Religions > Atheism > Intelligent Design: Bringing Back the Dark Ages to a School Near You
| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Gandalf Grey" |
| Date: |
28 Sep 2006 12:41:43 PM |
| Object: |
Intelligent Design: Bringing Back the Dark Ages to a School Near You |
Bringing back the Dark Ages: Intelligent design is merely a way to try to
dignify some irrational religious theories.
By Jack Lessenberry
Created Sep 27 2006 - 4:54pm
Last week, ***** DeVos, the man who is spending millions of dollars a month
attempting to sucker you into voting for him for governor [of Michigan],
escaped.
Escaped his handlers, that is, who want to filter every word their man says
through three speechwriters and two public relations consultants. But Amway
***** gave a telephone interview with the Associated Press on the subject of
education and he said he wanted "intelligent design" taught in schools.
With that, he showed that he was clearly qualified to be governor. Governor,
that is, of Tennessee, in 1925, the year of the Scopes trial. Tennessee
lawmakers had just made it illegal to teach evolution, which they
interpreted as meaning that man was descended from monkeys. Instead they
made monkeys of themselves and their defender, political gasbag Williams
Jennings Bryan, who finished the trial and promptly dropped dead. (You might
have seen Inherit the Wind.)
Well, guess what. The people of this nation apparently never learn a thing,
and are at this silliness again with less excuse. When I was a teenager in
1966, I might easily have believed it if the Hindu god Shiva had called me
up and told me that the world would be a smoking radioactive cinder today.
But what if he had tried to tell me we would be doing Vietnam all over
again, except in a worse and stupider way, four decades later? That'd been
pretty hard to swallow - especially if the Shiv had told me that in 1968 or
later.
And had the ol' Destroyer hinted that our political leaders would still be
arguing about evolution today, in the year of our miscalculation 2006, well,
I would have shot indignantly out of nirvana like a lightning bolt.
How could anybody, even a god with a blue neck, talk about insulting the
collective intelligence of Our Politicians? Well, I now see why Shivvie, in
his infinite wisdom, didn't confide in me; I don't do long-term depression
well.
Our man from Amway is far from alone in his lack of belief in evolution, and
a couple of legislators actually have done more damage recently along these
lines. Earlier this year, the Michigan Legislature finally and responsibly
acted to toughen up guidelines for high school graduation.
Ours were way too lax. Even the legislators realized that without better
preparation, fewer of our students will be able get into college, much less
get the good, high-tech jobs of the future. (You may have noticed Oldsmobile
is no longer hiring unskilled assembly line workers, no?)
Final curriculum standards were to be approved last week - but the State
Board of Education held up the science ones, putting off final approval till
Oct. 10. Why? Because the board was terrorized by two Republican lawmakers
who want the words "may or may not" inserted in language that talks about
whether evolution explains the fossil record, etc.
The state board should have told them to go take a walk where the sun
doesn't evolve, or something. But Kathleen Straus, the board's president,
told me they felt they were required to get input from the Legislature.
So she, and most of the board, voted to put off adopting the standards.
However, Straus made it clear that when they reconvene, she won't vote for
opening the door to "intelligent design." Neither, it seems, will a majority
of the eight-member board, which Democrats currently control, 5-3.
That's a relief, if true, but it is still dismaying and disgusting that the
State Board of Education feels the need to pander to a bunch of
anti-intellectuals who would sneak fundamentalist, know-nothing religion
into the curriculum.
This should really bother those who care about money, or our state's
economic future. High-tech firms are not going to come to Michigan if they
think there is any chance we are going to teach funny, crackpot science in
schools.
If I were building a bridge, it wouldn't matter to me in the least if my
engineer believed the universe was held up by a divine Allis-Chalmers
combine, to which he prayed fervently at night. That is, I wouldn't care as
long as I knew that he had been properly trained in how to calculate the
physical stresses and make my bridge sturdy and sound, and acted on his day
job as though the conventional laws of physics and metallurgy applied.
But if I thought there was a chance he might have been allowed to study
Allis-Chalmersism instead of calculus in school ... no way, baby.
Intelligent design is neither intelligent nor a science. It is merely a way
to try to dignify some irrational religious theories. It should be noted
that there are plenty of believing Christians who accept evolution as the
way God made the world. There is exactly as much scientific evidence in
favor of teaching "intelligent design" as there is in the Flying Spaghetti
Monster.
