Posted on 10/20/2005 6:02:59 AM PDT by Zender500
Last May, I had the pleasure of participating in the Kansas State Board of Education’s “evolution” hearings. Readers may recall that I contributed an essay, “Darwin or Lose,” to the “Darwin’s Last Stand?” issue (July/August 2004), in which I discussed how the use of courtroom-style litigation tactics by spokesmen for “mainstream science” has deformed the scientific debate over the origin of life and its diversification into the vast array of different species we see today. The hearings gave me an opportunity to see first-hand the use of such tactics.
High-Profile Hearings
The teaching of evolution became a high-profile issue in Kansas in 1999, when the board removed evolution from the curriculum. Later, a new majority on the board voted to put evolution back into the curriculum, and now another new majority is considering including in the curriculum scientific criticisms of evolution.
The board organized the hearings to take testimony for and against the scientific validity of two assertions: (1) that natural chemical processes alone are the cause of the origination of life (“chemical evolution”), and (2) that Darwinian “natural selection” alone, without any intelligent guidance or control, is the cause of the subsequent diversification of forms of life.
It scheduled six days of testimony—three for the challengers to evolution, followed by three for its defenders. No objections would be allowed to interrupt the testimony, and each person who spoke would be subject to cross-examination by counsel for the other side. Following cross-examination, the three members of the board conducting the hearings would ask questions.
Two of the individuals most responsible for the hearings, Bill Harris and John Calvert, offered 23 witnesses to testify over their three days, challenging the scientific basis for chemical evolution and natural selection. Harris, professor of medicine at the University of Missouri/Kansas City, and Calvert, a lawyer, are the co-founders of the nonprofit Intelligent Design Network, a group that provides scientific and legal resources to state and local education agencies in support of the teaching of problems with the theory of evolution.
The witnesses included seventeen Ph.D.’s: Ten university science professors (including Harris), five other science Ph.D.’s who have published books on evolution and intelligent design, and two university philosophy professors. The other six witnesses were two masters’ degree holders, three high-school biology teachers, and Calvert himself, who would provide the legal argument for why it is lawful to teach criticisms of chemical evolution and natural selection.
Mainstream Boycott
Harris and Calvert asked me to help prepare their witnesses for cross-examination, and to prepare to cross-examine the opposition witnesses, but when the board scheduled the hearings, an advocacy group called Kansas Citizens for Science (KCFS) promptly called for a boycott. A nonprofit whose directors include scientists and laypersons, KCFS had been prominent in opposing the board’s 1999 decision to remove evolution from the curriculum. “Scientific merit is not established through public discourse and debate,” their resolution stated, “but rather, internally, through a consensus of those with the specialized background necessary to make such judgment.”
A KCFS executive, Liz Craig, posted on the group’s website that her “strategy at this point is . . . [to] portray [critics of natural selection] in the harshest light possible, as political opportunists, evangelical activists, ignoramuses, breakers of rules, unprincipled bullies, etc.” She added, “Our target is the moderates who are not that well educated about the issues, most of whom probably are theistic evolutionists.”
One of the leading institutions of mainstream science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), issued a press release announcing that it, too, would boycott the hearings, because “the event is likely to sow confusion rather than understanding among the public.”
Calling the hearings an “event” disparaged the hearings as serious attempts to explore the questions at hand, and saying the testimony would “sow confusion rather than understanding” insulted the witnesses, particularly the ten university science professors, whose universities presumably engaged them to teach science precisely because of their proven ability to sow understanding, not confusion, among their students.
The releases worked, and the boycott held. However, a well-known Topeka trial lawyer, Pedro Irigonegaray, appeared and announced that he would cross-examine our witnesses and speak for the defense.
He had had some involvement with evolution and intelligent design several years earlier, moderating a panel discussion. But it was never clear whom he represented. A KCFS executive, Jack Krebs, closely and publicly assisted him throughout the hearings, but he never acknowledged representing KCFS or any other person or organization. “Mainstream science” was his client, he announced.
The Hearings
I sat beside Harris and Calvert at counsel table throughout the hearings. As they began, the press filled the hearing room, an auditorium with a small stage. Reporters from many national news organizations were present. Video camera tripods lined both aisles, making it difficult to get to the stage, where the two counsel tables were located.
Calvert conducted the direct examination. Our witnesses included some of the major figures in the current challenges to chemical evolution and natural selection.
