Eminent zoologist stands by Griffith
Affidavit evidence from the eminent New Zealand zoologist, Professor John Morton, was filed today in support of biologist Jeremy Griffith’s defamation claim against the ABC and Reverend David Millikan.
The University of Auckland Emeritus Professor of Zoology and Lay Canon Emeritus of the Diocese of Auckland is known for his work in the fields of biology, zoology, philosophy and theology, including his books Man, Science and God (1972) and Redeeming Creation (1984).
Unable to attend Court due to ill-health, the professor’s affidavit set out his long history of involvement with Mr Griffith, from reading his first book Free: The End Of The Human Condition (1988) and speaking at the New Zealand launch of his second book Beyond The Human Condition (1991) to endorsing his third book A Species In Denial (2003), which he described as ‘superb’.
In his sworn statement, Professor Morton recalled watching the defamatory Four Corners broadcast in Sydney in late April 1995 and annexed a transcript of an interview he gave the next day to the late Andrew Olle on Radio 2BL, in which he discussed Mr Griffith’s work:
“It’s about man’s biological future as it must relate to religion. It’s got overtones of Teilhard [de Chardin] and goes back as old I suppose as William Blake and Wordsworth. What is it? Its message is that mankind has lost some of his primal innocence on this planet. We’ve become over, perhaps two million years of evolution … an intellectual species … over sophisticated, over numerous, overpopulated, overgreedy”, Professor Morton said in the interview.
“I don’t think that we should too often use the word prophet for a fallible human being but make no mistake there is seriousness and there’s a substratum of truth in the book Beyond The Human Condition. I would recommend that listeners read it.”
Earlier in the day, the Court heard an interview of Mr Griffith by Gerard Stone on Radio 5AA, aired on 23 April 1995, the day before the Four Corners broadcast:
“[Millikan] did ring us up about two months ago and said, ‘look I know I wrote a dismissive review, but I believe I got it wrong and I want to now nominate your understanding for an international documentary of seminal thinkers to take humanity to the next millennium’ and he gave us very positive encouragement”, Mr Griffith was heard to say.
“… it turns out [Millikan] totally misrepresented us and he has a deep animosity we suggest towards the understandings in my books, and what happened was, he wasn’t there to really understand what we were putting out, so much as to vilify it and that’s what we’re complaining about.”
Later in the interview, Mr Griffith says, “I’d like to contrast that with Professor John Morton, who’s both a very eminent theologian as well as an eminent biologist and Dr Millikan isn’t a biologist … this is Morton’s view, ‘Griffith’s book should be read by Christians, especially young ones in schools and also taken home by them’, whereas the view that Dr Millikan is presenting [is] that I’m a deluded cult figure or something.”
The Court was then shown a reconstruction of an ABC-TV interview conducted by Reverend Millikan in mid-March 1995 during the production of the Four Corners program.
Evidence continues tomorrow in the Supreme Court.
