But a new proposal could gut current protections in the name of “science,” raising a serious threat to open debate over scientific issues and their implications.
In its Blueprint for Positive Change 2020, the Human Rights Campaign proposes that the U.S. Department of Education in the next presidential administration adopt new regulations to “Ensure Nondiscrimination Policies and Science Based Curricula Are Not Undermined by Religious Exemptions to Accreditation Standards.”
Under current law, if a religious university as part of its mission decides to include dissenting scientific views about Darwinian evolution in its science curriculum, it has an additional layer of protection from punitive accreditors. If this new proposal goes into effect, that layer of protection will be eroded.
Confessional religious institutions are a small fraction of the total colleges and universities in the United States. But apparently protecting their diversity of thought is too dangerous to permit. It’s almost as if those making the proposal fear that they can’t prevail in debates over science issues if even a handful of institutions are allowed to air dissenting views. Are their own arguments that weak?" EN&V/J.West
