Intelligent Design Theory: Science or Religion?

CI--Or at least to claim "equal time" in science curricula. (I believe that ci is keeping up just right foxy. You have to be able to keep two opposing views sorted in your mind at the same time. I dont believe that there are any biologists or paleontologists that are scurrying to teach their science in Sunday SChools)


Foxy, youre shouting "indoctrination" yet you fail to ingest the very points that Ken Miller has made about what is , or is not valid science, in his Darwins God book. Youre the one whose opened that door, not me.

Subsequent to "Darwins God" was Millers testimony at Dover. His very words from that testimony debunk the validity of ID as an " alternative theory". If you wish to accept his words , then his opinion is that ID has no testable scientific basis, SO youre claim against "indoctrination" is nicely upheld by his words' He has no place for teaching ID or even mentioning it in science classes because to do so would actually imbue it with a sectarian viewpoint or would invite derogatory commentary. If it cant be tested, it has no place , but theres no reason to stand around and call names in class either.

Foxy, youre shouting "indoctrination" yet you fail to ingest the very points that Ken Miller has made about what is , or is not valid science, in his Darwins God book. Youre the one whose opened that door, not me

You are playing at it from within the confines of a strictly conventional, bourgeois Christian comfort zone.

You are playing at it from within the confines of a strictly conventional, bourgeois Christian comfort zone.

Im amply aware of your positions. Im just calling for some honesty in how you underpin them.

Interestingly , the Academy publication does not differentiate Creationism from Intelligent Design, since one is merely a "mechanism" of the other.

It makes clear that the study of evolution remains one of the most active, robust, and far-reaching fields in all of modern science.

Im just calling for some honesty in how you underpin them.

are you or are you not playing at it from within the confines of a strictly conventional, bourgeois Christian comfort zone?

Darwin exhibit survives thanks to unlikely backers
(March 15, 2008, Stuart Laidlaw, Toronto Star)

For 150 years, Charles Darwin has driven devout Christians and secularists apart. But at the Royal Ontario Museum this week, his theories are bringing them together.

An exhibit celebrating Darwin, the English naturalist whose theories of evolution and natural selection ("survival of the fittest") revolutionized science and presented religion with its greatest challenge, is being sponsored by the United Church Observer and the Humanist Association of Canada after corporate Canada failed to help out.

"We've never seen a need that was so clear," Observer editor and publisher David Wilson said.

His magazine, which operates independently from the United Church, is providing $40,000 in cash and advertising, while the Humanists are pitching in $50,000. For both, the hastily arranged donations are their largest ever.

Before they stepped forward, Todd Hogan, ROM's associate director of corporate relations, said between 40 and 50 companies and patrons who comprise the museum's regular sponsors were approached.

None disputed Darwin's theories, but none wanted to back the show.

"The individuals we spoke with said, `Personally I believe it, I love the show, but as a conservative company we are not comfortable putting ourselves in a potentially controversial position,'" he said.

Humanist president Pat O'Brien is pleased to be sharing the sponsorship with a faith-based group.

"They've really shown some leadership in the religious community. There are a lot of religious people who are happy with evolution."

After publishing dozens of stories on evolution and creationism, Wilson said the faithful have nothing to fear from evolution.

"There is an inherent beauty in the theory of natural selection that illuminates the inherent beauty and wonder of creation," he said.

He said shy corporations have nothing to fear about being associated with Darwin. "The politics of creationism and intelligent design are more bark than bite," he said.

The ROM exhibit features artifacts, manuscripts and memorabilia from the life and work of Darwin, who died in 1882. It closes Aug. 4.

He said shy corporations have nothing to fear about being associated with Darwin. "The politics of creationism and intelligent design are more bark than bite," he said.

Opposition to the proposed "academic freedom" act from those who wrote Florida's new science standards
(LesliePostal, Orlando Sentinel, March 17, 2008)

Many of the science educators who crafted Florida's new science standards -- those controversial ones that require evolution be taught in the state's public schools -- announced their opposition this morning to the "academic freedom" bills proposed by some state lawmakers.

They called the bills "a subterfuge for injecting the religious beliefs held by some into the science classroom."

The bills -- HB 1483 and SB 2692 -- seek protections from teachers who are critical of evolution and want to discuss the "full range of scientific views regarding chemical and biological evolution." They are modeled on a proposal made by the Discovery Institute, which backs the concept of Intelligent Design and is critical of evolution. They were proposed after the state adopted the new science standards last month.

The 37 educators who signed today's statement, however, said they oppose such laws because there are no other scientific explanations for the "development and diversity of life." Evolution is it.

All other explanations require "the intervention of a supernatural agent." Evolution "relies entirely on scientifically verifiable laws of nature and accounts for a huge set of observation," the statement said.

Those who signed the statement include science teachers from Orange and Seminole county public schools, among them Rick Ellenburg, Florida's Teacher of the Year and a science teacher at Camelot Elementary School in Orange. There are also biology, chemistry and physics professors from various Florida universities.

"Our understanding of evolution is certainly not complete," the statement said, just as it is not in other areas of science.

The group supports "the discussion of scientific questions -- including those in evolution -- in the science classroom," but only in an "evidence-based manner" that conforms to the new science standards.

The State Board of Education adopted the standards by a 4 to 3 vote last month, after months of contentious public debate about evolution.

The "academic freedom" bills were filed a few weeks later. The one in the Senate has not been heard yet. The House version in now in committee.

The House sponsor, Rep. Alan Hays, R- Umatilla, last week invited lawmakers to a private screening of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, the controversial documentary starring Ben Stein, that deals with the same topic.

are you or are you not playing at it from within the confines of a strictly conventional, bourgeois Christian comfort zone?

He pondered several shared schemes--- including the production of a comic Bible that would kill all the ridiculous legends and revive religion throughout Europe.

Let us raise our gaze above the level of sordid political and social machinations in Florida and cheap stunts at the short lived exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum and quote from the world of intellectual ideas.

It is a sentence from Mr Holroyd's book on Bernard Shaw relating to the difficult relationship the great man had with H.G. Wells, a fellow Fabian.

Quote:

He pondered several shared schemes--- including the production of a comic Bible that would kill all the ridiculous legends and revive religion throughout Europe.

An ID book in other words.

Will those who continually confound Creationism with ID, or quote those who do, kindly take note of that sentence and cease displaying their ignorance and desperation and knock off trying the patience of those viewers who understand this simple distinction and are getting weary of the constant repetition of the stupid and self-serving assertion that Creationism and ID are connected in any way as I have pointed out on more occasions than an intelligent person might consider decent.