| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"desertphile@hot, Desertphile, American Patriot" |
| Date: |
22 Feb 2005 10:03:48 AM |
| Object: |
Creationists who call God a liar: ID proponents |
http://www.pitch.com/issues/2005-02-17/news/strip.html
Kansas City Strip
Bible thumping is about to take on a new meaning in Kansas.
AS TOLD TO TONY ORTEGA
tony.ortega@pitch.com
The Strip is outraged by the intelligent-design squabble going on
in the Kansas public schools.
So far, the local media have done a pathetic job of explaining the
ideas behind "ID," giving us no real clue what's actually at stake
in the effort to change science teaching standards.
Well, this meat patty will clue you in to the awful truth: The
people pushing intelligent design are godless interlopers who want
our children taught that the Bible got things wrong.
As far as they're concerned, the good book is just a bunch of
fairy tales.
The Lord creating the Earth in six days just a few thousand years
ago?
Didn't happen.
Adam naming the animals?
Just a myth.
Noah saving Earth's creatures from the flood?
No more than a bedtime story.
Nope, these ID-olators don't have much respect for the holy word.
They suggest that the Earth is billions of years old and that
animals have evolved pretty much the way Charles Darwin described
more than a century ago.
For these folks of little faith, science answers most of the
world's mysteries, explaining the history of the universe and the
proliferation of life on Earth. The girlie-man God they worship
steps in only to fill in small gaps in scientific knowledge and to
lend a gentle helping hand in ways that cannot be measured, tested
or debunked.
A couple of weeks ago, the Strip watched in dismay as intelligent
design backers put on a pitiful display at a state board public
hearing at a high school in Kansas City, Kansas.
The speakers took to a microphone, urging a board subcommittee to
insert intelligent-design wording into the state's public-school
curriculum. But did anyone cite the Bible? Did anyone stick up for
God's version of what happened thousands of years ago?
Oh, no. ID wussies stepped up one after another to talk about the
"weaknesses" in biological evolution, the "controversies" that
they wanted their children to hear about.
The complete surrender of religion to the onslaught of science was
a pathetic sight.
The utter defeat was not lost on Celtie Johnson, a God-fearing
Johnson County mom who was largely responsible for the last battle
over evolution in Kansas schools. Back in 1999, she led an honest
fight for biblical truth, attempting to get the Genesis creation
story taught to schoolchildren. She's back again, fighting
evolution once more, but this time she's standing up for the
watered-down ID agenda.
We asked how she really felt about intelligent design's unbiblical
assault on the schools.
"It's pitiful. But what can I do?" she told this curious cutlet.
"It's not that difficult to understand the Earth being 6,000 years
old. But they [the ID crowd] tell me it's an incremental program."
An incremental program. Johnson was referring to people such as
lawyer John Calvert and University of Missouri-Kansas City
med-school professor William Harris, who have spearheaded the
Kansas school effort with a Johnson County organization they call
the Intelligent Design Network. Johnson claimed that the ID
bigwigs assured her they have the same ultimate goal that she does
-- to get religion into science classes -- and that ID allows them
to take small, less controversial steps toward that goal.
"With media opposition, you can only go so far," she admitted. And
for people like her who still believe in the Bible's origin story,
she said, "It's a step back." But the ID people with whom she has
allied herself are deluding themselves if they think they're doing
heaven a favor with their "incremental" program. "They are not
getting the whole picture, and they are not pleasing Jesus Christ,
who is God," Johnson reminded us. "If you don't believe parts of
the Bible, why are you calling yourself a Christian?"
Well, we wondered the same thing. So we asked Harris why he was so
down on the Lord's story of life's origin.
"Some are lukewarm to the ID perspective because they feel that it
does not go far enough and hence gives aid and comfort to
believers who only want to believe halfway," Harris responded.
"That's their privilege. It does not weaken the ID argument for
design, though, in my opinion."
OK, so Harris is convinced that there's a "designer" behind the
proliferation of life. But what's with the coy act? Isn't he
really talking about the Christian God?
"As a Christian, I would equate that designer with the God of the
Bible, but I know Muslims who equate that designer with Allah. I
also know nontheists who, although agreeing that the evidence
points to an intelligence behind nature, simply don't equate it
with anybody."
Well, that's a relief. It's nice knowing that we could believe the
universe was designed by our pet cat Whiskers and still belong to
the ID club.
But, hey, here's what this rump roast really wanted to know. If ID
folks like Harris acknowledge that the Bible's big, cinematic
opening chapter gets things completely wrong, how can they be sure
the rest of it isn't a fairy tale as well? For example, how can
Harris be sure the Bible gets the whole "God" thing right?
"I think we get off on an unproductive rabbit trail when we start
debating what's true and what's not in the Bible," Harris
answered.
Oh, sure -- he wants to rake evolution over the coals, but the
Bible is off limits?
ID folks, you see, really don't want to bring the Bible into the
equation. They're very careful not to mention Genesis in front of
school boards. And you won't find an ID adherent who attributes
the vast abundance of Earth's life forms to God's six-day plan.
Truth is, they know evolution has pretty good answers for that.
Instead, to support their ideas they point to tiny flagella, those
little hairlike things you find flopping around on bacteria.
In 1996, Lehigh University biochemistry professor Michael Behe
gave intelligent design its biggest boost when he made a big deal
about the lowly flagellum and how it's put together. He argued
that the flagellum is a wondrous structure of amazing complexity.
