I’ll save you the suspense: the answer is no.
Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum wrote this book called Unscientific America. One of the things they argue is that public understanding of, and willingness to understand, science is impeded by the perception that scientists are intolerant of religion. In particular, they criticize PZ Myers and other “New Atheists” (a ridiculous term, in my opinion) for their aggressive approach and their insistence that religion and science are incompatible. Mooney is himself an atheist, but is the sort Myers and others deride as an “accommodationist,” and has been having an ongoing argument with Jerry Coyne on whether or not science and religion are necessarily incompatible (Coyne agrees with Myers and others that they are).
When review copies of the book went out, Myers didn’t receive his immediately, and some other people had already put up their own reviews, from which he learned that he came in for criticism. He assumed this was why he hadn’t received a copy — which would be a breach of good etiquette if true, though one might equally consider his assumption of bad faith on Mooney’s and Kirshenbaum’s part to be such a breach — and Mooney and Kirshenbaum responded that the process of sending out review copies had just been disorganized, and that he had always been on the recipient list.
Myers then received his copy, and posted an extremely negative review. Then Mooney responded, citing other, positive reviews, and promising to have “much more” to say about Myers’s review. Up to this point, it was a pretty dumb blogfight, but far from the stupidest ever. (more…)
