Johns Hopkins invited creationist Ben Carson to speak at the 2013 graduation. Unfortunately, he chose to withdraw as the speaker because gay rights activists complained about Carson’s comments against gay marriage. What is notable is that it is probably well known by now at Johns Hopkins that Carson is a creationist, and that didn’t stop the Johns Hopkins from inviting him to speak.
Ben Carson Withdraws as Johns Hopkins Graduation Speaker
Dr. Ben Carson announced Wednesday that he is withdrawing as graduation speaker at Johns Hopkins University, ceding to demands from students concerned about his controversial recent comments about gay marriage.
“Given all the national media surrounding my statements as to my belief in traditional marriage, I believe it would be in the best interests of the students for me to voluntarily withdraw as your commencement speaker this year,” Carson said in an e-mail to the dean of the Johns Hopkins medical school, Paul Rothman. “My presence is likely to distract from the true celebratory nature of the day. Commencement is about the students and their successes, and it is not about me.”
but Carson will be giving a speach at Midwestern State University in Witchita. But Jerry Coyne fumed saying, “Creationist-neurosurgeon-speaks-at-yet-another-commencement”.
Yes, Carson worked his way up from a horrible background (raised in Detroit by a single mom) to a position of prestige and accomplishment, and yes, he’s been a role model to black students. But none of that, to my mind, outweighs his profoundly creationist views. …the officials who pick commencement speakers should have excluded him
HT Mike Gene, Jerry Coyne
I think the above says more about Coyne’s mind than Carson’s accomplishments…and it ain’t flattering.
What mind? The decidedly sub-optimal one of his choice, bereft of free will?
AS IF “creationist views” are arrived at in some way other than Coyne’s own views – individual results of computed biology. AS IF, under Coyne’s paradigm, Dr. Carson has any choice but to believe what he believes.
Coyne might as well say “But none of that, to my mind, outweighs his profoundly black skin,” because in Coyne’s world, there’s no meaningful difference between skin color and one’s metaphysics – they’re both the inexorable result of physics via biological evolution.
Any condemnation of one’s beliefs is no different than a condemnation of one’s skin color, if all traits are the result of unintentional processes.
touché Axel
If it was just about students celebration of graduation then the school should not let the gay militants stop and censor and punish people because of the wrong beliefs on gay marriage.
Mr Carson should of ignored the militants. Its not taking a higher stand. The high stand is that these graduates who expect to get above average the good things of America should pull their weight on freedom of thought and inclusion of the population even if disagreeing about obscure things.
Where is the strength and determination of Americans to not back down to the bad guys.?!
@Robert Byers:
Ben Carson had a brain fart and he later apologized for the “poorly chosen” words. So to me it’s not clear why the militant gay rights activists are protesting. Do they not know that he apologized?
Coyne:
What a remarkable statement, when you really look at it. The fact that he is a creationist trumps everything else, including freedom of speech. This strikes me as the words of someone who is truly terrified for his worldview.
OT:
Life Got You Down? Just Remember You Got Thumbs! – music video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s8y9a12saU#!
Dr. Ben Carson humorously relates just how complex the process is just to raise your hand in the following short video:
I was a bit disappointed that Dr. Carson, in his excellent elaboration of the extremely complex process involved for just raising your hand, did not bring up a point that is a fairly ‘common sense’ view that most Theists hold. That fairly obvious ‘common sense’ view that most Theists hold is the necessity of the soul to get the ball rolling towards raising your hand. In the following video, Dr. Craig Hazen relates how he demonstrated, to academics, how the ‘simple’ process of raising your hand is actually, by all rights, a miracle that requires a transcendent soul to explain it satisfactorily,,
Perhaps some atheists may need more proof that there is something transcendent to them. Something set completely apart from all these extremely complex material processes of the brain and body:
Maybe that evidence is still not good enough for some hardcore atheists. If so, here are the results of many years of experiment testing the effect of ‘intentionality’ on random number generators::
I once asked a evolutionist, after showing him the preceding experiment, “Since you ultimately believe that the ‘god of random chance/chaos’ produced everything we see around us, what in the world is my mind doing pushing your god around?”
Perhaps that is still not good enough for some hardcore atheists. If so, in the following experiment the claim that past material states determine future conscious choices (determinism) is completely undermined by the fact that present conscious choices effect past material states:
In other words, if my conscious choices really are just merely the result of whatever state the material particles in my brain happen to be in in the past (deterministic) how in blue blazes are my choices instantaneously effecting the state of material particles into the past?
If that is still not ‘good enough’ for a hardcore atheist to believe that we have a transcendent component to us, a soul, that is not reducible to the extremely complex material processes of the brain and body, then all I can conclude is that the atheist has freely chosen to blindly believe in his atheism no matter what the evidence actually states to the contrary.
Verse and music:
supplemental notes:
Bruce David
Indeed saying being a creationist trumps your other claims to deserving stuff.
In fact6 I would suggest Carson being a Christian is far and away the real reason he did well.
Blacks still don’t compete well and its usually blacks with very segregated identies. Such as being foreign or of some minority religious group and so on.
Being Christian, a rare thing in urban black male America in reality, is why he was motivated to get involved in higher intellectual things.
Identity is everything.
When attacking a black achiever and trying to hurt or take something from him because of Christian beliefs then it just is poor strategy in these times.
Its worse in urban black America for a Jew to do it.
Mr Coyne is not paying attention.
things like this help creationism plenty.
OT: Power of Prayer: Studies Find Prayer Can Lead to Cooperation, Forgiveness in Relationships – May 14, 2013
Excerpt: “My previous research had shown that those who prayed for their partner reported more prosocial behavior toward their partner, but self-reports are subject to potential biased reporting,” Fincham said. “This set of studies is the very first to use objective indicators to show that prayer changed actual behavior, and that this behavior was apparent to the other partner, the subject of the prayer.”
In addition, objective observers found those who engaged in partner-focused prayer exhibited more positive behavior toward their partners compared to those who did not pray for their partner.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/re.....184139.htm