intelligent decision, unintelligent design

[maelorin]

Intelligent Decision

What the judge said about intelligent design in schools.

in short: intelligent design isn't science, it's religious propaganda that has no place in science classes.

Unintelligent Design

A monstrous discovery suggests that viruses, long regarded as lowly evolutionary latecomers, may have been the precursors of all life on Earth.

i like viruses, intellectually at least. even the messy ones are architecturally and biologically fascinating.

Comments

Re: has no place in science classes

[maelorin]

addressing why 'intelligent design' is *not* science is one thing. problem is, the 'id' people want it taught *with* science, or as if it has anything to do with science.

science teachers are addressing 'id', but they're having a hard time getting high school students to understand how it isn't science. they already have enough problems grasping *what science is*.

students who come into the science class *knowing* that 'id' is the real thing, are neither going to be persuaded otherwise by teachers, nor are most teachers even out to try. these are also the students whose parents want 'id' taught as science.

let's be honest here, this is only an issue with public schools. private (evangelical) religious schools already teach 'id' as science if that is their religious inclination. evolution gets taught as ungodly stuff for the exam, or 'how the non-righteous are deluded'.

having been in a science class, in a religious private school, where 'id' is not considered doctrine, i've seen the matter handled in several different classes. the approach was pretty consistent. 'this is what id is', and 'these are the different viewpoints/arguments/positions regarding id'. students were left to make up their own minds. but 'id' did not show up in any assessment.

'id' is not science. it is a particular variant of certain christian religious dogma (in the proper sense). the recent revival/promotion of 'id' is a political agenda of the evangelical right in the usa, adopted here in the usual way of these things.