There are two quite distinct contributors to the "disagreements over status of scientific evidence"1 to which the scientific community must be careful to respond differentially.
One is the effect of ideological frameworks derived from religious belief, exemplified in the United States by those that wish to prevent the teaching of Darwinian theories of evolution, or at least require also teaching the so-called intelligent design theory. Other examples might be drawn from other cultures, such as, fundamentalist Islam, and include social impacts such as the debate over stem cell research. In these frameworks Truth derives from a Higher Authority than the limited vision of human scientific rationality.
The other contributor is the general cultural awareness of the "sociology of knowledge" paradigm that has evolved in the past 30 or 40 years. This framework understands science as a social endeavor, governed, or at least shaped, by social status considerations, money, and access ...
