Canadian Science Minister Gary Goodyear: Idiot

Due to a budget shortfall, many of Canada's leading scientists are facing funding cuts, and the man responsible is the country's Minister of State for Science and Technology, Gary Goodyear. Understandably, Canada's reality-based community is upset with Goodyear, and he's only making it worse by refusing to admit the scientific validity of evolution. He says he's a Christian, and he refuses to go any further on the subject. Well, except when he went further on the subject by saying that just because we can't see something under a microscope, it doesn't mean that thing doesn't exists. Of course, he's talking about God, and he went on to add that maybe we just don't have good enough microscopes. While I can't disagree with the premise of his argument, nor can I say God isn't a sub-microscopic being who surfs on top of neutrinos, this seems like an odd interpretation of the Christian deity. And while I also don't think it's necessarily appropriate to harangue a politician about his religion, it is worth knowing whether a minister of science has any understanding of such a bedrock scientific principle as evolution, especially when he's the one responsible for handing out research money. To top it all off, Goodyear is a chiropractor, and as I've written about before, those people tend not to have the firmest grip on reality. Your spine? Yes. Reality? Not often. More details here.