Actually, last time I looked on His Noodly Web site, several hundred
scientists had weighed in on behalf of Pastafarianism, saying teaching about
the Spaghetti Monster makes as much or more sense than intelligent design.
Which reminds me ... has anyone seen any sign that ***** DeVos has a sense of
humor?
* * *
Want to get involved with a worthy cause? Then you might look into helping
out a new nonprofit group, Michigan Citizens for Stem Cell Research and
Cures. They want to help the public learn just how promising this work could
be. That's important, because the same religious-nut yahoos who want to
teach creationism are doing everything in their power to prevent progress.
President George W. Bush recently vetoed a bill that would have provided
federal money for embryonic stem cell research. He thinks that means killing
babies. In reality, all scientists want to use are the discarded clumps of
cells that are the leftovers at fertility clinics. What happens to them if
they aren't used for research? They get flushed down the drain, which
Georgie evidently thinks is more pleasing to God. What's worse is that
Michigan's laws are even more restrictive than the federal standard. We need
to fix this.
State Rep. Andy Meisner (D-Ferndale) has been leading the charge to do the
Lord's work and change our medieval laws, but he has been stymied by the
inquisition. If people, including Republicans who aren't fundamentalist
reformed alcoholics knew more about it, the vast majority would be marching
on Lansing to force the politicians to not only allow it, but pour funding
into it.
Want a small example of what this research could mean? Last week scientists
in Toronto (a city in Canada, a civilized country) announced they had used
human embryonic stem cells to completely restore the sight of laboratory
rats that suffered from a disease like macular degeneration. An American
scientist working on the project said clinical trials on people might happen
soon.
Other perfectly sober scientists think diseases such as Parkinson's,
Alzheimer's and even paralysis might be overcome by developing embryonic
stem cell technology. Besides the effects on people, can you imagine the
effect on Michigan's economy if we were to become a major center where, say,
people came to have their sight restored?
You can contact the center for stem cell research at 248-948-5555, or
stemcellresearchformichigan.com. Or you could just hope for a miracle if you
ever get sick, and send your spare money to ***** DeVos instead.
_______
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
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political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
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| User: "Geoff" |
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| Title: Re: Intelligent Design: Bringing Back the Dark Ages to a School Near You |
29 Sep 2006 12:10:22 AM |
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"Gandalf Grey" <gandalfgrey@infectedmail.com> wrote in message
news:451c0797$0$4854$9a6e19ea@news.newshosting.com...
***** gave a telephone interview with the Associated Press on the subject
of education and he said he wanted "intelligent design" taught in schools.
With that, he showed that he was clearly qualified to be governor.
Governor, that is, of Tennessee, in 1925, the year of the Scopes trial.
The joke would have been better not explained.
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| User: "quibbler" |
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| Title: Re: Intelligent Design: Bringing Back the Dark Ages to a School Near You |
29 Sep 2006 11:20:47 AM |
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In article <451c0797$0$4854$9a6e19ea@news.newshosting.com>,
gandalfgrey@infectedmail.com says...
If I were building a bridge, it wouldn't matter to me in the least if my
engineer believed the universe was held up by a divine Allis-Chalmers
combine, to which he prayed fervently at night. That is, I wouldn't care as
long as I knew that he had been properly trained in how to calculate the
physical stresses and make my bridge sturdy and sound, and acted on his day
job as though the conventional laws of physics and metallurgy applied.
But this is where the desire to accommodate the cognitively dissonant
views of religious crackpots, in the name of "tolerance" and "religious
freedom" starts to become dangerous and irrational. See a person who
believes nonsense at night is not necessarily able to compartmentalize
that craziness and keep it out of his or her day job. In fact, there has
been a huge push by repug morons to bring that "faith-based" *****
into the workplace and the public sphere. For example, repugs see no
problem in allowing religious charities to receive government money even
if they discriminate on "faith-based" grounds, in ways which would not be
acceptable for other organizations under federal statutes.
My point is that, we can certainly hope that people will separate their
personal and professional conduct, say if we find out that the head
engineer on our company's building project is a "tongue-speaking",
"snake-handling" idiot. But I'm not sure that assumption is justified.
