Is it a problem if creationists have their own academic journal, giving them a forum for publishing their theories in a “peer-reviewed,” theologically literalist setting for a Bible-believing readership?

Well, it is if they are permitted to lie about their identities in order to hide their association with said journal, and said “peers,” at least until they get a little more academic seniority in their fields. And it is if they publish under their own names but use the fact of publication in a journal with rigorous biblical standards but not-so-rigorous scientific standards to pad their resumes or make them seem more authoritative if running for a school board office or quoted for a local newspaper article.

How Creationists peer-review their “academic” scholarship. – By Bonnie Goldstein – Slate Magazine

As an extra incentive to participate, those with “a reason for not wanting their biographical details publicized on the AiG website” (such as seeking tenure at an institution with more rigorous notions about scholarship) may use a “pen name” (Page 2). In a recent ARJ microbe forum, two “independent scholars” (purportedly, Ph.D.s at “prominent research facilities in the eastern part of North America”) submitted abstracts under the pseudonyms “Luke Kim” and “Ira Loucks” because they “prefer to keep their creationist credentials hidden for the moment until they achieve more seniority

.”

Come on, boys, be out and be proud. Fly your freak flag for all to see.  Otherwise, the smart people will smell the rat and call you on it.

Oh wait, they already did in the comments section:

The creation of this journal fits into a larger context of cynical moves made by the creationist community to acquire the trappings of real science so as to be taken more seriously by an uninformed public. First they tried the direct approach: simply attempting to insert young-earth creationism into public school science curriculae. These attempts were repeatedly struck down by the courts, and they began to realize that in order to get into the science classroom, they would need to cloak their dogma in the language of “real science,” which meant finding some like-minded people with Ph.D.’s (in any subject area), forming a research institute, and creating a peer-reviewed journal. In effect, this journal exists to provide bogus credentials to information that has failed consistently to be accepted by anyone in the mainstream scientific community so that it may ultimately be slipped into public science education.

–Fourmi

A well-reasoned and logical summary of Things Thus Far is a pleasure to read.

I agree that this “journal” could be another chessboard move to bolster the standing of “Creation and Flood” theories in the public mind, in a very indirect way (since the general public will never read it). It’s not just cynical, it’s insidious.

Via The Lead