The Crafty Attacks on Evolution

The New York Slimes ^ | 23 January 2005 | EDITORIAL

[rdb3]

January 23, 2005

EDITORIAL

The Crafty Attacks on Evolution

ritics of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution become more wily with each passing year. Creationists who believe that God made the world and everything in it pretty much as described in the Bible were frustrated when their efforts to ban the teaching of evolution in the public schools or inject the teaching of creationism were judged unconstitutional by the courts. But over the past decade or more a new generation of critics has emerged with a softer, more roundabout approach that they hope can pass constitutional muster.

One line of attack - on display in Cobb County, Ga., in recent weeks - is to discredit evolution as little more than a theory that is open to question. Another strategy - now playing out in Dover, Pa. - is to make students aware of an alternative theory called "intelligent design," which infers the existence of an intelligent agent without any specific reference to God. These new approaches may seem harmless to a casual observer, but they still constitute an improper effort by religious advocates to impose their own slant on the teaching of evolution.•

The Cobb County fight centers on a sticker that the board inserted into a new biology textbook to placate opponents of evolution. The school board, to its credit, was trying to strengthen the teaching of evolution after years in which it banned study of human origins in the elementary and middle schools and sidelined the topic as an elective in high school, in apparent violation of state curriculum standards. When the new course of study raised hackles among parents and citizens (more than 2,300 signed a petition), the board sought to quiet the controversy by placing a three-sentence sticker in the textbooks:

"This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered."

Although the board clearly thought this was a reasonable compromise, and many readers might think it unexceptional, it is actually an insidious effort to undermine the science curriculum. The first sentence sounds like a warning to parents that the film they are about to watch with their children contains pornography. Evolution is so awful that the reader must be warned that it is discussed inside the textbook. The second sentence makes it sound as though evolution is little more than a hunch, the popular understanding of the word "theory," whereas theories in science are carefully constructed frameworks for understanding a vast array of facts. The National Academy of Sciences, the nation's most prestigious scientific organization, has declared evolution "one of the strongest and most useful scientific theories we have" and says it is supported by an overwhelming scientific consensus.

The third sentence, urging that evolution be studied carefully and critically, seems like a fine idea. The only problem is, it singles out evolution as the only subject so shaky it needs critical judgment. Every subject in the curriculum should be studied carefully and critically. Indeed, the interpretations taught in history, economics, sociology, political science, literature and other fields of study are far less grounded in fact and professional consensus than is evolutionary biology.

A more honest sticker would describe evolution as the dominant theory in the field and an extremely fruitful scientific tool. The sad fact is, the school board, in its zeal to be accommodating, swallowed the language of the anti-evolution crowd. Although the sticker makes no mention of religion and the school board as a whole was not trying to advance religion, a federal judge in Georgia ruled that the sticker amounted to an unconstitutional endorsement of religion because it was rooted in long-running religious challenges to evolution. In particular, the sticker's assertion that "evolution is a theory, not a fact" adopted the latest tactical language used by anti-evolutionists to dilute Darwinism, thereby putting the school board on the side of religious critics of evolution. That court decision is being appealed. Supporters of sound science education can only hope that the courts, and school districts, find a way to repel this latest assault on the most well-grounded theory in modern biology.•

In the Pennsylvania case, the school board went further and became the first in the nation to require, albeit somewhat circuitously, that attention be paid in school to "intelligent design." This is the notion that some things in nature, such as the workings of the cell and intricate organs like the eye, are so complex that they could not have developed gradually through the force of Darwinian natural selection acting on genetic variations. Instead, it is argued, they must have been designed by some sort of higher intelligence. Leading expositors of intelligent design accept that the theory of evolution can explain what they consider small changes in a species over time, but they infer a designer's hand at work in what they consider big evolutionary jumps.

The Dover Area School District in Pennsylvania became the first in the country to place intelligent design before its students, albeit mostly one step removed from the classroom. Last week school administrators read a brief statement to ninth-grade biology classes (the teachers refused to do it) asserting that evolution was a theory, not a fact, that it had gaps for which there was no evidence, that intelligent design was a differing explanation of the origin of life, and that a book on intelligent design was available for interested students, who were, of course, encouraged to keep an open mind. That policy, which is being challenged in the courts, suffers from some of the same defects found in the Georgia sticker. It denigrates evolution as a theory, not a fact, and adds weight to that message by having administrators deliver it aloud. •

Districts around the country are pondering whether to inject intelligent design into science classes, and the constitutional problems are underscored by practical issues. There is little enough time to discuss mainstream evolution in most schools; the Dover students get two 90-minute classes devoted to the subject. Before installing intelligent design in the already jam-packed science curriculum, school boards and citizens need to be aware that it is not a recognized field of science. There is no body of research to support its claims nor even a real plan to conduct such research. In 2002, more than a decade after the movement began, a pioneer of intelligent design lamented that the movement had many sympathizers but few research workers, no biology texts and no sustained curriculum to offer educators. Another leading expositor told a Christian magazine last year that the field had no theory of biological design to guide research, just "a bag of powerful intuitions, and a handful of notions." If evolution is derided as "only a theory," intelligent design needs to be recognized as "not even a theory" or "not yet a theory." It should not be taught or even described as a scientific alternative to one of the crowning theories of modern science.