Michael Behe, a biochemist at Lehigh University and author of Darwin’s Black Box, explained “irreducible complexity” and the statistical improbability of natural selection as the cause of life’s diversity. Charles Thaxton, co-author of The Mystery of Life’s Origin, testified to the impossibility of life arising from non-life solely through chemical processes.
Steven Meyer, one of the editors of Darwinism, Design, and Public Education, explained the theory of intelligent design and some of the evidence for it. The author of Icons of Evolution, Jonathan Wells, described the falsified “evidence” for natural selection presented in high-school biology textbooks. At the conclusion, Calvert spoke, providing a legal argument for the constitutionality of teaching the scientific evidence our witnesses had just provided.
KCFS mounted an extensive public relations campaign aimed at the press—indeed, the group was everywhere, except at the witness stand itself, where I would have had the opportunity to question them. And it had some indication of what my line of questioning would be, had they presented witnesses. On the morning of the second day, from my seat at counsel table, I saw a copy of the “Darwin’s Last Stand?” issue lying face up on Irigonegaray’s table.
Instead of presenting witnesses, KCFS presented public relations. They held several press conferences and related events, and manned a booth outside the hearing room with handouts characterizing the hearings as an “attack on scientists,” describing our side as “anti-science activists,” condemning Intelligent Design as a pseudo-science, and (in an outreach to the “theistic evolutionists” of KCFS’s website post) arguing that evolution does not deny the role of a divine creator in the creation and development of life.
Ad Hominem Examination
As a result of the boycott, my role of cross-examining the other side’s witnesses was reduced to preparing to cross-examine Irigonegaray. But my other role remained: to help Harris and Calvert prepare their witnesses for Irigonegaray’s cross-examinations. In light of the KCFS strategy to portray our side as “evangelical activists,” we expected the cross-examinations would be implicit ad hominem attacks.
Irigonegaray confirmed our expectations. He directed his questions not to the substance of the witnesses’ testimony, but to their beliefs on other matters, in an attempt to paint each witness as an “evangelical activist” and “ignoramus.” Invariably his first three questions were: “What is the age of the earth?”, “Do you believe in common descent?”, and “Do you believe that humans are descended from pre-hominids?” He also cross-examined Calvert on his legal argument. But he did not direct his questions to the merits of the witnesses’ scientific testimony.
On the fourth day of the hearings, Irigonegaray took the podium and presented what he labeled a “closing argument.” This amounted to a two-hour diatribe focused on two points. First, he denied that evolution, as taught in the schools, postulates that no intelligence is necessary to account for the diversity and complexity of life. In this, he was appealing to KCFS’s “target[,] the moderates who are not that well educated about the issues, most of whom are probably theistic evolutionists.”
Second, he denounced the members of the board and Calvert as being motivated by political interests and for wasting taxpayer money. In this, he was applying KCFS’s “strategy [to] portray them in the harshest light possible, as political opportunists” and “breakers of rules.”
Irigonegaray used the hearings not as an opportunity to debate science, but as an opportunity to defend his side against the charge of atheism and to score political points against board members who will soon be up for reelection. Why—other than to retain the allegiance of “theistic evolutionist moderates” who are “not well educated about the issues”—would he deny the obvious fact that evolution as taught in the schools asserts that no intelligent intervention was necessary to originate life or to produce any of the diversity and complexity of life? Why—other than to harm their reputations—would he deliver personal attacks on board members?
Rule-Breakers
While he spoke, I took notes to prepare to cross-examine him. And then Irigonegaray revealed just which side was best described, to use KCFS’s words, as “breakers of rules.” The procedural rules clearly stated that anyone who spoke would be subject to cross-examination. Indeed, he had used the rule to question our lead counsel after his presentation.
But when he concluded his speech, he announced that he was a lawyer giving an argument, not a witness, and thus he would refuse to undergo cross-examination—even though he had himself taken advantage of the right of cross-examination the day before, when he questioned our side’s lead lawyer, who was also a lawyer giving a legal argument.
Indeed, as part of his presentation, he read a lengthy statement from a KCFS executive who was in the room at that very moment. Obviously, the author could have read his own statement in person at that time, but then he would have been subject to cross-examination. Irigonegaray’s tactic effectively allowed the author to testify, yet escape cross-examination.
