When science becomes oppressive religion: Do they use propane instead of faggots for the stakes?

David Rice III draws my attention to “Science: A Religion Unto Itself” (08/12/2008) in the Bulletin (Philadelphia) by Sense of Duty author Michael P. Tremoglie, reflecting on what happens when science becmes a dogmatic religion. Noting that "The smug attitude of the liberal intelligentsia about "scientific theory" is rather shocking when given the mutability - and fallibility - of "scientific theories," he cites a number of hilarious examples of top scientists getting it all wrong. He recalls for us the fate of an Expelled scientist:

One of the most sterling examples of the hatred the scientific community possesses for the nonconformist - and for those who dare to mention Intelligent Design - is that of Richard Sternberg, who was burned at the stake, metaphorically, by the scientific community.

Mr. Sternberg, an evolutionary biologist with two doctorates in biology, was thought to defend Intelligent Design, when, as editor of the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, he published, in 2004, a paper making the case for ID.

Soon afterwards a campaign began against him by Smithsonian scientists, where Mr. Sternberg was a research associate. "They were saying I accepted money under the table, that I was a crypto-priest, that I was a sleeper cell operative for the creationists ... I was run out of there," a Washington Post article quoted Steinberg.

A congressional investigation confirmed this. They examined e-mail traffic from scientists at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and noted, "retaliation came in many forms ... misinformation was disseminated through the Smithsonian Institution and to outside sources. The allegations ... were later determined to be false."

Sternberg's crime was that he took the evidence for design in our universe seriously, instead of trying to explain it away, as all his colleagues were busy doing. But the Smithsonian has a history of that which goes back a long way.

See also: The Smithsonian secretary vs. the Cambrian explosion (Yes, they hid the evidence for many years.)