Those Crazy Religious Doctors

Every day seems to bring more evidence of society's solidifying presumption that an individual's religious or moral convictions should be separated from his professional decision-making.  Yesterday I noted the rally to protest a pharmacist who would not prescribe birth control pills (but who still referred customers to someone who would).  Today we have the New York Times' strange profile of a neurologist who has spoken up on behalf of Terri Schiavo.  From the first sentence of the article, we know where we're headed, as the Times observes that William P. Cheshire's "life and work have been guided by his religious beliefs."  We are told that he is part of a bioethics center that was founded by "Christian" bioethicists.  As for his career path,

Dr. Cheshire entered the field of bioethics relatively late in his career. A profile of him on the Web site of Trinity International University, where he enrolled in the master's program in bioethics in 2000, states that he was "searching for how he should integrate his faith with his medical career."

In case we have not yet gotten the picture of a religious zealot, the article is careful to point out that "he and his wife and four children are members of the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Jacksonville and that he has done medical missionary work in Honduras and Siberia."

I have no idea if Dr. Cheshire knows what he is talking about, and indeed his opinion in the Schiavo case seems wide open to criticism.  But criticism targeting the merits of his expressed opinion is one thing; criticism targeting the religious identity of the opinion-giver is quite another.  The message is clear: the fact that this individual has mixed his religious identity with his professional identity is prima facie evidence that he is a quack.

Rob