Clinton and Obama Talk Religion, Not Science

April 10, 2008 — -- Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are eager to talk about religion. But why are they so scared of science?

The two remaining Democratic presidential candidates recently agreed to participate in the Compassion Forum, scheduled for April 13 at Messiah College in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Billed as a conversation on faith and values, the event will be broadcast by the Church Communication Network. It also comes five days before a proposed science debate that was canceled after the candidates refused to participate.

The would-be debate was organized by Science Debate 2008, a coalition of scientists, academics, business leaders and citizens who've pushed the candidates to talk about scientific issues that -- despite their critical importance to America's well-being -- have been downplayed during the campaign and within the nation's political discourse.

After Obama declined and Clinton and McCain failed to commit, organizers abandoned the April 18 debate. They've now presented the candidates with three alternative May dates prior to the Oregon primaries on May 20.

"These are issues worth discussing," said Shawn Lawrence Otto, chief executive officer of Science Debate 2008. "Because of the huge impact that science and technology is having on our lives and our policies, voters have a right to assess the candidates on these topics -- and candidates have an obligation to tell voters what they're thinking."

Science and technology are responsible for half of America's post-World War II economic growth, said Otto, but scientific primacy is shifting rapidly to Asia. "To maintain American economic strength going forward, we need to find a way to deal with that -- and the candidates have been virtually silent," he said.

An even larger issue is climate change, which has been identified by the global scientific community as an imminent and almost certainly catastrophic threat.

"Nearly every scientist I've spoken to recently says that the next one or two Presidential administrations have a chance to determine the future viability of the planet. Those are dire words, coming from people used to being conservative in their language," said Otto.