The goings on in Kansas are terrifying.  I have family that lives there.  The county they live in is still a dry county.  I didn’t even know they still had dry counties until they moved there.

MRK421 makes a good point though.  That is, scientists need to do a better job of communicating.  Part of the problem as I see it, is that the folks that could do a good job at educating them, folks like P.Z. Meyers, are hostile to evangelicals as a group.

Don’t underestimate religious ferver! They’ll be gathering on your border with bibles and hockey sticks ready to string your scientists up like pinatas!

They’re coming to get you!

Bush wouldn’t have actually won his second term.

Sure… Those electronic voting machines are just having normal malfunctions…

http://www.corpwatch.org/img/original/dieboldw.jpg

I personally think these are Delusional Psychotics and should be treated as such.

“An asylum for the sane would be empty in America.”
-George Bernard Shaw

Consi,

There are people like Michael Ruse (who happens to be a fellow canuck) who is pushing for a softer gentler approach in talking with IDers and creationists.  However, Ruse’s suggestion hasn’t been all that well received by the biological community in the US.

Part of the problem as I see it, is that the folks that could do a good job at educating them, folks like P.Z. Meyers, are hostile to evangelicals as a group.

If calling a spade a spade is “hostility”, then PZ Meyers is hostile, Consi.  If you want to see real hostility, though, check out the current controversy around IDist William Dembski at the link I quoted above.

Part of the problem is that science simply doesn’t lend itself as well to PR as religion.  Sure, you can have Barney the Dinosaur, but to attain an in-depth understanding of why evolution explains our world in a way that ID, creationism, or Raelism do not, requires hard intellectual work.  The Bible, or the Koran or whatever, are much simpler to understand.  Many people are lazy and/or afraid of Hell, and go the path of less resistance.

Another part of the problem, is that many scientists are now reluctant to engage directly with IDers, because when they have, this is pounced upon by the IDers as proof that there’s a scientific controversy that should be taught in public schools.  Of course, if scientists refuse to debate IDers, then that is gleefully termed “persecution”.  The truth is that there is no scientific controversy about ID- only a PR controversy.

MRK421:

Creationism comes well packaged for a public already dumbed down by the media. Science is rigorous, has concepts not quickly or easily understood. The public will be inclined to follow the path of least resistance.

Absolutely.  How do you compete with a three word, monosyllabic sentence (God did it), the quintessential soundbyte. 

Dumbing down the education system is what allows creationism to flourish.  It’s also the only way for no child to be left behind. 

I agree with Jon Stewart’s “Some kids left behind” from the Daily Show last month.

Well, yeah. Of course God shouldn’t be meantioned in a science class. God is not science. What I am complaining about is that these people claim to know how God’s Intelligent Design process works. Personally, if people want to teach creationism in a science class, then they should have to teach evolution in holy places. It’s only fair to give both equal time. The Creationists say so themselves.

As an Australian, I too find it laughable that creationist thought exists in the 21st century.

On a political note, our education system is now falling into total dissarray and during our last federal election campaign Chritian conservatives really pushed their “moral” buttons to get elected.

Here, in OZ, I thought we believed in the separation of Church/Synagogue/Mosque and State, but the convergence is now happening.

People of all types have the RIGHT to express themselves freely. This means a gay person may openly express their love and devotion for a partner, a Muslim woman to wear the chaddor if she chooses or a christian to not use contraceptive methods or the choice to believe in ID.

What freedom of expression does not mean is the right to ram a set of beliefs down someone else’s throat or to make another practice what I/you belive…

The fact that school boards in the US allow bullying to continue on the basis that homosexuality is bad just reinforces might is right.

And can someone explain to me why it’s OK for the US to invade another country on the basis of it being a thocracy(Afghanistan) when it itself is heading that way?

People of all types have the RIGHT to express themselves freely.

I think you have left out a word here, kanga: between “types” and “have”, you need a ”should”.

Rights are not givens, neither from God nor Evolution.  They are human constructs which evolve in the ideosphere, and as such, must be formulated, refined, and defended against their enemies Bigotry and Fear.

between “types�? and “have�?, you need a “should�?.

Yes zilch, you are correct.

“And what are the generally accepted standards of society, exactly?”

Good question, especially considering a story in WaPo today (May 10) about a deputy in North Carolina who got fired because she “co-habitates” with her boyfriend.  It seems there is a law on the books in NC (circa. 1805) declaring that living together is illegal, punishable by $1000 fine and 60 days in jail.

Does a law like this indicate that living together is not now generally accepted in society?  Good God, half the country would be in the clink right now.