That said, in districts where evolution is a burning issue, there ought to be some place in school where the religious and cultural criticisms of evolution can be discussed, perhaps in a comparative religion class or a history or current events course. But school boards need to recognize that neither creationism nor intelligent design is an alternative to Darwinism as a scientific explanation of the evolution of life.

[PatrickHenry]

Full-blown placemarker.

[js1138]

Time to celebrate with an ascii bat.

[PatrickHenry]

The Clown Prince of Astrophysics.

[Right Wing Professor]

I haven't seen the bat in a while.

[judywillow]

Whale and basking sharks filter krill with their gills, not their teeth.

Other than that I asked for a picture of a carnivore which could also filter krill, and so far nobody's provided one.

[js1138]

I haven't seen the bat in a while.

You've been chatting with him.

[PatrickHenry]

I haven't seen the bat in a while.

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Splifford the bat says: Always remember:

A mind is a terrible thing to waste; especially on an evolutionist.
Just say no to narcotic drugs, alcohol abuse, and corrupt ideological
doctrines.

[longshadow]

The Clown Prince of Astrophysics.

What an amazing coincidence you should mention HIM in this thread.

We do so miss his spam-a-thon posting on FR about psychic pets, Saturn hovering over the North Pole reducing the "felt effect of gravity," giant lightening bolts from space Hoovering out the Grand Cayon (but without leaving any fulgurites!), planets bouncing off each other like Velikovsian billiard balls, and who can forget the inanity of his Plasma Cosmology/Electric Universe/Electric Grandmother stuff...

Truly, a man who was a legend in his own mind....

[Right Wing Professor]

Other than that I asked for a picture of a carnivore which could also filter krill, and so far nobody's provided one.

Oh, you mean like the crabeater seal?

http://www.antarcticconnection.com/antarctic/wildlife/seals/crabeater.shtml

Crabeaters are misnamed, since they actually eat krill, not crabs, occasionally supplementing their diet with small fish and squid. Pursuing prey on shallow dives, they use rows of interlocking upper and lower teeth to form a sieve-like palate which strains krill from the water. They can consume 20-25 times their body weight in a year. In fact, the total amount of krill consumed by Crabeater seals is more than that of all the remaining baleen whales put together.

So you will be retracting now, right?

[balrog666]

With Christian ministers like you, you wonder why people hate Christianity....

People don't hate Christianity they just despise hypocrites, especially pseudo-religious hypocrites.

[Outraged]

No balrog, people HATE Christianity...It is you who despise hypocrites, especially your perceived pseudo-religious hypocrites.

I have a choice between the run-of-the-mill Christian hypocrite and a God-rejecting evolutionist...I would side with the hypocrite every time...Evolutionists are just full out liars or intellectual perverts trying to disprove something by proving nothing.

[shubi]

"And then Ariel Sharon will be given the 'Palestinian Man of the Year 'award."

LOL

[shubi]

"Other than that I asked for a picture of a carnivore which could also filter krill, and so far nobody's provided one"

Judy, If you would post your picture for us, I think that would suffice. ;-)

[balrog666]

I have a choice between the run-of-the-mill Christian hypocrite and a God-rejecting evolutionist...I would side with the hypocrite every time..

Yes, I noticed that.

[Outraged]

Evolutionists are just full out liars or intellectual perverts trying to disprove something by proving nothing.

[shubi]

"The epidemic of syphilis among American gay men may be a product of the natural evolution of the disease, not the result of condom fatigue and more unsafe sex, British researchers suggest.

"According to their study, published in the Jan. 26 issue of Nature, statistics from 68 American cities show that syphilis rates go up and down in regular cycles. The researchers suspect the disease loses steam as previously infected people develop temporary immunity, but then recovers a few years later when there are more vulnerable people in the population." "

I thought I would help Outrage and Judy out by providing them an example of evolution in homosexuals. This should convince them that evolution is evil.

Sometimes I crack myself up. Bwaaahaaahaaa

[Right Wing Professor]

You've been chatting with him.

Which troll? There are so many.

[AndrewC]

Lip service does not a Christian make, nor evolution prove.

It appears as if Herr Schickelgruber was losing it as early as Apr 12, 1922. Here is the "quote" in some context.

