Because we’re used to getting our way, Americans often credit our beliefs as having the force of facts. The fact that Saddam Hussein was not hiding weapons of mass destruction – a fact supported by the observations of UN weapons inspectors – was not enough to prevail against George Bush’s belief that he was. Even though the search for WMDs was called off, a significant portion of the American public still believes they were there.
A CBS poll found 55 percent of Americans do not believe in evolution, 80 years after the Scopes “monkey trial‿ in Dayton, Tennessee. Like those who believe in the Iraqi WMDs (there may be some overlap), they are assisted in their ignorance by politicians – school boards, in this case.
Later this year, a federal court will hear a case brought by parents from the Dover, Pennsylvania school district who object to the district’s intention to promote “intelligent design‿ in science class. Just as humans evolved from apes, so “intelligent design‿ evolved from creationism.
Creationism teaches that God created the world and everything in it in seven days, as the Book of Genesis describes. Courts have ruled teaching creationism violates the separation of church and state. The religious right now promotes intelligent design – or ID. Intelligent design holds that because life on Earth is so varied and complex, it cannot be the result of natural selection and must be the work of an “intelligent designer‿ – i.e., God.
It might be interesting to debate intelligent design in a class on comparative religion, but it’s not science and does not belong in science class. The science teachers of Dover rebelled against the school board’s pushing ID into the curriculum. The school board instead ordered teachers to read students a statement criticizing evolution and urging them to investigate ID. Again, teachers refused; school administrators read the statement instead. Parents are suing to keep intelligent design out of the school altogether.
Intelligent design was first propounded in 1802 by William Paley, an Englishman who was not a scientist, but a theologian. It was popularized in the U.S. by the 1989 book “Of Pandas and People: The Central Question of Biological Origins,‿ by Percival Davis and Dean Kenyon. This is the book the Dover school board thinks children should read. Mr. Davis’s name has been removed from recent editions after it became known he also co-authored “Case for Creationism.‿ In 1994 he told the Wall Street Journal, “Of course my motive was religious. There’s no question about it.‿
Supporters of intelligent design point out that Darwin’s theory of evolution is just that, a theory and fails to account for all the complexity of the natural world, such as the emergence of eyes. To their minds, this makes evolution “unproven‿ and “controversial‿ and they call for the teaching of intelligent design in “the spirit of free and open inquiry.‿ What could be more reasonable?
The point the religious right misses is that all science is based on theories that are constantly improved and refined. Why should evolution be held to a different standard than other theories?
The theory of gravity is also a theory (although everyone seems to accept it). It has holes Isaac Newton could not fill, leaving an opening for Einstein’s theory (that word again) of relativity, which explained gravity, but has holes of its own. Physicists are trying to plug Einstein’s leaks with a Grand Unified Theory but recently seem to spend all their time squabbling over “string theory.‿
If evolution cannot be presented and infallible and ironclad, the religious right proposes that schools should also teach bogus “intelligent design‿ theories for which no scientific proof whatsoever exists.
The Dover, PA case will go to the Supreme Court. It will take a few years to get there and by then George Bush may have appointed two or three new justices. If the scientists lose the Dover case, it will force open schoolhouse doors across America to not only faith-based science, but faith-based math and history as well.
Humans evolved from apes. Some of us seem determined to turn around and head back.
Are We Not Men?
Because we’re used to getting our way, Americans often credit our beliefs as having the force of facts. The fact that Saddam Hussein was not hiding weapons of mass destruction – a fact supported by the observations of UN weapons inspectors – was not enough to prevail against George Bush’s belief that he was. Even though the search for WMDs was called off, a significant portion of the American public still believes they were there.
A CBS poll found 55 percent of Americans do not believe in evolution, 80 years after the Scopes “monkey trial‿ in Dayton, Tennessee. Like those who believe in the Iraqi WMDs (there may be some overlap), they are assisted in their ignorance by politicians – school boards, in this case.
Later this year, a federal court will hear a case brought by parents from the Dover, Pennsylvania school district who object to the district’s intention to promote “intelligent design‿ in science class. Just as humans evolved from apes, so “intelligent design‿ evolved from creationism.
Creationism teaches that God created the world and everything in it in seven days, as the Book of Genesis describes. Courts have ruled teaching creationism violates the separation of church and state. The religious right now promotes intelligent design – or ID. Intelligent design holds that because life on Earth is so varied and complex, it cannot be the result of natural selection and must be the work of an “intelligent designer‿ – i.e., God.
It might be interesting to debate intelligent design in a class on comparative religion, but it’s not science and does not belong in science class. The science teachers of Dover rebelled against the school board’s pushing ID into the curriculum. The school board instead ordered teachers to read students a statement criticizing evolution and urging them to investigate ID. Again, teachers refused; school administrators read the statement instead. Parents are suing to keep intelligent design out of the school altogether.
Intelligent design was first propounded in 1802 by William Paley, an Englishman who was not a scientist, but a theologian. It was popularized in the U.S. by the 1989 book “Of Pandas and People: The Central Question of Biological Origins,‿ by Percival Davis and Dean Kenyon. This is the book the Dover school board thinks children should read. Mr. Davis’s name has been removed from recent editions after it became known he also co-authored “Case for Creationism.‿ In 1994 he told the Wall Street Journal, “Of course my motive was religious. There’s no question about it.‿
Supporters of intelligent design point out that Darwin’s theory of evolution is just that, a theory and fails to account for all the complexity of the natural world, such as the emergence of eyes. To their minds, this makes evolution “unproven‿ and “controversial‿ and they call for the teaching of intelligent design in “the spirit of free and open inquiry.‿ What could be more reasonable?
The point the religious right misses is that all science is based on theories that are constantly improved and refined. Why should evolution be held to a different standard than other theories?
The theory of gravity is also a theory (although everyone seems to accept it). It has holes Isaac Newton could not fill, leaving an opening for Einstein’s theory (that word again) of relativity, which explained gravity, but has holes of its own. Physicists are trying to plug Einstein’s leaks with a Grand Unified Theory but recently seem to spend all their time squabbling over “string theory.‿
If evolution cannot be presented and infallible and ironclad, the religious right proposes that schools should also teach bogus “intelligent design‿ theories for which no scientific proof whatsoever exists.
The Dover, PA case will go to the Supreme Court. It will take a few years to get there and by then George Bush may have appointed two or three new justices. If the scientists lose the Dover case, it will force open schoolhouse doors across America to not only faith-based science, but faith-based math and history as well.
Humans evolved from apes. Some of us seem determined to turn around and head back.
© Mark Floegel, 2005