I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Leiter Report. Many of you probably know it as the Philosophical Gourmet. Leiter is a philosopher at the University of Texas at Austin. I was discussing the report with another professional philosopher, and came to find out that Leiter is a pretty contankorous fellow---at least according to the philosopher with whom I was speaking. Leiter is devoted atheist, and is passionate about propogating that position. This becomes relevant later.
During the course of our discussion I asked about a comment attributed to Mike Behe but reported by Bill Dembski in the introduction to
Uncommon Dissent, "Even if you're not fired from your job, you will easily be passed over for promotions. I would stronly advise graduate students who are skeptical of Darwinian theory not to make their views known" (p. xxxiv). I was wondering if this philosopher would echo Behe's advise. The adivise I was offered was to be the best philosopher I could be, and that when the time came to speak on these issues, I would have something to say, and the platform of respect on which to say it. I thought that was pretty good advice for all of us seeking to be faithful Christian philosophers.
However, Leiter came up. The philosopher with whom I was speaking happens to be a faculty member of a school listed on the Gourmet. Someone speculated that if Leiter knew more about this particular philosopher's positions, e.g., Christian and skeptical of Darwinism, that Leiter might take the school off the list--just for that!
This is serious stuff! One's career can be wrecked merely be being a Christian. This is not new, and it is not the worst that could happen (we could all be martyred, right?). But it does speak to the atmosphere of the secular world of academia. The easy thing to do would be to retreat to serve in only Christian environments. But what of those who need to be influenced by the Christian worldview in the secular environment? It seems reasonable that there is a genuine call by God to some to serve as faithful academics in the secular university. How then is that accomplished? Surely we don't just play the game until we get tenure do we? But at the same time, how do we serve as witnesses against the juggernaut of academia without getting fired?
