Letter to the FFRF, ACLU, & AU regarding the Templeton Foundation, KUER, the University of Utah, the University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Public Radio, and American Public Media, Krista Tippett, and "To the Best of Our Knowledge"

To the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the ACLU of Utah, and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State

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December 16, 2010

Hello.

I have written to your organizations regarding KUER, the University of Utah, and the Templeton Foundation. Here's some more info.

My December 16, 2010 letter to the FCC regarding a University & State run station that broadcasts who Templeton-funded programs:

http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2010/12/fcc-complaint-regarding-kuer-department.html

A relevant article about how Templeton bribes journalists & scientists:

http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2010/02/27/the-templeton-bribe/

More details about this issue are on my own blog, regarding my complaints to KUER (which is a department at the University of Utah - a part of the State of Utah), and regarding Wisconsin Public Radio (which is part of the University of Wisconsin - part of the State of Wisconsin), and regarding American Public Media (recipient of tax dollars from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting). The issue regards the separation of church and state, the right to petition, and FCC rules requiring broadcast radio stations to receive input from the public. KUER effectively told me to shut up and go away. That violates two out of the three. And their violation of the separation of church & state can be found via the following direct evidence:

1. Their broadcasting of two programs funded by a religious advocacy organization (Templeton), and that organization is known for funding programs, journalists, and scientists which match up with their religious agenda. The programs "On Being with Krista Tippett" formerly known as "Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett," and "To the Best of Our Knowledge."

2. During an on air pledge drive KUER staff commented about Krista Tippett's program in a fawning way stating "isn't is great that we are respecting religion." But I would submit that it's not the job of the government to advocate for "respect" for religion. Respect implies and dictates censorship and whitewashing. The government does not "respect" religion. It is not to be an advocate one way or the other. It's supposed to be separate. And when a government-run station has a pledge drive where they fawningly cheer about a program they have on, about how it "respects religion," that is a red flag.

3. Further digging into what Templeton does and it's history show that it is a religious advocacy organization.

Here are some related links:

http://www.theinvestigativefund.org/investigations/1323/god,_science_and_philanthropy/
http://www.project-reason.org/archive/item/what_should_science_dosam_harris_v_philip_ball/
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/3973
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDiUsINryY0
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/05/the_templeton_conundrum.php
http://www.templeton-cambridge.org/fellows/showfellow.php?fellow=6
http://www.templeton.org/templeton_report/20100317/
http://www.templeton.org/evolution/
http://www.templetonprize.org/currentwinner.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1352328/posts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Templeton_Foundation#Accusations_of_conservative_orientation
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=0ae046b8-576a-478f-8c39-e8d56d9036c7
http://krauss.faculty.asu.edu/14a08801.htm
http://www.infidels.org/kiosk/article782.html
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/

Also relevant interaction about Templeton between scientists starts at time index 1:24:00 on the video at
http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/beyond-belief-science-religion-reason-and-survival/session-8-1
...and at time index 1:31:40 Richard Dawkins states that John Templeton is a billionaire who's used his billions to subvert science.

Sincerely,

Jonathan