Who is Censoring Whom?
The central irony of the entire Omni issue is its premise that a small group of religious zealots is conspiring to censor all the science books in America. Such an accusation is absurd when one considers the commonly understood definition of “censor”: “An official examiner of manuscripts empowered to suppress them if objectionable” (Funk & Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary), By this definition, is it the creationist or the evolutionist who has a virtual monopoly on the teaching of origins? Is it the creationist or the evolutionist who has been examining textbooks and has tried, through the courts, to suppress objectionable material about origins? Is it the creationist or the evolutionist that has to fight for equal time and academic freedom? In short, who is the censor and who is the censored? With misplaced indignation, several prominent writers speak of censorship, intolerance, Stalin, book burning, and mental straight-jackets. With manifest hypocrisy, Omni even offers to send a prot
