#139 Mistaken Identity
December 14, 2009Dear Dr. Craig,
You have posted an article that I supposedly wrote contesting your views on evolution. Your post is here:
http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7703 [RF comment: post is now removed].
If you had done any research, you'd see that the article in question was written not about you, but about Ann Coulter! (You can see the original piece here: http://www.powells.com/review/2006_08_10).
Either you or someone else has taken out the name "Coulter" and replaced it with "Craig." This is gross misrepresentation. I expect you to take that article down immediately and apologize, or I will take action.
Sincerely,
Jerry Coyne University of Chicago
United States
Dr. craig’s response
A
Alas, alas, it turns out that Prof. Coyne's remarks reproduced in Question of the Week #137 were not about my debate with Francisco Ayala after all! It was too good to be true, to think that he would have taken some cognizance of the event. It seems that his remarks were part of a blistering review of Ann Coulter's book Godless.
It seems that Tom, or whoever gave Tom the quotation, substituted my name for Coulter's in his submission of the question without providing a link to the original. That made it look as though Prof. Coyne's response to the debate was completely off target. I naively assumed that the quotation sent by Tom was accurate.
So, Prof. Coyne, although I'm disappointed to learn that you hadn't in fact taken notice of my and Ayala's exchange, still I'm gratified that someone told you about the post and that you bothered to write in with a correction. I'll ask our webmaster to delete Tom's question from Question #137, since there's no point in keeping such a misrepresentation of your position on the site. Best wishes!
- William Lane Craig