Craig was kind enough to send me a link to this cnn.com article about the teaching of Intelligent Design in Dover, PA.
A bit of background: after a rather contentious debate, the school board in Dover has decided that Intelligent Design should be taught alongside the theory of evolution. “Intelligent Design,” of course, is the claim that living organisms are irreducibly complex; in other words, they are too complicated to have arisen without the intervention of some superior intelligence. In still other words, this is Creationism dressed up scientific-sounding language in order to get around the Supreme Court’s ruling that blatantly religious ideas can’t be taught in science classes.
Unsurprisingly, a variety of conservative Christians policy groups have been circling the Dover decision like vultures, viewing as a chance to get their foot in the door. From a representative of one of these groups, the Thomas More Law Center, we have this gem:
The revolution in evolution has begun. This is the first step in which students will be given an honest scientific evaluation of the theory of evolution and its problems.
Yeah, that sounds nice, but the problem is that’s a complete mischaracterization (I would go so far as to say bait-and-switch) of the argument. “An honest scientific evaluation” quickly reveals that these are not two competing theories that deserve equal time in the classroom. Evolutionary theory is based on a mountain of verifiable evidence; Intelligent Design is a gussied-up version of Christian Creationism, the supporters of which having cobbled together the isolated facts and ideas that support their pre-ordained beliefs.