New Mexicans for Science and Reason (also
known by the abbreviation NMSR) is a science
advocacy organization based in Albuquerque,
New Mexico.
Founded by Skeptical Inquirer editor Kendrick
Frazier on May 16, 1990.
As of 1998 the President is physicist and
mathematician Dave Thomas.
Thomas was still the President in spring of
2018 In 1996 creationists on the New Mexico
School Board tried to change science standards
to water down instruction of evolution.
NMSR was instrumental in having that decision
reversed.
== History ==
The organization was established in 1990 by
Kendrick Frazier, the editor of Skeptical
Inquirer.
The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry's (CSICOP)
focus during that time was to start local
skeptic groups.
Frazier, as a resident of Albuquerque, felt
that the area had a good mix of potential
members.
"We have a lot of bizarre claims," he said,
"from UFOs in the south to New Age claims
in Santa Fe".
At that time New Mexico was tied for second
place in Skeptical Inquirer's state rankings
of subscribers per capita, behind first-place
California and tied with Colorado, Washington,
and Massachusetts in second.
The idea, according to Frazier was "to encourage
critical thinking".
Frazier had his eye on John Geohegan as a
possible president of the group but, when
asked, Geohegan felt he was too busy to do
so.
Two years later, CSICOP's Executive Director
Barry Karr sent letters to most of the SI
subscribers in New Mexico asking them if they
would like to start a new group in New Mexico.
He enclosed a survey and Frazier eventually
received thirty-seven back.
A venue was reserved at the Museum of Natural
History on May 16, 1990.
Twenty-eight people attended that first meeting
and Geohegan agreed to be chairman.
The birth of the group's newsletter The Enchanted
Skeptic was agreed upon and Pen La Farge became
editor.
The name of the group was selected the following
month.
Frazier suggested that the name should have
the word science in it and "say what we are
for, not what we are against".NMSR was involved
in attempts to restore evolution to the science
standards of New Mexico schools in the 1990s.
To combat the campaign against evolution,
a sister group was started called the Coalition
for Excellence in Science and Math Education.
While there is still overlap between the members,
the CESE and the NMSR are separate organizations.
The CESE exists for serious activism and the
NMSR is "where members go to play".
== Creationism in school textbooks ==
In 1996 two creationists on the New Mexico
Board of Education "succeeded in replacing
evolution and the age of the earth with 'various
theories of origin' in the state science standards".
This led NMSR and other residents to write
letters to the Albuquerque Journal complaining
about the lowering of science standards.
Several members of the NMSR and CESE addressed
the school board with their concerns.
Dave Thomas from NMSR stated that if unscientific
theories are allowed to be taught in public
schools "pretty soon we'll have Holocaust
deniers insisting there were no gas chambers".
Sandia National Labs Physicist Marshall Berman
challenged one of the seats held by a creationist
school board member and won election to the
board in 1998.
A year into his tenure, he persuaded the board
to vote 14-1 in favor of teaching evolution.
== Science Watch podcast ==
Formed in 2005, Science Watch was hosted by
Dave Thomas and Kim Johnson and was a weekly
podcast until 2010 when it discontinued recording.
Barbara Forrest commended their efforts of
providing good science to residents of Albuquerque.
Forrest describes the podcast as "an example
of the value of cultivating contacts with
local media by providing them with information
during flareups".
== Value of pi story ==
The organization's official newsletter is
NMSR Reports.
In April 1998, an article appeared in NMSR
Reports stating that the state of Alabama
intended to change the definition of pi to
three, supposedly to bring it in line with
the Christian Bible's statements on the matter.
The article, which was satirical, was originally
attributed to "April Holiday" of the "Associmated
Press" [[sic|
[sic]]], but was really written by NMSR board
member Mark Boslough.
In addition to its appearance in NMSR Reports,
the story was only posted in the talk.origins
newsgroup on April 1, 1998 by Thomas who later
that day confessed to the hoax.
Several clues were included in the original
post, including the author being named "April
Holiday", and the article being posted on
April Fools' Day.
A few weeks later Thomas checked back on talk.origins
website and elsewhere on the Internet by searching
for the phrase "Alabama Pi", to his surprise
he received "hundreds of hits".
In some cases the "Associmated Press" was
dropped and attributed to other sources, some
people realized it was a hoax, while others
clearly did not.
== Onyate man ==
On April 1, 1999, Stefan, who was studying
at the University of Heidelberg, posted to
a website about a fossil uncovered at a dig
in New Mexico that he and other students were
working on.
Stefan stated that he was worried the website
would not last long once word got out that
"We found a fossil of a hominid, being eaten
by an allosaurus [[sic|
[sic]]] dinosaur."