The tactic mimicked Clarence Darrow’s conduct of the Scopes trial, where he got the right to cross-examine William Jennings Bryan only after agreeing that he would then sit to be cross-examined by Bryan. But after cross-examining Bryan, Darrow announced that he had no defense, asked the jury to find Scopes guilty, and closed the evidence—thereby escaping the witness stand himself.
According to KCFS, the hearings were improper because “scientific merit is not established through public discourse and debate” but “internally” through the “consensus” of scientists who have a “specialized background.” But what if more and more scientists who have the specialized background necessary to judge the issues are challenging that consensus? Must the people’s elected representatives merely rubber-stamp the “consensus”?
Artful Dodgers
As noted above, the fundamental objection of the spokesmen for “mainstream science” to the hearings was that the “public discourse and debate” should be excluded from the process by which the public decides whether statements have scientific merit. But to the contrary, where the issue concerns the teaching of public-school students, public discourse and debate are not merely permitted, they are necessary.
All of us should applaud the efforts of the Kansas State Board of Education, which conducted fair, professional hearings and provided ample time (three days per side) for each side to present its scientific testimony, and provided for cross-examination by counsel to properly test that testimony. The board properly refused to serve as a mere rubber stamp. It invited scientific challengers to testify before it and invited the defenders of the consensus, too.
Our witnesses stood up to public cross-examination by legal counsel. The other side dodged it. Yet it is the other side’s position—the side that hides from public cross-examination by counsel—that is being taught in our schools across the country.
Those whose position is already being taught in our schools should, when invited by the people’s elected representatives, present witnesses who will submit themselves to public cross-examination by prepared legal counsel to assure us, the public, that the positions being taught to our children are sound and valid.
Postscript. On August 9, the board voted 6–4 to approve the proposed changes pending review by a Denver-based education consultant. A final vote is expected in September or October.
The transcripts of the hearings, the witnesses’ written submissions, and other materials can be found HERE. Information about the Intelligent Design Network can be found HERE.
Edward Sisson is a partner at a large Washington-based international law firm, specializing in litigation arising out of multi-million-dollar corporate acquisitions. He also maintains an extensive pro bono practice in the areas of international democracy, human rights, and the arts. His law degree is from Georgetown University and his bachelor (of science) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Darwin or Lose” is a shortened and revised version of his “Teaching the Flaws in Neo-Darwinism,” which appeared in Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing, edited by William Dembski (ISI Books, 2004)
Ping
Good! 'Bout time these charlatans were exposed and discredited.
On a related note, I (being also an MIT graduate like Sisson) am amused by similar ad hominem attacks on people who merely doubt the purely-materialistic nature of reality. (I don't agree that believing that there is a God who created all is logically equivalent to believing that the earth is flat, a typical response to me.)
The "scientists" (more like cultists) are simply boycotting the courts and demanding forcefuly that the have the right to conflict of interest in deciding funding for science and their own pet programs. Tax payers can go get shoved, they must bow to the Public Schools' and cult leaders' demands.
Why can't we just stop all the federal control of what schools can and cannot teach and let the local communities decide ?
There used to be a time when Washington DC was totally out of public education and our schools were the best in the world. Now, a significant number of them are in the dumpsters.
Details like whether to present ID or not should not be the business of Washington.
I am constantly amused by the scientists/evolutionists who state that they only deal with hard cold facts, that can be seen and measured, and don't worry about things like origins or other areas outside their area of expertise and then go and blow a gasket whenever someone says, "creation". They state that it's all fairy tales and twisted science. How can they so authoritatively speak on a subject that they admit self-imposed ignorance of? They can't tell us that God didn't create the universe because by their own admission, they don't know what they're talking about, since they don't study it.
I think Icheumon and PatrickHenry on Free Republic do a fairly decent job at explaining how science works, the theories of evolution, how scientists properly date things etc.
My question is that if scientists limit themselves to science, how can they speak so authoritatively and decisively on a subject (creation) that they admit they know nothing about? It's got nothing to do with knowing about how science works. It's got everything to do with telling people they're wrong when they admit that they haven't concerned themselves with the subject matter.
Although, if there is indeed merit to a scientific dogma it should be able to withstand the scrutiny of public discourse and debate...the fact that the evolution advocates were unwilling to submit their views to examination brings to question rather their dogma is sound.
However, scientists will agree that creation or ID can be taught at school but either in the religious classroom or the philosophy classroom.
Understanding scientific theory (eg. evolution), protoscience (eg. string theory) and psudescience (eg. creationism) is found here at wikipedia.org. Its a lot of reading but I urge all to carefully.
