Progressives and science prove the point

A recent letter of mine upset some progressives. Dean Uribe and Burt Guttman both wrote letters to The Olympian disagreeing with my view that progressives are anti-science.

Both men fail to understand that ignorance is only dispelled by considering all sides of an issue to determine which has the best factual support. Mr. Uribe cites the opinions of others to support his views, but ignores, or refuses to consider, the factual evidence that supports my view.

One example: the issue regarding the supposed immutability of sexual orientation. Mr. Uribe cites a Supreme Court opinion stating that “sexual orientation is . . . immutable.” But immutable means “not capable of or susceptible to change.” So, if only one person exists who changed his sexual orientation, that would disprove the court's statement. I personally know one such person; therefore the statement is false. There are, in fact, thousands of such persons. Thus the idea that homosexuality is an immutable trait is overwhelmingly and irrefutably proved wrong.

Professor Guttman thinks that anyone who disagrees with him is intellectually inferior and must believe in “tenth-rate pseudoscience.” Guttman might try to emulate Antony Flew, the renowned atheist who, after considering the factual evidence for God, changed his mind. He might also consider atheist Thomas Nagel, a Professor of Philosophy and Law at New York University, who recently wrote the book, Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False.

Progressives should accept only tenable, sound, fact-based science.

This story was originally published September 27, 2016 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Progressives and science prove the point."