He posted photos and included a email address
for serious researchers or the media to contact
for copies of the photos.
The cast and specimens were loaded into a
truck and driven away, but not before those
present were cautioned not tell anyone because
it would ruin their careers and no one would
likely believe them anyway.
He ends the website with this notice: "PLEASE
TELL YOUR FRIENDS.
DON'T LET THE SCIENTISTS KEEP THE TRUTH FROM
THE WORLD!"NMSR posted this website on a Art
Bell newsgroup alt.fan.art-bell as well as
on alt.religion.christian.
The group followed the progress of the story
over the next few weeks and saw it get picked
up by alt.atheism.
The website attracted over 2,000 views over
the month, and many groups realized that it
was a hoax.
Some people researched people and places mentioned
in Stefan's article and realized that aspects
of the story were not credible.
NMSR posted details demonstrating that Onyate
man was a hoax, showing more photos and explaining
who was behind the hoax.
The reason they created this specific hoax
was because they had held a debate in January
1999 with creationist Paul Gammill.
At that debate, it was noted that finding
a dinosaur fossil with a hominid's fossils
inside would be ideal evidence that hominids
existed at the same time as dinosaurs.
Ed Brayton, writing for Patheos, described
the hoax.
He stated this was "a story designed to feed
into creationist beliefs and overcome whatever
latent skepticism they might have about such
a find.
... Within 24 hours, Kent Hovind was citing
this in his revival meetings as proof that
evolution was a lie."
== 
Darwin Day ==
According to KRQE News 13, The Humanist Society
of New Mexico, Freedom From Religion Foundation
and NMSR intended to host a Darwin Day lecture
series at the New Mexico Museum of Natural
History in February 2014.
When a flyer was posted showing that the lectures
were being co-sponsored by the publicly-funded
museum, two former engineers complained that
creationists were not allowed their side of
the story.
NMSR responded that the wording on the flyer
was a "misunderstanding".
KRQE News 13 received copies of the emails
shared between the organizers and the museum's
staff showing their involvement.
The Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) oversees
the running of the museum and has stated that
they have retrained their staff to "clearly
distinguish State events from private events".
Darwin Day 2015 was cancelled.
One of the creationists who raised the issue
noted their objection to cancelling the event
rather than adding other viewpoints, noting
"By cancelling Darwin Day, they have basically
said, they will not be giving both sides of
the story".
The DCA stated "workload and staffing issues"
caused the confusion.NMSR President Thomas
responded on the NMSR website to accusations
that the 2015 Darwin Day annual event was
cancelled because the museum did not want
to allow creationists to speak.
Thomas says that this "story" is a creation
of KRQE.
The museum held a Darwin Day event in 2014
and there was "a brief error of attribution
of an NMSR event as co-sponsored by the museum
in a flyer, but this was corrected LAST YEAR,
BEFORE the event even took place."
(2014) In a letter shown on the KRQE video
dated February 7, 2014, the DCA explained
to the two creationists what had happened
with the flyer.
In 2015 KRQE reported that the 2014 event
did not happen, although it did, and that
the reason the annual event did not happen
in 2015 was because of the complaint.
Thomas explains that the Darwin Day event
is not an annual event, it was not held in
2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, though it was held
prior to 2009.
It did not happen in 2015 because the museum
hired a new director who choose not to have
another event.
Thomas explains this was a "non story" in
2014, but in 2015 reporters Tina Jensen and
Dean Stanley were pressured by the intelligent
design community to run the story as if creationists
were being discriminated against.Hemant Mehta
wrote about this controversy, explaining "promoting
science — in a museum, no less — isn't
the same thing as promoting atheism.
And a museum doesn't have to give 'equal time'
to Intelligent Design".
== Operations ==
According to the NMSR website, "NMSR meets
at 7 PM on the second Wednesday of each month,
at CNM Main Campus, STUDENT RESOURCE CENTER
(SRC), room 204, right next to the Richard
Barr Boardroom.
NMSR is a science organization; it is not
a civil liberties or an anti-religious organization.
Several of our members, like scientists in
general, belong to various religious groups.
We see no inherent conflict between science
and religion, in that science concerns the
natural world (the one accessible to our senses
and instruments), while religion concerns
the possibility of a supernatural world accessible
only through faith.
While we respect and cherish religious freedom,
we stand ready to challenge those who promote
bad science to further their goals, religious
or otherwise.
== Gallery ==
== 
External links ==
Archive of Science Watch podcasts - 2005-2014
Coalition for Excellence in Science and Math
Education (CESE) website