There is a transcript of Mustafa's comments here.
Science doesn't concern itself with supernatural events since they are, by their very nature, not scientifically quantifiable.
Science isn't going to work if scientists continue to dodge the general public in explaining how science is supposed to work with acknowledgments regarding the limitations of science. Which is what that "pro evolutionist" lawyer did...according to the article...?
People respect honorable behavior even from scientists who have atheistic world views....they don't respect cowards!
Science doesn't concern itself with supernatural events since they are, by their very nature, not scientifically quantifiable.
Actually it is starting to delve into such.
Teaching creation in a religious classroom in the public high school setting is simply not going to happen and everyone knows that. Proposing that is simply a brush off. There is no way for science to state that God did or didn't create the universe. Science can't test for either one and therefore can't state that one is right and the other is wrong. Science may be able to support the evolution of life after it got started but is unable to determine HOW everything came into being. The answer of "God did it" sounds simplistic but doesn't mean it's wrong.
Hey! Leave metmom alone. She is just making a statement. Creationism requires a faith-based approach. Science does not delve into that so thus, the two are separate. I've actually never had any problem with evolution or science--I regard it as man's way of understanding God's processes.
"Science doesn't concern itself with supernatural events since they are, by their very nature, not scientifically quantifiable."
That's exactly my point, which is why I say that scientists can't tell creationists that they are wrong when they say that God created the universe.
Good point.
That's good because there are an awful lot of things that happen and are documented that there are no natural explanations for. Why should this be out of the realm of science, just because it's called "supernatural"? If it's investigated, it may throw wide open doors to areas of knowledge that are beyond us now. And who else is going to investigate it anyway? Isn't that what science is all about, finding out more about the world around you, whether it even makes sense or not at first?
That string theory stuff is starting to throw open all sorts of things.
Let me simplify. You can do science, using facts and theories or you can do religion using divine revelation. The two are very different.
Science relies on a method, called the scientific method, to arrive at well-supported theories (which as we point out often are never proved).
Religion starts with the answer, and so needs no process and no research.
The recent trouble has come because the religious side is attempting to do science--or rather to overrule scientists and the scientific method and go straight to their perceived answer. For them the answer is God did it, so they don't need to follow the scientific method of research, hypothesis testing, and theory building. They can jump straight to the back of the book.
This goes against the training of scientists who do not have the answer but who have a good process for investigating the natural world and establishing well-supported theories. And no, theories are not guesses--they got us to the moon, didn't they?
Does this explanation help? (And shouldn't the two approaches be kept separate?)
I'm working on a reply, but also have to run errands, do laundry, teach school, finish a Halloween costume with my daughter, and go to a soccer game. Check in later and I should have figured out how I want to word it.
No.
Crazy irony, isn't it? Their hypocrisy is rank. Of course, hasn't that always been the case among those participating in the war against God?
And this is the best that the creos can do?
Rothschild asked if it was true that the intelligent designer might not actually exist any longer.
Behe agreed that was true.
Rothschild paused. "Is that what you want to teach school students, Mr. Behe?" he asked.
As part of a curriculum making students aware of intelligent design, Behe said, "Yes, I think that's a terrific thing to point out."
Yes, let's expose the tenents of the ID movement.
1. Evolution (common descent) is accepted theory. 2. The earth is billions of years old. 3. School children should be taught that God the Intelligent designer may not exist anymore.
Of hypocrisy. How do the creos support ID when ID says we evolved from little squishy things and since there is no recent (in the last few hundred million years) evidence of ID, that God the Intelligent Designer may be dead?
I would say that was a stupid statement but I know that you deliberately worded to misrepresent evolution advocates.
Perhaps you didn't read the article, but that was the position of the evolution advocates. It isn't necessarily the view of all evolution advocates, but it was the action taken in that event...so sorry, but not a misrepresentation.
I think my chief concern is not what others believe, but that what I consider to be religion, and a particular brand of religion at that, is being slid into science class under false pretenses. This attempt is usually associated with an attack on the methods of science (evolution is just a theory, shouldn't all theories be given equal time, etc.). This perversion of science is more damaging than reading some paragraph on ID. When Americans stop understanding how science works (those of us who actually do), its back to burning witches at the stake and imitative magic. Literally--if you do not follow the logic and method of science, you are left with magic and superstition.
