belong.”

In 1998, Alters told the McGill Reporter that the theory of evolution is accepted by "about 99.9% of scientists." He said it is a cornerstone for the entire discipline of biology. "Without a doubt, this is one of the most important topics there is," says Alters. "It's the ultimate 'where do I come from' question."

The Harvard-trained researcher told the McGill Reporter that he does not believe it ethical to attack students’ religious beliefs in the classroom. “It's important not to proselytize. That would be abusing my position. What we can do is ensure that students understand the evidence that leads scientists to conclude that evolution is what happened.”

Alters is the designer of a course at McGill called "Evolution, Religion and Education," that won the Templeton Foundation prize for “outstanding courses in science and religion.”

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