I have concerns with two programs on KUER 90.1 FM: To the Best of Our Knowledge by Wisconsin Public Radio, and Krista Tippett on Being by American Public Media. Both are funded by the Templeton Foundation, a religious advocacy organization that is controversial with some leading scientists, including Nobel Prize winner Harry Kroto. Maybe you don’t care about whether the god of the Templeton Foundation happens to be your god, or whether the conflation of science and religion is an issue for you. 

KUER is not just another radio station. The call letters KUER are licensed to the University of Utah by the FCC. Since KUER is a University of Utah telecommunications department, what they choose to put on the air means something more. Also, KUER receives federal tax dollars via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

When my government picks and chooses arguably religious advocacy programs to broadcast, that raises the bar of concern. And when a department of a public university engages in the distortion of science, and the conflation of science with religion, that is also a concern.

Jonathan Higbee
Salt Lake City