Radio Free Mike

a berlin blog

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Darwin, Dover, and Doofuses

The judge in Dover who struck Intelligent Design from the school district's science curriculum basically called the old school board a bunch of doofuses. I agree that a court case won't kill the craze for ID in America, or quell the desire to show rational evidence of God (which is centuries old and always misleading), but defenders of Design have been Missing the Point for most of the day. This quote has been repeated in articles around the world, from John West at the Discovery Institute:

"Americans don't like to be told there is some idea that they aren't permitted to learn about. It used to be said that banning a book in Boston guaranteed it would be a best-seller. Banning intelligent design in Dover will likely only fan interest in the theory."

Would someone like to tell John West what's wrong with this statement? Here's another howler, from William Dembski's web site:

1) The devolution of Darwinism to mere “court science” is both the symptom and the means of its ultimate demise.

2) If the courts can independently proscribe religion in classrooms, then the courts can also independently require religion in classrooms.

Not in a country where church and state are separated, they can't. My piece on Dembski and ID is here.

UPDATE: Lee Strang argues that the circumstances of the case in Dover "forced even a judge like Judge Jones, who was appointed by George W. Bush, to make bad law." He doesn't seem to realize that Jones, instead of sounding regretful about the whole thing, spat this case out of his courtroom with contempt.

posted by Michael Scott Moore | 7:06 PM

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