GLOAMING.us

Federal Judges: More Intelligent than Creationists

Posted 2005/12/20 8:56:26
Author Steven Shelton
I've been ranting about this for weeks: I know that "intelligent design" is a feeble attempt at disguised creationism. You know that "intelligent design" is a feeble attempt at disguised creationism. The proponents of "intelligent design" know that it's a feeble attempt at disguised creationism. And yet, the creationists seem to think that federal judges are too dumb to figure it out.

And once again, they've been proven wrong.
---UnderThisSeparatorIsLatterHalf---
U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III ruled today that the Dover Area School Board in Pennsylvania violated the First Amendment when it required "intelligent design" become a part of the curriculum. The opinion is a beautiful thing, and should be displayed on the capitol grounds of every state in the country. It goes to show that you can't fool the judge. At least, not with this crap:

"The history of the intelligent design movement (hereinafter 'IDM') and the development of the strategy to weaken education of evolution by focusing students on alleged gaps in the theory of evolution is the historical and cultural background against which the Dover School Board acted in adopting the challenged ID Policy. . . . [A]reasonable observer, whether adult or child, would be aware of this social context in which the ID Policy arose . . . ." (pp. 18-19)

And, it goes on, noting that "intelligent design" is no different from "creation science":

"Next, and as stated, religious opponents of evolution began cloaking
religious beliefs in scientific sounding language and then mandating that schools teach the resulting 'creation science' or 'scientific creationism' as an alternative to evolution. However, this tactic was likewise unsuccessful under the First Amendment. 'Fundamentalist organizations were formed to promote the idea that the Book of Genesis was supported by scientific data. The terms "creation science"
and "scientific creationism" have been adopted by these fundamentalists as descriptive of their study of creation and the origins of man.' McLean, 529 F.Supp. at 1259." (p. 21)

Some other gems:

Quote:

Although proponents of the IDM occasionally suggest that the designer could be a space alien or a time-traveling cell biologist, no serious alternative to God as the designer has been proposed by members of the IDM, including Defendants’ expert witnesses. (20:102-03 (Behe)). In fact, an explicit concession that the intelligent designer works outside the laws of nature and science and a direct reference to religion is Pandas’ rhetorical statement, “what kind of intelligent
agent was it [the designer]” and answer: “On its own science cannot answer this question. It must leave it to religion and philosophy.” (P-11 at 7; 9:13-14 (Haught)).


Quote:

ID proponents Johnson, William Dembski, and Charles Thaxton, one of the editors of Pandas, situate ID in the Book of John in the New Testament of the Bible, which begins, “In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was God.”(11:18-20, 54-55 (Forrest); P-524; P-355; P-357). Dembski has written that ID is a “ground clearing operation” to allow Christianity to receive serious consideration, and “Christ is never an addendum to a scientific theory but always a completion.”


Quote:

Moreover, in turning to Defendants’ lead expert, Professor Behe, his testimony at trial indicated that ID is only a scientific, as opposed to a religious, project for him; however, considerable evidence was introduced to refute this claim. Consider, to illustrate, that Professor Behe remarkably and unmistakably claims that the plausibility of the argument for ID depends upon the extent to which one believes in the existence of God. (P-718 at 705) (emphasis added). As no evidence in the record indicates that any other scientific proposition’s validity rests on belief in God, nor is the Court aware of any such scientific propositions, Professor Behe’s assertion constitutes substantial evidence that in his view, as is commensurate with other prominent ID leaders, ID is a religious and not a scientific proposition.


Quote:

Dramatic evidence of ID’s religious nature and aspirations is found in what is referred to as the “Wedge Document.” The Wedge Document. . . states in its “Five Year Strategic Plan Summary” that the IDM’s goal is to replace science as currently practiced with “theistic and Christian science.” (P-140 at 6). As posited in the Wedge Document, the IDM’s “Governing Goals” are to “defeat scientific materialism and its destructive moral, cultural, and political legacies” and “to replace materialistic explanations with the theistic understanding that nature and human beings are created by God.” Id. at 4. The CSRC expressly announces, in the Wedge Document, a program of Christian apologetics to promote ID. A careful review of the Wedge Document’s goals and language throughout the document reveals cultural and religious goals, as opposed to scientific ones.(11:26-48 (Forrest); P-140). ID aspires to change the ground rules of science to make room for religion, specifically, beliefs consonant with a particular version of Christianity.


And on and on and one.

Oddly enough, neither the Discovery Institute or the main mouthpiece blog for the ID crowd, "ID the Future", has yet to respond. You'd think they would have something to say about this, even though it's only been a few minutes. They do, however, tend to be pretty darn quiet when faced with reality. I noted in an earlier post that my trackback and comments to the ID The Future blog had been edited and/or removed. Turns out I'm not the only one they've done this to. For what it's worth, ID fanaticist William Dembski acknowledges he does this, with what can charitably be called a "crybaby attitude": "Darwinists tend to think that simply by telling an evolutionary story about some phenomenon that they have achieved remarkable insight. I don’t. There are plenty of other forums where I mix it up with Darwinists. Think of this blog as my playground. If you have to take a whiz, do it elsewhere." In other words, I'm going to put my fingers in my ears and scream "NYEAH NYEAH NYEAH NYEAH NYEAH" until anyone who disagrees with me goes away.

Geez, Bill, if you can't take some criticism, maybe you shouldn't be doing science.

Oh, wait . . . you're not. Nevermind, then.




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