A "Must-Read" Article on Intelligent Design!

[LongTomH]

This article from "The American Scientist" explains why we need to take the "intelligent design" movement seriously; in brief, it's the leading edge of the Right Wing War on Science:

Being Stalked by Intelligent Design

The Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute states its purpose as:

challenging various aspects of neo-Darwinian theory; ... developing the scientific theory known as intelligent design; ... encouraging schools to improve science education by teaching students more fully about the theory of evolution, including the theory's scientific weaknesses as well strengths .

With these statements, the Center hides its true agenda behind a false claim that it is promoting intellectual freedom when, in fact, it is doing the opposite: stunting intellectual growth by encouraging students to believe that a scientific theory is the same as a philosophical assertion.

Intelligent Design is part of a calculated strategy that Johnson calls the "Wedge," referring to the tool used to split a solid object—in this case, the cornerstone of biological science. According to a document that appeared on the Discovery Institute's Web site in 1999, the goal of this plan is "nothing less than the overthrow of materialism and its cultural legacies." The document also makes sweeping, inaccurate claims such as "new developments in biology, physics and cognitive science raise serious doubts about scientific materialism and have re-opened the case for a broadly theistic understanding of nature." This statement is pure propaganda. (The document can still be found on the Discovery Institute's Web site by searching for "wedge," although it is now prefaced by 12 pages of insistent justification.)

In the ID lexicon, "scientific materialism"—the idea that the world around us can be explained without resorting to supernatural forces—is the enemy. ID advocates favor instead something they call "theistic realism," which "assumes that the universe and all its creatures were brought into existence for a purpose by God." The most revealing word in this statement is assumes. Scientists rely not on assumption but on evidence, and there is none for ID. Theistic realism and ID are statements of religious faith, which does not require evidence.

Even in Kansas, where I moved a few months ago, people are starting to realize that teaching pseudo-science in schools may drive away the scientifically trained people needed to build the state's economy. I fear the battle in Kansas is already lost; I just hope Kansas becomes the "bad example" for the rest of the country when its economy tanks.

[electron_blue]

1. Looks promising, thanks!

How often does this kind of attack on scientific procedure go along with a rise in fascist state of a nation?

Any historians out there?

[jody]

4. My cursory study of history suggests that totalitarian governments need

a state religion.

Karl Marx said "Religion is the opiate of the masses." History since that time supports his statement and a Super Power needs a state religion or it will probably fail. It will probably fail anyway, but a state religion binds the working masses to a life of drudgery in expectation of an eternity of leisure.

It is dreams like that which have helped African-Americans survive several centuries, a desperate hope that they will be free at last on the other side of Jordan.

Some historians report that Hitler cut a deal with the Roman Catholics but he intended to develop his own brand of religion after he created his thousand Year Reich.

[sandnsea]

2. And Stem Cell Theology

We need to tag all their supernatural assumptions with theology and theistic labels.


"Mr. Bush threatened this week to veto a modest research-expansion bill that was approved by the House and is likely to be passed by the Senate. The reason, he said, is that the measure would "take us across a critical ethical line" by encouraging the destruction of embryos from which the stem cells are extracted. Never mind that this particular ethical line looms large only for a narrow segment of the population. It is not deemed all that critical by most Americans or by most religious perspectives. Rather, the president's intransigence provided powerful proof of the dangers of letting one group's religious views dictate national policy.

The president's policy is based on the belief that all embryos, even the days-old, microscopic form used to derive stem cells in a laboratory dish, should be treated as emerging human life and protected from harm. This seems an extreme way to view tiny laboratory entities that are no larger than the period at the end of this sentence and are routinely flushed from the body by Mother Nature when created naturally."
http://ssscr.org/

[LoKnLoD]

3. Just tell them they have to teach about the Flying Spaghetti Monster too

http://www.venganza.org/

:crazy:

[ClintonTyree]

6. Damn straight!

As a Pastafarian I DEMAND that the FSM get his due in textbooks as well. Hell, there's more evidence of the FSM existing than there is of intelligent design and I've got the stains on my shirt to prove it!

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Ah I see

you have been touched by his noodly appendage.

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. What part of Intelligent Design requires church buses to go over cliffs

every now and then? Inquiring minds want to understand how God could single out His worshippers for horrible deaths.