My problems with the late great Dr. Sagan were not so much personal as ideologicalDr. Sagan had established his reputation as an atheist long before he started college, so he was stuck with that crowd, that gave him most of his support, provided that he did not break ranks. That dynamic still persists, and these people are so stubborn that even in the face of rigorous proof, they will deny it.
You can imagine his ire when my group proved Divine Creation rigorously and properly. He was a Ph.D, while my group were all Freshmen. He had seen our work before, assembled in 1921 and again in 1958, although it had been systematically repressed. We didn't find that out until much later. These papers were written by the finest minds of their day: Einstein and Watkins, respectively. Neither was published because of the atheist doctrine of their days.
Fearing discredit and humiliation, Sagan and several of his atheist colleagues pulled every string that they could find, and without our knowledge or consent, we all found that our transcripts had been altered in such a way that none of us would get into physics anytime soon.
I instead went for Architecture, and later became a General Contractor. Only once Dr. Sagan passed on could I once again apply to UW, Seattle and pursue nuclear physics. That was a thirty year delay entering the profession of my choice, at a quarter of my projected earnings as a physicist.
I am not the only person Dr. Sagan irreparably harmed, fearing that he would have to retract much of his work that slyly advocated atheism. No one has the right to commit religious persecution, to twist science to his hidden agenda, or to misdirect needed research.
The damage Dr. Sagan committed will persist, unfortunately. Narrow mindedness is not the sign of a scientific mind.