MUNICH SPEECH OF APRIL 12, 1922

And today people are saying yet again that we were 'agitators.' I would like here to appeal to a greater than I, Count Lerchenfeld. He said in the last session of the Landtag that his feeling 'as a man and a Christian' prevented him from being an anti-Semite. I SAY: MY FEELING AS A CHRISTIAN POINTS ME TO MY LORD AND SAVIOUR AS A FIGHTER. IT POINTS ME TO THE MAN WHO ONCE IN LONELINESS, SURROUNDED ONLY BY A FEW FOLLOWERS, RECOGNIZED THESE JEWS FOR WHAT THEY WERE AND SUMMONED MEN TO THE FIGHT AGAINST THEM AND WHO, GOD'S TRUTH! WAS GREATEST NOT AS SUFFERER BUT AS FIGHTER. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and of adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. Today, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before - the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice. And as a man I have the duty to see to it that human society does not suffer the same catastrophic collapse as did the civilization of the ancient world some two thousand years ago - a civilization which was driven to its ruin through this same Jewish people

It seems odd to appeal to a "greater" when taking the opposite position, let alone do some historical reworking. I never knew it was hordes of Jewish barbarians that brought about the downfall of Rome.

Finally, in a "rousing" conclusion, the Schick, makes a statement which would hardly qualify as embracing Christianity.

That is the mightiest thing which our Movement must create: for these widespread, seeking and straying masses a new Faith which will not fail them in this hour of confusion, to which they can pledge themselves, on which they can build so that they may at least find once again a place which may bring calm to their hearts.

[Outraged]

Once again, in attempting to link Hitler to Christianity, you rely on public pronouncments of a Jew-murdering left-wing fascist as evidence of his "faith."...Once again, as is readily obvious to anybody but the intellectually handicapped, logic and experience would lead one to not trusting empty rhetoric as a definition of the man (Hitler), and for that matter the intents of those who blindly worship at the false alter of evolution.

But, since you persist in your false assumptions, I will point you away from his public pronouncements and to his more private ruminations as evidence that contradicts your erroneous conclusions.

Hitler's Secret Conversations 1941-1944 published by Farrar, Straus and Young, Inc.first edition, 1953 (I rely on a Christian centered source because at least they have a semblance of a moral compass and devotion to truth).

Night of 11th-12th July, 1941:

National Socialism and religion cannot exist together.... The heaviest blow that ever struck humanity was the coming of Christianity. Bolshevism is Christianity's illegitimate child. Both are inventions of the Jew. The deliberate lie in the matter of religion was introduced into the world by Christianity.... Let it not be said that Christianity brought man the life of the soul, for that evolution was in the natural order of things. (p 6 & 7)

10th October, 1941, midday:

Christianity is a rebellion against natural law, a protest against nature. Taken to its logical extreme, Christianity would mean the systematic cultivation of the human failure. (p 43)

14th October, 1941, midday:

The best thing is to let Christianity die a natural death.... When understanding of the universe has become widespread... Christian doctrine will be convicted of absurdity....Christianity has reached the peak of absurdity.... And that's why someday its structure will collapse.... ...the only way to get rid of Christianity is to allow it to die little by little....Christianity the liar.... We'll see to it that the Churches cannot spread abroad teachings in conflict with the interests of the State. (p 49-52)

19th October, 1941, night:

The reason why the ancient world was so pure, light and serene was that it knew nothing of the two great scourges: the pox and Christianity.

21st October, 1941, midday:

Originally, Christianity was merely an incarnation of Bolshevism, the destroyer....The decisive falsification of Jesus' doctrine was the work of St.Paul. He gave himself to this work... for the purposes of personal exploitation.... Didn't the world see, carried on right into the Middle Ages, the same old system of martyrs, tortures, faggots? Of old, it was in the name of Christianity. Today, it's in the name of Bolshevism. Yesterday the instigator was Saul: the instigator today, Mardochai. Saul was changed into St.Paul, and Mardochai into Karl Marx. By exterminating this pest, we shall do humanity a service of which our soldiers can have no idea. (p 63-65)

13th December, 1941, midnight:

Christianity is an invention of sick brains: one could imagine nothing more senseless, nor any more indecent way of turning the idea of the Godhead into a mockery.... .... When all is said, we have no reason to wish that the Italians and Spaniards should free themselves from the drug of Christianity. Let's be the only people who are immunised against the disease. (p 118 & 119)

So, you see, except to the woefully ignorant or intentionally deceptive, Hitler was indeed an evolutionist of the Darwinian type, disclaiming and even damning Christianity as the true evil...Much like the present day evolutions do.

I report, you decide...Evolution theory is of its father, Satan...Who do you worship?

[AndrewC]

Once again, in attempting to link Hitler to Christianity,

Well, I tried. You might want to reread my post to see if you just might have completely misinterpreted what I wrote. In any case, I think I made a mistake in even getting involved, sorry.