****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Silenced!: Academic Freedom, Scientific Inquiry, and the First Amendment under Siege in America sounded like it was about "Silenced!: Academic Freedom, Scientific Inquiry, and the First Amendment under Siege in America" but should be titled "Silenced!: Academic Freedom, Scientific Inquiry, and the First Amendment under Siege in America and it should be because we must keep these people silenced as they are a danger to all we hold dear including especially science!" I read only one chapter, the one on Intelligent Design, Chapter 2, but in view of the incorrect information in this chapter I do not know if I could trust the other chapters. Some examples. Johansen writes that "most-card carrying creationists have stretched the biblical six days of godly labor and one day of rest to 6,000 to 10,000 years- still a far cry from the 4.5 billion years many scientists now accept as the age of the earth..." I have to wonder where he gets such misinformation as no reference was cited. He then adds that that ID is part of "a general retreat from rationality in large sections of US culture" (page 23). After stating this "delusion enjoys a considerable constituency" he then discuses in the same breath the "Rapture" books by Tim LaHaye! What does this series of books have to do with ID? A study needs to be done on what ID advocates believe about such matters, and until then any comments about what most ID advocates believe, including my own, are just speculation, but I know many ID advocates and not one buys into Tim LaHaye's ideas on end times (and most do not accept a 6 day or even a 6 to 10 thousand year creation day either). Then after implying we need to shut these ID people up he bemoans surveys that find 46 percent of Americans think we have too much freedom of the press! (page 24). Johansen then argues against ID by such reasoning as, if the designer is so intelligent "why do women have hot flashes?" "and why did the designer give us ice cream?" Good point. I could add if the creator is so intelligent what did he not give us the ability to speak 10 languages from birth so my wife and I can travel around Europe to visit my kids with ease? I guess this all proves that no designer exists and we need to ban ID or expel them from the academy, as a new film staring Ben Stein documents. Needless to say, I was appalled with this book. At least it could be up front about its purpose and conclusions.
