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Evolution? Darwin Day? Big Problem

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By Daniel Ruth

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 8, 2008

This had to be a bit like the American Civil Liberties Union blackballing historian David McCullough from giving a speech on the Fourth of July because he might mention the Declaration of Independence.

By any reckoning, University of South Florida professor Lorena Madrigal, Ph.D., was the perfect choice to speak for this Friends of Brooker Creek Preserve event.

While this may not leap off your calendar, Feb. 12 is Charles Darwin Day, marking the birthday of the pioneer scientist who developed the theory of evolution.

You might say in egghead circles, Darwin Day is a big deal.

And since Madrigal's doctorate is in anthropology, in which she has developed an academic expertise in genetics and human evolution, what better speaker could the Friends of the Brooker Creek Preserve hope for to deliver remarks on Darwin Day?

Bum's Rush

However, a week before she was to speak, Madrigal was given the bum's rush by Pinellas County officials, who canceled her appearance.

"They told me very clearly they felt their budget was in danger if the lecture took place," Madrigal said.

This wasn't as if the professor was going to show porn films, or advocate the overthrow of the government, or perform satanic rituals.

A respected scholar in the field of human evolution, on a day marking the birthday of the creator of the science of evolution, giving a speech in a setting inextricably linked to the study of biology, which indeed would reflect upon Darwinism, was considered too controversial?

"It is absolutely impossible to understand biology without evolution," Madrigal, showing off her smarty-pants common sense, argued. "Evolution is the basis to our understanding of the biological world.

"Biology without evolution is not biology," she suggested, which obviously explains, at least in the mind of William Davis, the Pinellas County director of environmental services, why the professor's speech would be problematic.

Canceled Out

"Her topic was about evolution," Davis said. Well, yeaaaaaah! "I flinched on that."

"I canceled her out after discussing it with my supervisors," he said. "We are not the platform for debate on creationism versus evolution."

Even on Darwin Day?!?!?! Apparently not.

"We don't believe it's our role to engage in that debate," Davis said.

Is that so? If an acknowledged academic expert on evolution is deemed an inappropriate speaker to deliver a speech, especially on the very day honoring the man who created the scientific theory of evolution, then just when would it be acceptable for Professor Madrigal to offer up her views?

It's a bit difficult to believe that those attending a Darwin Day speech would have been particularly scandalized by a discussion about the scientific theory of evolution.

Rather, the real scandal is that a scholar attempting to exercise her First Amendment rights found herself the victim of scientific McCarthyism at the hands of clipboard-packing bureaucratic amoebas.
Charles Darwin must be spinning in his grave. The Founding Fathers, too.

Keyword: Book of Ruth, to read and comment on Daniel Ruth's blog.

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