Rather than do difficult, expensive calculations, the "tongue-speaking,
snake-handling idiot" above might merely pray to god to see whether the
design was strong enough or install a few religious "lucky charms"
instead of adequately protecting it from earthquake and fire risks. If
the supernatural is endorsed as a valid potential explanation for the
data, then said engineer might decide that a bridge doesn't need as much
support because he will perform his voodoo witch-doctor ceremonies on it
and that way angels and spirits will hold it up, if it's in danger of
structural failure. The problem is that religous people want there to be
no separation between their private superstitious beliefs and the way
they conduct their lives. Given this, I say that engineering licensing
boards should reject fundamentalists on the grounds that it would be too
dangerous for them to let their professional judgments become compromised
by their kooky religious ideologies.
--
Quibbler (quibbler247atyahoo.com)
"It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the
threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, 'mad cow'
disease, and many others, but I think a case can be
made that faith is one of the world's great evils,
comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to
eradicate." -- Richard Dawkins
.
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| User: "B1ackwater" |
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| Title: Re: Intelligent Design: Bringing Back the Dark Ages to a School Near You |
28 Sep 2006 02:44:11 PM |
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On Thu, 28 Sep 2006 10:41:43 -0700, "Gandalf Grey"
<gandalfgrey@infectedmail.com> wrote:
Bringing back the Dark Ages: Intelligent design is merely a way to try to
dignify some irrational religious theories.
By Jack Lessenberry
Created Sep 27 2006 - 4:54pm
Last week, ***** DeVos, the man who is spending millions of dollars a month
attempting to sucker you into voting for him for governor [of Michigan],
escaped.
Escaped his handlers, that is, who want to filter every word their man says
through three speechwriters and two public relations consultants. But Amway
***** gave a telephone interview with the Associated Press on the subject of
education and he said he wanted "intelligent design" taught in schools.
I think it *should* be. Take a day or two, stand it right
up against the wall with evolution and see which one will
measure up. ID couldn't manage an inch if it mainlined
Viagra.
ID is only strong when it's kept underground, preached
to the faithful and ignorant choir - unquestioned. Exposed
to the light of day in fair competition, it becomes a
laughable joke of a 'theory'.
Evolution is supported by 150+ years of interlocking
multi-disciplinary research and the resulting mountain
of evidence. ID ... well ... some people *believe*
in it .... and that's about the extent of its 'proof'.
IDs *only* strength - that you don't have to study
anything. It's easy on the brain cells. All you've
gotta do is say "I *BELIEVE* !" and that's that.
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| User: "quibbler" |
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| Title: Re: Intelligent Design: Bringing Back the Dark Ages to a School Near You |
29 Sep 2006 11:28:38 AM |
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In article <451c2464.31752937@news.west.earthlink.net>,
says...
On Thu, 28 Sep 2006 10:41:43 -0700, "Gandalf Grey"
<gandalfgrey@infectedmail.com> wrote:
Bringing back the Dark Ages: Intelligent design is merely a way to try to
dignify some irrational religious theories.
By Jack Lessenberry
Created Sep 27 2006 - 4:54pm
Last week, ***** DeVos, the man who is spending millions of dollars a month
attempting to sucker you into voting for him for governor [of Michigan],
escaped.
Escaped his handlers, that is, who want to filter every word their man says
through three speechwriters and two public relations consultants. But Amway
***** gave a telephone interview with the Associated Press on the subject of
education and he said he wanted "intelligent design" taught in schools.
I think it *should* be. Take a day or two, stand it right
up against the wall with evolution and see which one will
measure up. ID couldn't manage an inch if it mainlined
Viagra.
I agree that ID could not hold its own, but you seem to be laboring under
the delusion that it would be presented accurately, or that students
would be equipped to see through the many fallacies which are the bread
and butter of theology. We'd like to think that people are smarter than
this, but many viewers can't even distinguish the obvious propaganda
purveyed by Fox as opposed to real news. If ID were presented in the
classroom, they would go get a minister who would tell the kids that
accepting evolution at any point was tantamount to being an atheist,
commie, homosexual who spits on the bible and wants to murder his
parents. You don't think that they would actually permit serious
analysis of ID, do you?
--
Quibbler (quibbler247atyahoo.com)
"It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the
threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, 'mad cow'
disease, and many others, but I think a case can be
made that faith is one of the world's great evils,
comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to
eradicate." -- Richard Dawkins
.
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