I’m not quite sure how professors who already believe in …

Comment on LSU Board says ‘we apologize’ by Sean Pitman.

I’m not quite sure how professors who already believe in mainstream evolutionary theories of life existing and evolving on this planet over hundreds of millions of years of time are going to be effective in presenting the SDA position on origins? – i.e., that life was created in just six literal days within recent history?

It seems futile to me to make these professors attend GRI workshops – like that is going to change their minds or make them more effective at promoting the Church’s position on origins in their classrooms as remotely rational or scientific compared to the mainstream scientific perspective on origins.

Sean Pitman
www.DetectingDesign.com

Sean Pitman Also Commented

LSU Board says ‘we apologize’
@Ron Stone M.D.:

So, for Sean and Shane to say a “so and so” other person is “hurting” their cause is pure baloney!

The people whose opinion we most care about don’t work for or likely subscribe to Spectrum – let me tell you 😉

When those on “our side” make needlessly pejorative comments and use vulgar or crude language (as you are prone to do on occasion), it makes people at Spectrum or AdventistToday quite pleased to be able to point such things out…

Sean Pitman
www.DetectingDesign.com


LSU Board says ‘we apologize’
@Eddie:

What they are teaching needs to be public knowledge that is well known and knowable by all. – Sean Pitman

So what do you want, a webcam in each classroom–so people can freely learn what others pay tuition dollars for? – Eddie

Don’t play ignorant here. You know as well as I do that parents have a clear right to know the general outline of what their kids are being taught – to include if their kids at one of our schools are being taught that the SDA position on origins is clearly irrational and part of the “lunatic fringe” of belief systems. Teachers have no right to keep what they are in fact teaching along these lines secret and should expect to be called out in public when they promote such ideas in our classrooms.

your effort to support the secrecy that has been taking place at LSU – Sean Pitman

Excuse me. I have never supported secrecy at LSU. I have repeatedly stated my oposition to megaevolution being taught as the truth at LSU. I even wrote privately to church leaders BEFORE this website ever appeared. I was initially pleased when I first saw this website–until I quickly realized it was being used to attack individuals, including many who have no association with LSU. I have a number of friends who have been slandered here and a few have been so upset they were nearly in tears–and yet nobody ever apologizes.

It amazes me how often this forum’s “Comment Guidelines” are ignored: “Personal attacks and inflammatory behavior will not be tolerated… No belittling of individual members, their character, or their motives.” I remain indignant. – Eddie

It is very difficult for one or two people to monitor as many comments as a website like this receives over a relatively short period of time. We have earnestly tried to make the conversations as civil as possible, but certainly aren’t perfect in this regard. I’m sure someone like yourself would do a much better job.

However, what I’m questioning with regard to your own comments are your suggestions that at no time should the actions of an individual who is attacking the Church in a classroom forum be addressed in a public manner. I just can’t buy into that argument given the serious nature of what has been taking place at LSU for over 30 years without substantive challenge or correction. I’ve written many private letters and had many private conversations with various parties involved during the past 10 years myself. Taking this issue public isn’t something that Shane, David, or I took lightly. We soberly considered many other options before taking this issue to the Church body at large.

Of course, mistakes have been made for which we do and have apologized. But, the basic goal and overall presentation of the evidence was presented, I believe, in a very even handed way given the urgency of the situation. Allowing for comments in response to the information presented does not come without risks. We did not and still do not agree with most of the comments that we allow to be posted on this forum. We especially cringe at many of the comments from those posters who claim to be on “our side” and supportive of what we are trying to do, yet who, we feel, inflict the most damage to our cause. Yet, what are we to do? Block all comments with which we don’t agree? We’ve seriously thought about doing that as well… It’s hard to know what to do about comments…

Sean Pitman
www.DetectingDesign.com


LSU Board says ‘we apologize’
@Eddie:

Most SDAs regard Ellen White as a prophet. If she received an inspired message from God to publicly rebuke the college and its professors, who am I to argue with her? However, I seriously doubt anybody reading this forum considers any respondents here to have been divinely inspired to publicly criticize either institutions or individuals.

