Beyond belief: How a fact gets diluted

March 05, 2006|By Jeremy Manier

The impulse to water down scientific ideas never goes out of style. In 1620, the Vatican mandated changes to "De revolutionibus," in which Nicolaus Copernicus first proposed that the earth revolves around the sun. The Church considered the idea just a theory, not a fact. The astronomer Galileo obediently scribbled the word for "hypothesis" in his personal copy, casting doubt on an idea he believed was true.

Four centuries later, faith still can clash with science. While a public affairs staffer at NASA, George Deutsch, 24, sent an email directing an agency Web-site designer to insert the word "theory" next to every mention of the Big Bang--which physicists say began the universe--saying it was a "religious issue." Deutsch, who had worked on President Bush's re-election campaign, resigned Feb. 8 amid reports that he had lied about graduating from Texas A&M University.

"The theory that the universe was created by a 'big bang' is just that--a theory . . .
