Culture

Below are excerpts from some notes I used during a book release event for Traipsing Into Evolution on May 16, 2006. (Jonathan Witt previously posted his notes here): As I first read the Kitzmiller decision, I kept having this strange sensation of déjà vu: Where had I heard all these types of arguments before? Then I remembered: I’d heard them during plaintiffs closing arguments which I witnessed live on the final day of the trial–arguments which were based upon a false, straw definition of ID, and misconstrued much evidence about ID. We could spend hours talking about this, so in 4 minutes, here are the primary problems with what Judge Jones said about science in the decision. First Judge Jones Read More ›

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg gave one of those suddenly vogue commencement addresses–the kind where you ingratiate yourself to the graduates, in this case at Johns Hopkins Medical School, by reference to specific professors and courses they no longer will have to endure. This rhetorical tactic will be a recognized mortar-board cliché by next year, but it probably was a great crowd pleaser in Baltimore yesterday.

Today the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling in the Selman v. Cobb County case, which vacated and remanded the prior ruling of a federal district court. By vacating the problematic ruling, this could be a step towards the vindication of the right of school districts to teach evolution objectively. The 3-Judge panel found that until “missing links in the documentary chain have been provided” (pg. 33) which would remedy “the unfilled gaps in the record” (pg. 43), they cannot determine if trial court Judge Cooper was correct to find that: “in light of the sequence of events that led to the Sticker’s adoption, the Sticker communicates to those who endorse evolution that they are political outsiders, while Read More ›

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has thrown out the trial court decision ruling that evolution disclaimers on science textbooks were unconstitutional.

For more information visit Discovery Institute’s Cobb County Trial resource page here.

In a unanimous decision the federal three-judge panel –including both Democratic and Republican appointees– stopped short of deciding the constitutionality of the stickers, and instead sent the case back to the trial court judge with instructions to hold more evidentiary hearings on the issue.

“This decision is a victory as it throws out the problematic ruling from the trial court,” said Casey Luskin, an attorney with the Discovery Institute. “Essentially, the appellate judges found that some of the findings of the lower court were not substantiated by the evidence in the record, so now new evidentiary hearings must be held, which could completely change the trial court’s original ruling against the school district.”

Darwinists ask us to trust them in their role as historical scientists. All the while many of them appear incapable of accurately interpreting even very recent historical events. I’m thinking of their understanding of recent Vatican statements about Darwinism and design. We’re frequently reassured by Darwinists and their trusting messengers in the mainstream media that the Catholic church is absolutely on board the Darwinian juggernaut, and that the new pope hasn’t bought into anything as gauche as Darwin doubting, much less anything as Medieval as thinking there is clear evidence of intelligent design in nature.

But then the pope hauls off and appoints an outspoken proponent of intelligent design as archbishop of the Catholic diocese of Washington DC, one of the “red hat” dioceses of the US.

The action merely confirms what the Vatican has been stating explicitly for years, feverish media spin to the contrary notwithstanding. In this month’s Touchstone, Martin Hilbert (who holds a doctorate in the history and philosophy of science) sorts out Catholic views on Darwinian evolution:

For the last three years, defenders of academic freedom and free speech on evolution have supported Alabama’s Academic Freedom Bill. Although the bill has come close to final passage, it recently died again in the Alabama legislature. An outspoken opponent of the bill has been activist Larry Darby. Mr. Darby’s vehement opposition to the Alabama Academic Freedom Bill was on full display at a House Education hearing back on April 29, 2004. According to reports I have received, committee chair, Rep. Yvonne Kennedy (D), did not allow citizens to testify for the bill. But for some reason she let Mr. Darby alone provide special commentary on it. Blasting the bill, Mr. Darby claimed that Alabama already had enough legislation filled Read More ›

According to a report from the Montreal (CA) Gazette some parents in the Quebec town of Salluit don’t want their children learning about evolution. Alexandre April, who teaches French and physical science to students in Grades 7 and 8, said he was told repeatedly by the principal to stop teaching evolution, for fear of hurting their students’ religious beliefs. I suspect that the parents are more concerned that their students are being taught evolution dogmatically, without any exposure to the science that challenges it. The way to avoid these kind of problems of course is to teach the scientific evidence for evolution, as well as the scientific evidence against it. Were they to teach evolution critically, students would be more Read More ›

Below are the notes for my comments at the Traipsing into Evolution book party held at Discovery Institute yesterday. There the four authors discussed Judge Jones’ lengthy opinion in the Dover intelligent design trial, and touched on some of the highlights from the book, which was our response to his opinion.

Last year a few incautious university administrators (here’s one, here’s another) tried to start an academic shutdown of discussion of intelligent design on college campuses, and especially in college courses. Fortunately, such an obviously unAmerican act as censoring an idea, didn’t really catch fire except with the most strident Darwinistas (and here).

Even as Antony Flew receives the Phillip E Johnson Award for Liberty and Truth, the Sacramento Bee reports about Johnson still on the speaking circuit. The short article quotes some of Johnson’s former colleagues at Boalt Hall, and is very clear on where Johnson stands on education policy in regards to teaching ID: Johnson said his intent never was to use public school education as the forum for his ideas. In fact, he said he opposed the efforts by the “well-intentioned but foolish” school board in Dover, Pa., to require teachers to present intelligent design as a viable scientific theory.Instead, he hoped to ignite a debate in universities and the higher echelon of scientific thinkers. This article comes just after Read More ›