Proponents of the “theory” of Intelligent Design scored their first victory of sorts this past Monday when the Dover, Pennsylvania school board voted 6-to-3 in favor of requiring science classes in the district to teach alternative theories to Evolution “including, but not limited to, intelligent design.”
School board member Bill Buckingham is the chief architect of Dover’s newly revised biology curriculum that states “Students will be made aware of gaps/problems in Darwin’s Theory and of other theories of evolution including, but not limited to, intelligent design. Note: Origins of life will not be taught.”
The devout Christian admitted that before presenting the revised curriculum to the board, he had been talking to a conservative Michigan law firm that is interested in defending an intelligent design legal challenge.
The law firm in question is the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, which I’ve mentioned as being a dark stain on Michigan in the past, a group of Christian lawyers with the goal of defending attempts to impose Christian beliefs and values in places they have no business being such as science classrooms. They’ve been itching for some form of test case with regards to Intelligent Design for awhile now and have promised to defend the Dover school district at no charge from any legal challenges it may face. Both the ACLU and Americans United are keeping an eye on the developments and may file a lawsuit challenging the change in policy—a change that was opposed by the science teachers in the district. Taxpayers in Dover could end up seeing their school district waste money defending themselves from the lawsuits as the district would still be liable for the plaintiff’s legal costs should they lose. Buckingham’s response to this possibility was simply, “My response to that is what price is freedom? Sometimes you have to take a stand.”
Of course by wording the change so that Intelligent Design isn’t the only alternative theory that could be taught they’re hoping that’ll be enough to win any legal challenges. The problem being that, as far as I’m aware, there aren’t any other alternative theories to Evolution other than Intelligent Design. On top of that, Intelligent Design isn’t even a proper theory as much as it’s a piss-poor explanation. That won’t stop those Christians who want to have their world view propped up by government, though.
Troll. Definitely.
[X] Other
At least trolls don’t pee on the carpet.
One point he did make that seems to be thematic with True Believers is:
Despite the fundamental inaccuracy of the statement, I find it extremely egotistical of Christians in general to presume that we, mankind, are the end all, be all of life.
Dellusional paranoid who forget to take his meds…….
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One of them bot thingys like you made, but this one was put together by someone on the other side with a similar sense of humor to see if they can bait a response to the inane.
That makes two of us.
I think it also partially explains their fear to accept evolution.
Give me animals over people any time of day. Animals are cuter.
Now, now, Sadie. Not only are humans also animals, but some humans are pretty cute. Maybe not as cute as the orphaned baby hippo adopted by a tortoise, but cute nonetheless.
That is true. I meant non-human animals.
Ohh I’m a troll I’m a troll. Sure thing parasite.
Atleast I didn’t shave my crotch and grab a needle to go hunting for crabs, ya freaking lamo.
Oh, damnit, you caught us redhanded! God, how embarrassing! You know how much I love shaving my crotch and crab-hunting? It was a guilty pleasure, but now I’ve been found out. How will I ever be able to show my face in public again? *hides*
A word to the wise, Raven. Tweezers work much better than a needle. Not only do they hold the crabs better, but it’s less painful when you stab and miss.
And I admit it- I am a parasite and a lamo. So are you, and so is everyone else- we all suck the juices of other living beings, and all of us are handicapped, one way or another. No biggie. Just life.
This is slightly off topic, but it’s a great metaphor for ID, by James Harrington at Tech Central Station, via Pharyngula:
I am glad they are offering the intelligent design. I never went along with this evoluciion bull **** the idea we came from apes. LOL maybe they did, but I didnt and neither did my family. My parents would not allow a teacher to teach us that. I alway thought this evolution thing and still do is crazy. Totaly
Too bad the school board got sued over it and then voted out of office and then told that the policy was an unconstitutional violation of Church and State.
But you’re right about one thing, Teri, you didn’t come from apes. It just not possible because you obviously have the brains of a trout.
Not to mention that the school district is now saddled with paying the court costs, which it can ill afford.
