It’s All So Clear to Me Now
Bill Maher explains Intelligent Design.
No wonder IDiots think atheism is a religion: they think ignorance is a form of knowledge.
Both Maryland Antievolution Bills Dead
So
reports
the NCSE.
Lego FSM
Chris Doyle has enough time on his hands to build a
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
out of Legos.
Advice for Christian Parents
John Wilkins has
a good piece:
Don’t try to make everything a religious matter. There’s nothing religious about plumbing, for example. Likewise, science, sports, and dress sense. People can in fact like Korn and still be Christian (although I do not think they can like Korn and still have taste). There is no “Christian” or “Satanic” music, only music that is turned to a purpose.
But go read the whole thing.
I note that he specifically addresses Christian parents. Presumably that means it’s still okay to indoctrinate children into
FSMism.
Scientists, Before and After
This
is pretty cool: 7th-graders’ drawings and descriptions of scientists, both
before and after meeting some real scientists at
Fermilab.
Best South Dakota Comment Yet
From Digby
by way of
Firedoglake:
I hope you’re ready to be daddies, boys. Last time abortion was illegal they didn’t have DNA testing
The Definitive ID FAQ
Best. Intelligent Design FAQ. Ever.
(Thanks to John “Bruce” Wilkins for the link.)
ID Hysterics
Over at Uncommon Descent, Bill Dembski quotes an unnamed colleague as saying:
However, let us not lose sight of the fact that a scientific theory that requires a judge to enforce its teaching cannot be said to be in good INTELLECTUAL health.
Oh, dear. That blew out my industrial-capacity, lead-shielded, firewalled, unplugged irony-meter. Damn. Those things ain’t cheap, you know?
ID Creationists love to compare ID to the Big Bang and to plate tectonics. Now, which of the three made their way into the classroom after the scientific community concluded that they were good ideas, and which one is being pushed through school boards and the courts? Which one “cannot be said to be in good INTELLECTUAL health”?
By proclaiming it illegal to “disparage or denigrate” neo-Darwinism, Judge Jones adopted the principle of the Inquisition, and in so doing rendered both himself and that state-enforced theory ridiculous.
Ooh, the Inquisition! What a deft way to sidestep Godwin’s Law. But let’s reread what Judge Jones actually wrote in his decision:
we will enter an order permanently enjoining Defendants […] from requiring teachers to denigrate or disparage the scientific theory of evolution, and from requiring teachers to refer to a religious, alternative theory known as ID.
(emphasis mine) For the reading-comprehension-impaired, this means that Judge Jones didn’t forbid dissing evolution, but rather forbade requiring teachers to do so. Got that? Good.
Taking a longer view, I think Dover will come eventually to be be seen as a moral victory, in the same way that Galileo’s condemnation is now viewed as a moral victory.
Ah, yes. The “they laughed at Galileo” argument. Unfortunately, as Robert Park put it, “to wear the mantle of Galileo it is not enough that you be persecuted by an unkind establishment. You must also be right.”
Hey, ID guys, feel free to begin demonstrating that you’re right any time you like.
A Jim Pinkoski Treasure Trove
Long-time readers of Pharyngula have been treated to PZ Myyrrzz’s (“If you doubt this is possible, how is it there are PIGMIES + DWARFS??“), so I was pleased to discover a veritable treasure trove of Pinkoski’s work.
ID and Suboptimal Design
William Dembski has put up a paper entitled Intelligent Design is not Optimal Design, which purports to counter the argument from suboptimal design (e.g., “Why would Godan intelligent designer wire human retinas backward, when he had done a better job with octopodes?” or “Why is the panda’s thumb such a kludge? Why not use the same thumb design as in humans?”). His conclusion:
This is a fallen world. The good that God initially intended is no longer fully in evidence. Much has been perverted. Dysteleology, the perversion of design in nature, is a reality. It is evident all around us.
I’ve added a section about this to the notes on the Frequently Asked But Never Answered Questions About Intelligent Design.
(Thanks to Uncommon Descent for the pointer.)