Reuters has an article that describes how many in the American scientific community feel that their research, profession, and the idea of scientific investigation itself is increasingly under attack by increasingly political and religious ideologies:

“Among the most significant forces is the rising tide of anti-science sentiment that seems to have its nucleus in Washington but which extends throughout the nation,” said Stanford’s Philip Pizzo in a letter posted on the school Web site on October 3. . . .

Cornell acting President Hunter Rawlings said the dispute was widening political, social, religious and philosophical rifts in U.S. society. “When ideological division replaces informed exchange, dogma is the result and education suffers,” he said. . . .

In the past five years, the scientific community has often seemed at odds with the Bush administration over issues as diverse as global warming, stem cell research and environmental protection. Prominent scientists have also charged the administration with politicizing science by seeking to shape data to its own needs while ignoring other research.

Cornell President Rawlings is absolutely correct -- when political ideologies and agendas get in the way of academic knowledge and learning, all Americans suffer. Some may argue that “theories” like intelligent design should also be included in “academic learning,” but it’s pretty clear that it is not a theory, just a set of hypothetical propositions that can never be tested or proved/disproved.

I suppose it is almost inevitable that science/academics will be increasingly in conflict with contemporary conservative politics. This is yet another major front in America’s Culture Wars.