Letters

Editor's Note: In the past few months, the case of Forrest M. Mims III has received considerable publicity. Mims, a veteran science writer from Seguin, Texas, was commissioned by Scientific American to write a column called "The Amateur Scientist," but the magazine revoked his assignment when the editors learned that Mims is an evangelical Christian who does not believe in evolution. Mims has accused Scientific American of religious discrimination; the magazine denies the charge. The Opinion

Written byArthur Caplan

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The Opinion section of the Feb. 18, 1991, issue of The Scientist contained an essay by Mims in which he elaborated on his allegations against Scientific American. Accompanying Mims's article was an essay by Arthur L. Caplan, professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. In his essay, Caplan contended that Scientific American had to deny Mims authorship of the column because the magazine needed to take a stand on what is science and what is not.

After the publication of The Scientist's February 18 issue, many readers reacted to Mims's and Caplan's essays in letters to the editor. These letters were published in the April 29, 1991, issue of The Scientist. Here, Mims and Caplan respond to the readers' letters.

Those who doubt that for some of its adherents Darwinism has evolved into a philosophical dogma that justifies censoring, ...

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