Prophets are not the only ones who can be inspired by God to act in a time of crisis for the Church. If LSU is in a similar situation to what was taking place at Battle Creek College in Mrs. White’s day (and it is), then why shouldn’t it be called out in a similar manner and parents advised not to send their children to LSU in a similar way to that proposed by Mrs. White in her own day?

I have no problem with publicly pointing out the presence of sin in an institution or among church leaders, as long as it is done honestly, respectfully and constructively, in a manner that does not intentionally inflict undue division and harm to the organized church.

That’s what we’re doing. We did not undertake this mission without years of trying many other methods to privately address this issue. LSU’s attack on the fundamentals of the SDA Church has been taking place for decades – for over 30 years. I’ve personally been involved with trying to privately check this attack on Church doctrines for almost 10 years. Nothing worked. No private effort achieved anything more than platitudes from either the LSU government or the SDA Church hierarchy. So, finally, after much thought and prayer, this significant problem for the Church was taken to the Church body at large – as per the recommendation of the Bible itself.

Public sins or rebellion within the Church, if not checked after appropriate private efforts, must eventually be brought before the Church as a body and addressed publicly. Otherwise, the Church body will suffer needlessly and without appropriate warning.

However, I strongly feel it is a violation of the spirit of the 6th commandment to publicly do so with individuals, including leaders, regardless of whether the sin is private or public. It’s often referred to as the “golden rule” (Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31).

Individuals who take on a public office of responsibility are responsible for their public actions. If they will not respond to private reprimands, their public actions must be addressed publicly in order to protect and warn the public of their own injury.

In short, parents and the Church membership at large have an inherent right to know what they are spending their hard earned dollars to have their precious children taught in our own schools. No teacher in our schools has any right to keep what they are teaching our children secret. What they are teaching needs to be public knowledge that is well known and knowable by all. What right does anyone teaching in our schools have to teach my child anything of which I am not aware?

I’m sorry, but your effort to support the secrecy that has been taking place at LSU is not in line with the God-given rights of parents… a right which far surpassed whatever rights a teacher might have to privacy within the classroom setting…

Sean Pitman
www.DetectingDesign.com


Recent Comments by Sean Pitman

After the Flood
Thank you Ariel. Hope you are doing well these days. Miss seeing you down at Loma Linda. Hope you had a Great Thanksgiving!


The Flood
Thank you Colin. Just trying to save lives any way I can. Not everything that the government does or leaders do is “evil” BTW…


The Flood
Only someone who knows the future can make such decisions without being a monster…


Pacific Union College Encouraging Homosexual Marriage?
Where did I “gloss over it”?


Review of “The Naked Emperor” by Pastor Conrad Vine
I fail to see where you have convincingly supported your claim that the GC leadership contributed to the harm of anyone’s personal religious liberties? – given that the GC leadership does not and could not override personal religious liberties in this country, nor substantively change the outcome of those who lost their jobs over various vaccine mandates. That’s just not how it works here in this country. Religious liberties are personally derived. Again, they simply are not based on a corporate or church position, but rely solely upon individual convictions – regardless of what the church may or may not say or do.

Yet, you say, “Who cares if it is written into law”? You should care. Everyone should care. It’s a very important law in this country. The idea that the organized church could have changed vaccine mandates simply isn’t true – particularly given the nature of certain types of jobs dealing with the most vulnerable in society (such as health care workers for example).

Beyond this, the GC Leadership did, in fact, write in support of personal religious convictions on this topic – and there are GC lawyers who have and continue to write personal letters in support of personal religious convictions (even if these personal convictions are at odds with the position of the church on a given topic). Just because the GC leadership also supports the advances of modern medicine doesn’t mean that the GC leadership cannot support individual convictions at the same time. Both are possible. This is not an inconsistency.