By Lloyd Mackey

THERE HAS been some buzz, this week, over Science Minister Gary Goodyear's declining to tell Globe and Mail reporter Anne Mcilroy whether he believed in evolution.

There are two responses in his defence worth checking out, both of which appeared on the Globe's website on Wednesday, March 18, the day after the front page story broke.

The longer response is from Lorna Dueck, host of Listen Up! She has a regular slot with the Globe and often uses it to defend a Christian perspective, when it has come under attack.

The shorter quote comes from astronaut-cum-politician, Liberal MP Marc Garneau, who is the opposition science critic. Garneau is quoted as saying that believing in evolution is not a job requirement for the science minister.

"It is a personal matter. It is a matter of faith . . . I don't think it prevents someone from being a good minister," he said. Reporter McIlroy goes on to note that the former astronaut has been a vocal critic of the government for its cuts to the three granting councils that fund university-based research in Canada.

* * *

Before moving on, may I be permitted one more reference to the original story?

McIlroy framed her evolution question for Goodyear with the suggestion that there were "rumours" that he was a creationist.

Sometimes, "rumours" have unintended consequences. It is possible that a staunch creationist, knowing that Goodyear happens to be a professing Christian, pressured him into listening to his or her views on creation. Then, having received what might have been construed as a sympathetic response, the creationist may have started a rumour that Goodyear was on the side of creationists. It could even be that the protagonist claimed that the minister would likely oppose research grants to scientists who promote evolution.

The distance between rumour and truth could be the length that the various communicators involved might go to distort the facts, perhaps in the interests of political point-making.

I am not saying that the above actually happened. But I am suggesting, from my own long time in politics-watching, that such a scenario can lead to the rumours, and that the supporter of a politician, by so acting, turns into that politico's worst enemy.

* * *

And that transformation can occur, not necessarily in the first round of publicity with respect to an issue, but when it starts getting reinterpreted by someone with "gotcha" motives.

If there was any advice I could have given to Goodyear, had he asked me ahead of time, it would have been to counter the reporter's question with: "What rumours?"

If no answer was forthcoming, a legitimate response would have been: "I don't answer hypothetical questions." That would have taken the whole matter out of the science-versus-religion context.

There is a rule of thumb with journalists asking politicians questions. It is that the journalist wanting an answer will try to ask the question three different ways. If the answer is not forthcoming after the third ask, then the questioner will likely abandon it for the time being.

And the science minister, meanwhile, would be well advised to get a little coaching on how to answer the question in a way that brings credit, rather than disrepute, to either the minister's faith or political competence.

* * *

Lloyd Mackey is a member of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa and author of Stephen Harper: The Case for Collaborative Governance (ECW Press, 2006), More Faithful Than We Think: Stories and Insights on Canadian Leaders Doing Politics Christianly (BayRidge Books, 2005) and Like Father, Like Son: Ernest Manning and Preston Manning (ECW Press, 1997). Lloyd can be reached at lmackey@canadianchristianity.com.

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March 19/2009