[Buddha-l] Prominent Neobuddhist proposes religion based blacklisting for government jobs

[Curt Steinmetz]

For those who haven't heard Sam Harris turns out to be a bigot and 
apparently doesn't care who knows about it. He has written an opinion 
piece for the New York Times in opposition to Francis Collins' 
nomination to be the head of the NIH. Harris states that despite the 
fact that "Dr. Collins credentials are impeccable" nevertheless, 
Collins' religious beliefs should "be of concern".

In his summary at the end of the piece, Harris reminds anyone who is not 
already aware that "Francis Collins is an accomplished scientist", but, 
nevertheless, Harris is "uncomfortable about this nomination." Why? 
Harris does not mince words. His opposition to the nomination of a man 
who has been doing scientific research for 40 years is "precisely" 
because, in addition to being a scientist, Collins is also "a man who is 
sincere in his [religious] beliefs."

By the way, Harris, at age 42, is still in grad school working on his 
PhD in Neuroscience. When Francis Collins was 39 he was the leader of 
one of the teams of scientists that jointly discovered the gene 
responsible for cystic fibrosis. By age 42 he had  played a leading role 
in the isolation of the genes for Huntington's disease, one form of 
leukemia, and at least two other diseases. At age 43 Collins became the 
head of the Human Genome Project.

Sam Harris' piece is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/opinion/27harris.html?_r=2

Curt Steinmetz