Advocates of 'Intelligent Design' Vow to Continue Despite Ruling

[sabra]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/21/AR2005122101959.html

Advocates of 'Intelligent Design' Vow to Continue Despite Ruling

A federal judge's ruling in Pennsylvania that "intelligent design" is religious fundamentalism dressed in the raiment of science has wounded a politically influential movement.

"It was a real disappointment," biochemist Michael J. Behe, who testified in the trial, said from his office at Lehigh University. "It's hard to say this chills the atmosphere, because if you're publicly known as an ID supporter you can already kiss your tenure chances goodbye. It doesn't help."

But Behe and other proponents of intelligent design emphasized that the court decision would not cast them into the political and cultural wilderness. They have pushed their theory, which holds that life is too complicated to have arisen without the hand of a supernatural creator, to the center of legislative debates in more than a dozen states, and they intend to keep it there.

Some politically influential backers of intelligent design warned that U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III, who was appointed by President Bush, so overreached that his ruling will outrage and inflame millions of conservative and religiously observant Americans.

[LynneSin]

1. Of course they do - this is how the neo-con fundies work

If at first you don't succeed keep pushing the issue until you do.

They win by wearing us down

[leftyladyfrommo]

5. Exactly. They just pull in, reorganize and come at you again

They never give up. And that is what makes them so important to watch.

[C_U_L8R]

2. Absolute Proof

that these fundies lack intelligence

[leftyladyfrommo]

10. No. They aren't "dumb"

Don't make that mistake. They know exactly what they are doing and how to go about it.

[C_U_L8R]

20. Oh they're sneaky all right

but their hypothesis is stupid

[opihimoimoi]

3. These guys are NUTS and are WRONG....Evolution is all around us

while the notion of Creationism has no evidence..not a scintillia.

[NoodleyAppendage]

4. Whaaa... Cry me a river, christofascist/pseudo-science dumbass.

Lehigh University would do best to suggest that you switch your academic affiliation to the Divinity School, or some backwoods Bible College. You are NOT a scientist and do NOT deserve any sort of tenure as one.

The time has come for the "push back"...enough of this christofascist, pseudo-science bullshit!

JB

[SaveElmer]

6. No Sh*t Mr. Behe...

"It was a real disappointment," biochemist Michael J. Behe, who testified in the trial, said from his office at Lehigh University. "It's hard to say this chills the atmosphere, because if you're publicly known as an ID supporter you can already kiss your tenure chances goodbye. It doesn't help."


If you are a scientist who doesn't believe in the scientific method...no you are not gonna be treated as credible...nor should you be!

[gristy]

7. Great house editorial in the NYT on this today

[JNelson6563]

8. Hard to keep a good zealot down

Lunatics.

[Tempest]

9. York Editorial: IDers should be prosecuted for perjury

They lied.

William Buckingham and Alan Bonsell wanted to bring God into high school biology class, and in the process, they lied.

They lied about their motives.

They lied about their actions.

They lied about what they did or didn't say at public meetings.

They even lied when they claimed newspaper reporters lied in stories about Dover school board meetings.

In his ruling on the Dover case, U.S. Judge John E. Jones III said it was "ironic" that individuals who "proudly touted their religious convictions in public" would "lie" under oath.

Yes, ironic - at the very least. But also sinful according to the 9th Commandment.

And perhaps also criminal. We can only hope that the appropriate authorities are investigating possible perjury charges in this case. There should be some consequences for what Mr. Bonsell and Mr. Buckingham have done in depositions and on the witness stand by otherwise misrepresenting the facts.

<more>

http://www.ydr.com/editorial/ci_3330100

[MaineYooper]

13. What's ironic is that Pat Robertson was for once "honest"

With his post-election rant, he at least came clean with what is painfully apparent to the rest of this. ID has nothing to do with science, but is just creationism in disguise.

I guess a stopped clock really can be right once or twice a day!

[librechik]

11. why don't they expend all that energy getting comparative religion

taught in the schools? ID fits in there perfectly!

You know why. They don't give a flying fuck about God. Their goal is to destroy democrats and usher in a totalitarian theocracy, with themselves raking in the profits.

[Demeter]

12. ID Demonstrates NO Understanding of Science

Science is not a "belief system". Science is a mechanical way of ordering factual knowledge, combined with some very intuitive analysis (or modeling) to fill in the gaps in that knowledge, subject to verification or disproof by more factual knowledge to be gained at some future date.

Most organized religions are merely superstition-laden bureaucracies. It's time to stop using the euphemistic "belief" meme and tell it like it is.

Break religion into its component parts: ritual, stories, ethics, and bullshit.

The ethics can be cleaned up (by developing global consensus to codify those morals that all people can accept).

The stories, myths, legends, parables, can all be cherished in literature, and disregarded as anything but creative writing to prove a point or to hint at some distant historical event (most likely distorted through the retelling over centuries).

The rituals can be take-it-or-leave-it.

And the bullshit can be prosecuted.

[chelsea0011]

14. Next up. Intelligent Design and Evolution are one in the same.

[Endangered Specie]

15. a biochemist supports this?

should have his degree revoked!

[kay1864]

16. Behe

if you're publicly known as an ID supporter you can already kiss your tenure chances goodbye.

Behe himself, however, has tenure, so he can't be fired. What do you want to bet that he kept his ID stance secret (good ol' stealth tactics) until after he got tenure?

And doesn't his statement above sound like advocating that very tactic? "publicly known" indeed...

[VegasWolf]

17. Of course, this way they continue to receive funding from the believe-bots

:bounce:

[gratuitous]

18. Reminds me of the Black Knight in The Holy Grail

After reading Jones' opinion, the ID forces are armless, legless, propped up on the ground, and protesting that they've suffered a mere flesh wound.

[Ezlivin]

19. Good God, man! If you are going to mix religion and Monty Python

at least have the decency to tie in "The Life of Brian".

If they are allowed to teach ID, then every class needs to also watch "The Life of Brian."

[Mandate My Ass]

21. Good! Walk into their church on Sunday with a condom, a cucumber

and a chart of the female reproductive organs and commence to conduct the part of the science class that got left out because religion used up all class time.

[sakabatou]

22. Tell them that gravity is a theory

that'll make their heads spin.