Feeling Breathtakingly Inane
US District Judge John E. Jones says I'm breathtakingly inane. Well, actually, he says the Dover Township, PA school board is, for teaching Intelligent Design (ID) as a science. Well, actually, he said the former school board is, since most of the pro-ID board got voted out of office in an uprising. (source)
I've heard the anti-ID arguments, the ones on which Jones based his decision to pitch ID from Dover schools: In a nutshell, ID is not a scientific theory. That makes me wonder whether the study of statistics is a science, because a good ID curriculum should boil down to a study in statistics.
Break down any element of evolutionary science and there's a probability question. I'm sure evolutionists have fancy-pants ways to explain it, but it's basically "add A and B, allow enough time, and poof!" Some new critter. The question ID raises is, given the statistical probability of a particular event occuring randomly, is there enough time available for there to be a reasonable possibility that it might have occurred?
The answer is no. No matter how much time you add to the formula, all the amino acids won't simply occur. No, no matter how much time you add to the formula, the complexity of an eye won't jump into being. No, no matter how much time you add, life doesn't simply spark into existence.
That seems like a valid scientific analysis to me. Perhaps if the ID crowd focused on the math curriculum instead of the biology curriculum, they'd make better progress. But what high school or junior high curriculum offers statistics nowdays?
The interesting part of this case is the fervor it aroused in the community. An attorney for the parents bringing the suit spoke of "vindication" and the "real courage" of his clients to stand up to a school board that held different beliefs.
Their conviction sounds almost religious.
And that's what bugs me. Evolution is, more and more, secularism posing as science. And that's ok with the courts, which refuse to view secularism as a religion. Of course it is, even though there is no high priest of a secular church who is going to stand up this Sunday and praise Judge Jones.
They don't need high priests to win their religious wars. They've succeeded in making secularism the national religion of America, utterly unseparated from the state.
I've heard the anti-ID arguments, the ones on which Jones based his decision to pitch ID from Dover schools: In a nutshell, ID is not a scientific theory. That makes me wonder whether the study of statistics is a science, because a good ID curriculum should boil down to a study in statistics.
Break down any element of evolutionary science and there's a probability question. I'm sure evolutionists have fancy-pants ways to explain it, but it's basically "add A and B, allow enough time, and poof!" Some new critter. The question ID raises is, given the statistical probability of a particular event occuring randomly, is there enough time available for there to be a reasonable possibility that it might have occurred?
The answer is no. No matter how much time you add to the formula, all the amino acids won't simply occur. No, no matter how much time you add to the formula, the complexity of an eye won't jump into being. No, no matter how much time you add, life doesn't simply spark into existence.
That seems like a valid scientific analysis to me. Perhaps if the ID crowd focused on the math curriculum instead of the biology curriculum, they'd make better progress. But what high school or junior high curriculum offers statistics nowdays?
The interesting part of this case is the fervor it aroused in the community. An attorney for the parents bringing the suit spoke of "vindication" and the "real courage" of his clients to stand up to a school board that held different beliefs.
Their conviction sounds almost religious.
And that's what bugs me. Evolution is, more and more, secularism posing as science. And that's ok with the courts, which refuse to view secularism as a religion. Of course it is, even though there is no high priest of a secular church who is going to stand up this Sunday and praise Judge Jones.
They don't need high priests to win their religious wars. They've succeeded in making secularism the national religion of America, utterly unseparated from the state.
posted by Laer at 5:04 PM
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