Ayala wins Templeton Prize

[rug]

WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 25 – Francisco J. Ayala, an evolutionary geneticist and molecular biologist who has vigorously opposed the entanglement of science and religion while also calling for mutual respect between the two, has won the 2010 Templeton Prize.

Ayala, 76, a naturalized American who moved from Spain to New York in 1961 for graduate study and soon became a leader in molecular evolution and genetics, has devoted more than 30 years to asserting that both science and faith are damaged when either invades the proper domain of the other.

Ayala, the Donald Bren Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, whose groundbreaking research into parasitic protozoa may lead to cures for malaria and other diseases, has equated efforts to block religious intrusions into science with “the survival of rationality in this country.” To that end, in 1981 he served as an expert witness in a pivotal U.S. federal court challenge that led to the overturning of an Arkansas law mandating the teaching of creationism alongside evolution. In 2001, George W. Bush awarded him the National Medal of Science.

Even as he has warned against religion’s intrusion into science, Ayala, a former Dominican priest, also champions faith as a unique and important window to understanding matters of purpose, values and the meaning of life.

http://www.templetonprize.org/currentwinner.html

[immoderate]

1. Can't think of anything more useless than the Templeton Prize.

The money's good though.

--imm

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Except the complaining about it. Especially by those who have no experience in...

either science or religion.

[immoderate]

3. Oh yes. Let me join in their condemnation.

terrible, terrible thing.

--imm

[rug]

4. I can.

[immoderate]

6. So you say.

--imm

[trotsky]

7. One-line, substance-free posts are his specialty.

Enjoy!

[immoderate]

8. Thanks. One line is OK. Substance free is no way to live.

--imm

[BurtWorm]

9. Everybody must get substanced.

:hippie:

[darkstar3]

10. Substance-free?

And here I thought substances were the only reason those posts existed.

OH, you meant CONTENT...I get it now...:)

[rug]

11. Read the OP if you want substance.

[trotsky]

12. Shouldn't you be protesting your church for its cover-up of child rape...

and protection of rapists?

If a regular citizen were to rape, say, 200 deaf boys, they'd be in fucking jail where they belong. Why do priests get a pass?

[rug]

13. Tell me what that has to do with the OP.

Oh, nothing?

Get a grip on your obsessions.

[trotsky]

14. Sorry, the topic of child rape upsets me greatly.

As does the cover-up and protection of rapists.

I apologize for asking why your church having done this doesn't bother you.

[rug]

16. You must be sagging under the weight of bearing that concern all by yourself.

[trotsky]

17. Considering how many so-called liberal Catholics don't seem to give a shit,

and actually leap to the church's defense and lash out at everything BUT their church and its leaders, yeah, it seems like I'm alone on this sometimes.

[rug]

18. You can do it!

:thumbsup:

[ChadwickHenryWard]

20. I've had an interesting thought about this for a while

At what point does an organization stop being a church and start being a front organization for a ring of pederasts? They expend a great deal of their money making sure that our criminal justice system does not come to bear in punishing the rapists within their organization. They even go so far as to move known abusers, effectively providing them with a new playgroud of perversity filled with fresh victims. At what point does the attitude of licentiousness and aid in avoiding justice become an active effort to promote child rape?

What I've been wondering about is this: what ability does the federal government have to totally disband a church that has engaged in pervasive and systemic criminal behavior? Let's suppose that a church was really a front for the mob; engaging in illegal gambling, prostitution, drugs, money laundering, acting as muscle for organized labor, all that "Goodfellas/Godfather" stuff. The FBI has a clear interest in bringing them down under RICO laws. But since their a church, aren't they protected from that sort of thing by the First Amendment? What if a Church had engaged in widespread fraud, pulling in billions a year selling something they couldn't possibly deliver (like eternal life) and other demonstrably false claims? Would that be prosecutable by the federal government?

[trotsky]

21. Those are some damn good questions.

And as the Rude Pundit put it a couple of days ago, what if some huge Muslim religious organization had been found to have covered up even a fraction of the sexual abuse that the Catholic Church has? By Koresh, there'd be rioting in the streets and people would be brought to justice.

Or for that matter, if this same level of abuse had happened in anything deemed a "cult," oh man, that would be the end of the story for them.

But somehow the Catholic Church gets a pass. I sure as hell don't get it.

[ChadwickHenryWard]

19. Cool story, bro!

[charlie]

5. Heh

Look at what those Crystal Cathedral wankers once did to him:

But Dr. Ayala said another proposed engagement, at a conference at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., a 10,000-member church that is the base for the “Hour of Power,” a weekly televised religious service, was canceled earlier this year. A spokesman for the organization said Dr. Ayala’s talk was canceled “due to overbooking” of speakers.

Dr. Ayala said the event’s organizers wanted him to be introduced by Ben Stein, a writer (and business columnist for The New York Times) who is the star of the new anti-evolution movie, “Expelled,” and wanted to show the film in conjunction with his talk.

“I don’t mind who introduces me,” he said he told them, “but I would not want the film to be part of my presentation. They said they could not meet my conditions.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/science/29prof.html

We invited WHO? He's a WHAT? Alright, tell him if he wears clown shoes and a wig he can come.

[Name removed]

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