My second concern is this young earth nonsense. I do archaeology and have a lot of experience in the >6,000 year period, including a lot of radiocarbon dates. I have challenged YEC types on this, and all I get back is cut and paste jobs from creationist websites. The information there is laughable.
Anyway, now I have to go to work. I'll check back later for any reply.
As I understand it John Scopes never even testified at his trial. The reason? Apparently he had revealed to at least one reporter that he wasn't sure that he had ever taught evolution in the classroom.
The trial was a sham. The left wanted a test case to wipe out anti-evolution laws. They succeeded - evolution is taught as fact in classrooms across the country - but according to most polls not even a majority of Americans believe it, even after several decades of of indoctrination.
There is an interesting Gary North article on this. I can't link to it because it's on Lew Rockwell and that's against FR rules. But anyone could find it with a search.
Perhaps what I am thinking of when I think of creation and ID being taught as alternatives to the ToE is not the same as what others mean when they want it to be taught. Basically, I can't see creationism being taught much more throughly than basically stating that..."Some people believe that the universe was created by God and all the animals were created as they are". What more can you do to it? I realize that there is no way to verify or apply the scientific method to it. My understanding of ID is that it allows for evolution but believes that a designer made it, put it in motion, and pretty much left it alone but perhaps that is not a correct view of ID. I can see a lot of overlap between creation and ID because I believe there are a lot of people who think that that is just what God did. In other words, it's like creation is a brand of ID that just names the designer.
I think that one of the reasons ID and creation should be addressed in school is that virtually everyone is aware of the conflict between the viewpoints and a great many people believe in creation anyway. If all viewpoints are addressed properly, then at least people will be able to make a well thought out decision and know the reasons that they believe what they do. Even if they chose not to believe in evolution, they will be able to understand it and why some people DO chose to believe it.
I think creation can be taught without endorsing a specific religion. There are many religions worldwide that teach that the world was created and it could be done without getting into doctrinal issues. But maybe that wouldn't happen. Regardless, the issue isn't going to go away; it's going to be a matter of coming to a conclusion on the issue that satisfies both parties and honestly, I don't see that happening because there are parties on both sides of the issue that won't compromise.
Kids have enough trouble learning science now, without introducing non-science into the mix.
But, of course, Darwinism doesn't meet the requirements of the scientific method, either (it's proven to be non-falsifiable, as every time it's falsified, a new version of the theory is created). So, it isn't science, either. But this thread is about the despicable actions of the pro-evos in Kansas. Who will defend them?
But, of course, Darwinism doesn't meet the requirements of the scientific method, either (it's proven to be non-falsifiable, as every time it's falsified, a new version of the theory is created). So, it isn't science, either. But this thread is about the despicable actions of the pro-evos in Kansas. Who will defend them?
Delusions are often functional.Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough For Love, 1973
Your post leaves a lot to be desired. Like rationality. Don't you realize that science advances by discarding old ideas in favor of new ones when the old ones are falsified? Heard much of the flat earth theory lately? Well, there is a reason for that!
I can't believe you are naive enough to criticize science for discarding disproved theories! At least our theories are testable!
And by the way, that is precisely why "Darwinism" does meet the requirements of the scientific method.
Please study the methods of science a bit more, as this post does not reflect well on your current level of understanding. You might begin with PatrickHenry's List-O-Links.
GN is full of BS. He deliberately takes quoetes out of context to misrepresent the truth to his own advantage.
Deep in the human heart, I believe, there is a natural hunger for, and attraction to, the truth.
No matter how often a lie is repeated ("abortion is a right"; "slavery is ok"; "some races are superior"; "people and chimpanzees are genetically related," etc.) it will never be universally accepted as fact, thanks to the common sense God gave us as human beings.
So did Scopes testify at the trial? Was he certain that he had taught evolution in the classroom? Was Gary North factually wrong in his assertions? It's fine if you don't like his writing or doubt his use of quotes, but what about the claims about the Scopes trial?
I like to think you're right - certainly people seem to gravitate towards churches where the truth is proclaimed.
YES!
That's a great point. While Evangelical/strongly biblical churches are growing like crazy, liberal Mainline churches are almost as rapidly shrinking!
Folks who are drawn to church in the first place are most likely looking for one that preaches salvation by Christ crucified.
People who only want the Oprah-fied gospel are just as (if not more) likely to spend Sunday morning out on the links instead.
Very well, provide links or documentation to prove your position . I'll be glad to read them.
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