In fact, Behe argued, it's such a marvel of interlocking parts
that it's impossible to imagine a less complex version of the
flagellum being useful to any creature. Therefore, he concluded,
there's no way evolution, through random chance, could have
produced a flagellum from simpler forms. Instead, some intelligent
agent (wink, wink) must have "designed" it.
Well, isn't that special? Evolution produced millions of species
on Earth, but God pitched in by making the flagellum.
Go, God!
If you're a biblical Christian, that's gotta be pretty
underwhelming.
And if you're a scientist, it's just plain stupid.
Ask a biologist -- just because Behe can't imagine how a flagellum
could have evolved doesn't necessarily mean someone smarter than
Behe couldn't come along and discover an evolution-based
explanation that's quite sufficient. (In fact, several scientists
already have.)
Now, don't expect ID promoters like Harris to bring up the complex
structures of bacteria to the Kansas school board. He knows
better.
Board members aren't likely to know a whole lot about science, and
with a 6-4 conservative majority after last fall's elections, it
won't take much to convince them to go along with Harris' slick
pitch for "objectivity" in science standards.
Sometime in the next couple of months, the Strip imagines that the
board will approve Harris' suggested changes to the state's
science curriculum, allowing nonscientific attacks on evolution to
become standard fare in the public schools.
Not that anyone will be able to tell the difference.
Al Frisby just retired after teaching science for 30 years in the
Blue Valley School District, and he tells the Strip it's already
impossible to talk about evolution's concepts to today's Kansas
teenagers without getting a lot of eye-rolling in return. He's now
teaching across the state line in Liberty, and he says in recent
years, students' outright hostility to science has made it
difficult to do his job.
Well, this flank steak reckons that's only to be expected when so
many Midwest youngsters figure that Jesus is wicked rad.
But we wonder how our God-fearing youngsters will react when
intelligent design becomes a regular part of the curriculum.
We're just glad it won't be our job to teach ID and tell churchy
students that their favorite book is a joke.
Pitch.com | originally published: February 17, 2005
---
http://lastliberal.org
Free random & sequential signature changer http://holysmoke.org/sig
"Well, I think there was a mole in the White House... or maybe a gerbil."
(Bill Maher, speaking of the Republican male prostitute in the White House)
"The very poor are strictly materialistic. It takes money to be a
mystic." -- Edward Abbey
.
|
|
| User: "Fredric L. Rice" |
|
| Title: Re: Creationists who call God a liar: ID proponents |
22 Feb 2005 10:52:00 PM |
|
|
desertphile@hot, (Desertphile, American Patriot)
wrote:
http://www.pitch.com/issues/2005-02-17/news/strip.html
Kansas City Strip
Bible thumping is about to take on a new meaning in Kansas.
AS TOLD TO TONY ORTEGA
tony.ortega@pitch.com
Hey! Look at that name! Tony! One of the good guys has
found employment with another publication. Remember him in
the Tory Magoo exposure?
---
http://www.ElmerFudd.US/ http://www.notserver.com/
Scientology crooks: http://sf.irk.ru/www/ot3/otiii-gif.html
Scientology murder: http://PerkinsTragedy.org
.
|
|
|
| User: "desertphile@hot, Desertphile, American Patriot" |
|
| Title: Re: Creationists who call God a liar: ID proponents |
23 Feb 2005 09:58:14 AM |
|
|
On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 04:52:00 GMT, (Fredric
L. Rice) wrote:
desertphile@hot, (Desertphile, American Patriot)
wrote:
http://www.pitch.com/issues/2005-02-17/news/strip.html
Kansas City Strip
Bible thumping is about to take on a new meaning in Kansas.
AS TOLD TO TONY ORTEGA
tony.ortega@pitch.com
Hey! Look at that name! Tony! One of the good guys has
found employment with another publication. Remember him in
the Tory Magoo exposure?
You could write to him and ask if he is the same person.
---
http://www.ElmerFudd.US/ http://www.notserver.com/
Scientology crooks: http://sf.irk.ru/www/ot3/otiii-gif.html
Scientology murder: http://PerkinsTragedy.org
---
http://lastliberal.org
Free random & sequential signature changer http://holysmoke.org/sig
"Well, I think there was a mole in the White House... or maybe a gerbil."
(Bill Maher, speaking of the Republican male prostitute in the White House)
"There's nothing so obscene and depressing as an American Christmas."
-- Edward Abbey
.
|
|
|
| User: "Fredric L. Rice" |
|
| Title: Re: Creationists who call God a liar: ID proponents |
23 Feb 2005 11:52:30 PM |
|
|
desertphile@hot, (Desertphile, American Patriot)
wrote:
On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 04:52:00 GMT, (Fredric L. Rice) wrote:
tony.ortega@pitch.com
Hey! Look at that name! Tony! One of the good guys has
found employment with another publication. Remember him in
the Tory Magoo exposure?
You could write to him and ask if he is the same person.
I did. Kind of. }:-} I just assumed he was the same guy and
dropped him a note. He works for an alternative news source so
I'd bet that's him.
---
http://www.ElmerFudd.US/ http://www.notserver.com/
Scientology crooks: http://sf.irk.ru/www/ot3/otiii-gif.html
Scientology murder: http://PerkinsTragedy.org
.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
