Earlier this year, I said something that is coming back to haunt me.

I asked whether scientists might soon be forced to consider the occult as science, given the way that private truth (“my truth”) is beginning to overrule the public truth on which classical science depends. I wrote,

Perhaps some readers think the concern far-fetched. But consider: Science is as dependent on the concept of public truth as the great religions are. In an age when private truth is rapidly gaining in power, it is just as vulnerable as religion.

Just as vulnerable?

Well, shortly afterward, I heard that a joint North American anthropology conference abruptly Canceled an all-female panel that was defending biological sex as a “necessary category” in anthropology. That was not entirely a surprise because in 2021, Richard Dawkins had already lost his Humanist of the Year (1996) title for refusing to agree that humans can change their sex.

Now, here comes the comparison with religion: Sex binary is a topic on which an evolutionary biologist might take a stand in the same way that a Christian might take a stand on salvation by grace. That is, it is fundamental. If humans cannot be described as sex binary, like all primates, what use is there in biological classification?

So reasoned Colin Wright and Carole Hooven, greatly to their cost.

Still, it was a bit of a surprise when, some months later, Dawkins was apparently censored by Facebook for his remarks about persons who “identify as” women taking part in women’s Olympic boxing (with smashing results for women competitors).

But here’s the curious thing: The same Olympics that made clear that xx and xy no longer overrule self-identification in biology also featured an apparent, unprompted, blasphemous portrayal of the Last Supper.

Science as a newly unpopular religion?

Then perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised when I read that a July National Institutes of Health event kicked out two scholars who were critical of “gender identity” — that is, they adhere to the biological classification of sex rather than self-identification. One was Darwinian biologist Colin Wright and the other was Tomas Bogardus, a “philosophy professor at Pepperdine University and self described ‘traditional Catholic.’” Is there a pattern here?

From The College Fix,

The two scholars said they were wrongfully removed from the online event — especially grievous given it was a taxpayer-funded event. “I was shocked more than anything, as my behavior was totally professional and in no way violated their Code of Conduct,” Wright told The College Fix via email. He said while private institutions might have more leeway, NIH is public, “and kicking me out of the event is a violation of my Constitutional rights under the 1st Amendment.”

Bogardus said he was also quite surprised at being booted, telling The Fix via email: “That’s essentially the equivalent of being forcibly ejected from a live, in-person event, and my behavior in no way would warrant that sort of treatment.”

At issue were some critical questions and comments the two scholars engaged in within the chat section.

Ann Dailey Moreno, “NIH kicks out scholars critical of gender identity from ‘sex and gender’ event,” The College Fix July 26, 2024

Wright took to X:

I demand an explanation from the @NIH and @genome_gov as to why I was just kicked out of their public event "Exploring the many dimensions of sex and gender in the genomics era," which I had registered for in advance and was quietly attending.

About 20 minutes into Dr. Tucker… pic.twitter.com/Q0YKfYFnzd

— Colin Wright (@SwipeWright) July 17, 2024

Bogardus said he noticed there was no real dialogue between the speakers and the audience, that the “moderator seemed to be interested only in giving the speakers opportunities to elaborate on what they had already said.”

“I saw no pushback from the moderator to the speakers, despite these issues being extremely controversial,” he said. “So, by the time I got kicked out, I could see that this webinar was a bit absurd, and not a real academic event, where the truth of ideas could be tested by challenging questions and objections. That simply wasn’t going to happen, by design.”

Moreno, “‘Sex and gender’ event”

An organizer later told The Fix, “We asked our moderators to ensure a professional environment that was safe, collaborative, and productive for all attendees.”

The two ejected scholars deny being disruptive but the key word in her explanation may be “safe.” In a world of private truth that owes nothing to either faith or science, dissenting opinion is an invasion from an alien universe. Not hearing it is the way to stay safe.

It’s official: No way to define “gender”

And just today, The Fix reports,

International scholars concluded a five-year “equity” project by determining the concept of “gender” cannot be defined but should be incorporated into all aspects of scientific research nonetheless…

“Defining and documenting gender was found to be complex, challenging, and was approached in diverse ways in the funded studies …” they wrote. “In [some] cases … it was noted that care should be taken to avoid suggesting that ‘sex’ is a simple binary; doing so misrepresents the diversity of humans.”

In other cases, social science researchers considered “class, race, poverty level, ethnic group and age” in their definitions of gender, according to their report.

Colleen Dean, “International ‘equity’ scholars can’t define ‘gender’ after 5 years of research,” The College Fix, August 27, 2024

This is not shaping up as an era that thinks it even needs science.