Teri- it is a startling, and for some an uncomfortable, revelation, that we descended from apes. But it’s a fact, and if you open your eyes and take your fingers out of your ears, you will accept it.
Actually, I think evolution is a much grander story, showing that we are connected to all living things by common descent, than the childish fairy tale of a big grumpy guy in the sky making us out of mud.
Well I dont believe we came from apes and I dont have my LOL fingers in my ears and my eyes are open wide open. But how ever your certainly entitled to your own beliefs and opinion. Because one does not agree with anothers opinion does not mean they are wrong. Again your entitled to your own opinion as I am mine.
You’re right that we didn’t “come from apes” because we actually descended from a common ancestor to the apes. In other words, they’re more like a distant cousin than a great-grandpappy.
Of course, having studied up on Evolution thoroughly enough to be able to debunk it properly, you already knew that, right? Of course you didn’t. It’s that ignorance thing again.
You’re right that simply disagreeing with your opinion doesn’t make you wrong and we are all entitled to our opinions, it’s just a shame that mine are based on facts while yours are based on ignorance of what you’re railing against.
You can believe whatever the hell you want to, but that doesn’t mean your belief is valid or worthy of anything more than ridicule and scorn. Any idiot can spout off about what he believes to be true, but it don’t mean jack shit unless you can back it up with some facts.
LOL… this is crazy, I have a brain of a trot? What ever you say, but I dont have anything to prove to anyone this is just a message board where many have their own opinions, thoughts, And not every one agrees with each other. But that does not equal = a brain of a trot as you put it. But I know I am a bright, intelligent person. You can call me all the names in the world, what ever. But does not make it so because you say so or anyone else for that matter. Again as I said I do not, nor do a lot of people think we came came from apes as I am sure many share my same opinions. But name calling, come on thats a little childist don’t you think. We are suppose to be above all of that. I could do some name calling of my own, but I am above all of that, But if it makes you feel big and bad to do so more power to you. Again your entitled to YOUR OPINION!!! Got it? Now I am going to close this out…
Teri comes back to spew some more…
No, your idiotic statements is what equates you to having the brains of a trout, but even that may be a bit generous. Gravel is probably closer to the mark.
Again, you can believe you’re a bright and intelligent person, but the facts at hand would seem to contradict that belief. It might help if you picked up a dictionary or at least used a spell checker.
I’ve never claimed that my saying something makes it a fact, I’m merely pointing out the obvious. You provide all the proof my statements need for me.
Yes, there are a lot of idiots in this world. In that respect you are in very good company. Not something I’d trumpet too much if I were you, though.
Trust me, I haven’t resorted to name calling yet. You’ll know when I’ve crossed that line. I’m merely stating my opinion—which you keep saying I have every right to have—of your intelligence level and understanding of the topic you’re commenting on based on the facts you’ve presented for us in the form of your comments so far. The fact that you may consider my conclusions to be insulting doesn’t invalidate them in anyway. Sometimes the truth hurts.
Technically humans don’t come from apes. We have a common ancestor with them. Over time, seperate groups of this ancestor changed due to environmentally advantageous reasons. Eventually the two groups became so different they no longer could mate to create viable offspring. So technically, that ancestor was neither ape nor human, but something all together different.
Woops, sorry Les, I should have read more of the comments. Didn’t mean to repeat what you had said.
Depends. If by “ape” you mean “chimps, gorillas, orangutans, and gibbons”, which is the everyday definition, you are quite right- we did not descend from any of these modern apes.
Exactly where to draw the line between fossil apes and old-world monkeys is moot. But biologists call the most recent common ancestor of all modern apes an ape too. To quote Richard Dawkins talking about the fourth most recent common ancestor (“concestor”) of humans and other apes, the fourth place (going backwards in time) where we branched off from other living lineages:
(from The Ancestor’s Tale)
So from the biologist’s point of view, we blog readers, and our children, are all descended from apes- our parents, ourselves.
In response to Teri, it really should come as no surprise that the exact same people who are so stridently anti-evolution are the very ones who know the least about it.