Of faith and science
Re: Mistake an early lesson for Payette, Editorial; A royal misstep, Rex Murphy; and Mockery is never the answer, Kelly McParland, Nov. 4
It is with dismay that I have read details of Gov. Gen. Julie Payette’s speech to an assembly of scientists recently. I am in total agreement with the assessment of Ms. Payette’s speech by your editorial board as well as Mr. Murphy and Mr. McParland. I felt totally dismissed as a scientist myself after 13 years of university training and 35 years in a demanding scientific career. But this is not my biggest concern: it is the outright dismissal of millions of Canadians who are people of faith. I am one of those.
With all due respect, I suspect that I have far more training and experience in the sciences and humanities than Ms. Payette. Yet I profoundly disagree with her on a number of issues she discussed. Dr. Francis Collins, who directed the Human Genome Project at the National Institutes of Health near Washington D.C., would also profoundly disagree with our Governor General’s attitude toward faith. After Dr. Collin’s intense work on the Human Genome Project in collaboration with hundreds of other scientists, he wrote a book entitled, “The Language of God.” I highly recommend this book to Ms. Payette. Besides teaching a little humility, she may actually find that there are very many scientists of equal intelligence to hers, who are worth listening to.
As Mr. Murphy says, Ms. Payette is a selected person and not elected. If she has need to express her strong opinions, to which she has every right, she should resign and run for office. I hope this was a good learning experience and that she will restore my previous positive view of her appointment.