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Ball State Should Get on the Ball


Ron Coody writes in the Fort Wayne (IN) News-Sentinel that the Freedom from Religion Foundation of Madison, WI, has provoked an “inquisition” into the teaching of a professor of physics at Ball State University in Indiana. Mr. Coody points out that the challenge to Professor Eric Hedin in his class on the boundaries of science and religion essentially would deny the Indiana professor the same kinds of academic freedom that his critics — notably Jerry Coyne of the University of Chicago — exercise regularly in their own classes.
The question Mr. Coody does not ask is why did Ball State respond to an attack on academic freedom by launching an “investigation” of the matter? Why was it not dismissed out of hand, the way it would have been if the professor had been accused of atheism? And, once launched, why has the investigation taken over three weeks so far to resolve? Failure to stand up to attempts at academic intimidation, especially ones coming from an activist group in another state, cannot add prestige to Ball State University.
Coody notes that evolutionary biologist Coyne and his associates at the Freedom from Religion Foundation

brazenly assert that science proves atheism. Their religion is atheism and they use their classrooms to spread their religion.
When a physicist like Dr. Hedin dares to suggest that science does not prove atheism and furthermore surmises that there are questions about truth it might never answer, the atheists assemble their inquisition.

All true. So, when does Ball State officially stand up for its dignity?
Sign the petition now to defend the academic freedom of Ball State University Professor Eric Hedin.

Bruce Chapman

Cofounder and Chairman of the Board of Discovery Institute
Bruce Chapman has had a long career in American politics and public policy at the city, state, national, and international levels. Elected to the Seattle City Council and as Washington State's Secretary of State, he also served in several leadership posts in the Reagan administration, including ambassador. In 1991, he founded the public policy think tank Discovery Institute, where he currently serves as Chairman of the Board and director of the Chapman Center on Citizen Leadership.

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