Secular Inquisition at the Royal Society

Melanie Phillips reports on dastardly doings at the bastion of scientific rigour, the Royal Society.

Secular Inquisition at the Royal Society
Wednesday, 17th September 2008


Totalitarian atheism has taken another scalp. Michael Reiss, the Royal Society’s embattled director of education, has been forced out – for daring to suggest that children should be taught to discuss alternative views and subject them to the scrutiny of empirical reasoning. As the Times reports, Professor Reiss told the British Association for the Advancement of Science last week that teachers should accept that they were unlikely to change the minds of pupils with creationist beliefs – ie, that the world was created literally in six days. Instead of dismissing creationism as a misconception, teachers should try to explain why it had no scientific basis.

‘My experience after having tried to teach biology for 20 years is if one simply gives the impression that such children are wrong, then they are not likely to learn much about the science,’ he said. ‘I realised that simply banging on about evolution and natural selection didn’t lead some pupils to change their minds at all. Just because something lacks scientific support doesn’t seem to me a sufficient reason to omit it from the science lesson . . . There is much to be said for allowing students to raise any doubts they have — hardly a revolutionary idea in science teaching — and doing one’s best to have a genuine discussion.’

What is wrong with that? Nothing. It is merely a statement of impeccably liberal educational beliefs. And as the Royal Society implicitly admits, there was nothing there which contradicted anything it stands for. But Rev Reiss was grievously misrepresented by people who seized upon the fact that, although he is a scientist he is also – gulp – a Christian. They accused him of suggesting that creationism should be taught in school as having equal value to evolution. In vain did Reiss protest that he had said nothing of the kind. The Royal Society has got rid of him because his views were

"open to misinterpretation"

and thus

While it was not his intention, this has led to damage to the society’s reputation.

So he has been pushed out not because of what he actually said but because other people misrepresented what he had said. Instead of standing up to the bullying Phil Willis, the chairman of the Commons Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee, who said

I was horrified to hear these views and I reject them totally. They are a step too far and they fly in the face of what science is about. I think if his [Professor Reiss's] views are as mentioned they may be incompatible with his position,

(how dare an MP seek to dictate what a scientist may or may not say!) the Royal Society itself pushed its heretic into the flames.

Far from Reiss damaging the reputation of the Royal Society, it has now done this to itself. Appalling.

Article