• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

EDITORIAL: Intelligent Verdict on Evolution

Posted on: Friday, 23 December 2005, 09:00 CST

By The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va., The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Dec. 23--No book, no speech, no argument will ever be enough to convince committed creationists that evolution describes the natural world more accurately than the Bible.

But Tuesday, a federal judge provided a powerful denunciation of the notion that the two ideas deserve equal treatment in the nation's public school science classrooms.

Sadly, U.S. District Judge John Jones' ruling in the case of the Dover area School Board won't hold much sway outside of Pennsylvania. It's sad because Jones -- in a manner befitting the international attention the case received -- provided the kind of incisive analysis of the "intelligent design" movement that has been sorely lacking lately in America.

Far too many people, including the president, have been loath to call intelligent design for what it is: creationism, the belief that the Bible accurately describes the world's development, by a fancier name.

Many otherwise reasonable Americans buy the notion that teachers should acknowledge that there's a controversy over evolution. It's about academic freedom, fair-minded Americans say.

The problem is that while there is a controversy over evolution, it has nothing to do with science. The science is as settled as science gets, and evolution is the better theory. That's because intelligent design isn't science, Jones decided; it is just as religious as creationism, which has already been banned from public schools because it violates the Constitution's prohibition against state establishment of religion.

The Dover School Board had required teachers to read a statement that cast official doubt on evolution, while at the same time encouraging students to read a widely discredited book published by a Christian organization.

Jones, who was appointed by the current president, cut through all the camouflage designed to hide intelligent design's origins, and laid it bare as part of a fundamentally dishonest campaign to return -- by any means necessary -- Christianity to public school classrooms:

"It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy."

Such disguises are still being worn in Kansas and Georgia, among other places in America, and will be pulled out of the closet in other communities. Despite Jones' decision, such battles will go on across America, creating an unnecessary and artificial division between science and religion.

"Their presupposition is that evolutionary theory is antithetical to a belief in the existence of a supreme being and to religion in general," Jones wrote. "Repeatedly in this trial, Plaintiffs' scientific experts testified that the theory of evolution represents good science, is overwhelmingly accepted by the scientific community, and that it in no way conflicts with, nor does it deny, the existence of a divine creator."

As has been proved over and over again -- from the time of the Scopes trial in 1925 -- such reasoned good sense will be lost on many Americans. So expect to see Dover repeated across the nation, with intelligent design advocates -- or whatever new name they give it -- pretending that they're not trying to insert religion into public school classrooms right up until the time a judge denounces them.

-----

Copyright (c) 2005, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Virginian-Pilot

More News in this Category