On a new episode of ID the Future with host Sarah Chaffee, attorney Herman Bouma tells the story of how his talk at a National Science Teaching Association conference last April was canceled at the last minute. His talk, on a cold day in St. Louis, highlighted how Darwin’s Origin of Species (its sixth edition, specifically) set an example of engaging his scientific critics with civility and reason. Download the podcast or listen to it here.

Bouma says in response to the incident, “It’s almost as if they considered Darwin a threat to Darwinian evolution.” Backed up by no fewer than four security guards, three conference officials hustled him out, accusing him of promoting fake science. As Bouma notes, Darwin wrote that “I look with confidence to the future, to young and rising naturalists, who will be able to view both sides of the question with impartiality.” Alas, Darwin’s example — and his hope — weren’t much in evidence among the conference officials who decided to shut down Bouma’s talk. For information from Discovery Institute on teaching the evolution controversy, go here.

Photo credit: Thomas Hawk, via Flickr.