I love this story. From the New York Times:
There is nothing much unusual about the 197-page dissertation Marcus R. Ross submitted in December to complete his doctoral degree in geosciences here at the University of Rhode Island.
His subject was the abundance and spread of mosasaurs, marine reptiles that, as he wrote, vanished at the end of the Cretaceous era about 65 million years ago. The work is “impeccable,” said David E. Fastovsky, a paleontologist and professor of geosciences at the university who was Dr. Ross’s dissertation adviser. “He was working within a strictly scientific framework, a conventional scientific framework.”
But Dr. Ross is hardly a conventional paleontologist. He is a “young earth creationist” — he believes that the Bible is a literally true account of the creation of the universe, and that the earth is at most 10,000 years old.
For him, Dr. Ross said, the methods and theories of paleontology are one “paradigm” for studying the past, and Scripture is another. In the paleontological paradigm, he said, the dates in his dissertation are entirely appropriate. The fact that as a young earth creationist he has a different view just means, he said, “that I am separating the different paradigms.”
A typical reaction to this story is found in a letter to the NYT's, by one John S. Foley:
Marcus R. Ross . . . is certainly entitled to believe whatever he wants about the origins of the universe. . . . What I find deeply disturbing, however, is that Mr. Ross could believe that the earth was created 10,000 years ago, but nevertheless write in his dissertation that mosasaurs, or marine reptiles, existed more than 65 million years ago. And the University of Rhode Island condoned this academic sleight-of-hand by conferring an advanced degree on him.
Mr. Foley is all for freedom of thought, he just doesn't think that people who believe what Mr. Ross believes should get a PhD in his field, even if he meets all the requirements.
In fact, Mr. Ross's juggling of "paradigms" goes all the way back to the beginnings of modern science. When Copernicus published his sun-centered theory of the solar system, he did not present it as the truth, for that would have come into conflict with Church doctrine. He presented it merely as a useful model. Mr. Ross is doing much the same thing. He believes the universe is only 10,000 years old, but he is willing to use the older earth model in his scholarship.
Now I think the "young earth" idea is about as goofy as believing in the Easter Bunny. But what Mr. Ross believes, as a matter of religious faith, is immaterial to whether his dissertation was acceptable or not. If we really believe in freedom of thought, and in intellectual diversity, there should be no question that he deserves his PhD.
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