Dick Strawkins wrote:Novella says this in the comments of that post:
If it is a purely science conference why would they invite Dawkins?"The issue is not what Dawkins is free to say. It is about the editorial focus and the atmosphere of our conference. We would not, for example, invite someone to NECSS to bash religion, because we are a science conference. That does not mean I don’t respect pointed criticism of religion. It’s just not the proper venue. "
He is better known these days for his atheism activism than anything else and he's never been shy about bashing religion.
As other have said, he is engaging in Olympic level rationalization of a hasty decision. Dawkins starts twitter outrages like this every other week. Why invite him at all if they want to avoid atheism and think a single twitter attack by the professional offendees is justification enough to dump him...
More to the point if it's a pure science conference why invite PZ, twice. A man who has never been known for his science work.
Plus looking at their currennt list on their site. How about these people?
http://necss.org/speakers/baba-brinkman/
http://necss.org/speakers/hai-ting-chinn/
http://necss.org/speakers/george-hrab/
The facts do not back up his statement at all.



