Posted on 10/05/2005 3:53:39 AM PDT by PatrickHenry
HARRISBURG, Pa. - A philosophy professor and two science teachers were expected to testify Wednesday in a landmark trial over a school board's decision to include a reference to "intelligent design" in its biology curriculum.
Barbara Forrest, a philosophy professor at Southeastern Louisiana University, is being called as an expert witness on behalf of eight families who are trying to have intelligent design removed from the Dover Area School District's biology curriculum. The families contend that it effectively promotes the Bible's view of creation, violating the constitutional separation of church and state.
Forrest's testimony was expected to address what opponents allege is the religious nature of intelligent design, as well as the history and development of the concept, according to court papers filed by the plaintiffs before the trial.
U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III was also expected to hear testimony from Bertha Spahr, chairman of Dover High School's science department, and biology teacher Jennifer Miller.
Under the policy approved by Dover's school board in October 2004, students must hear a brief statement about intelligent design before classes on evolution. It says Charles Darwin's theory is "not a fact," has inexplicable "gaps," and refers students to an intelligent-design textbook for more information.
Intelligent-design supporters argue that life on Earth was the product of an unidentified intelligent force, and that natural selection cannot fully explain the origin of life or the emergence of highly complex life forms.
The plaintiffs are represented by a team put together by the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The school district is being defended by the Thomas More Law Center, a public-interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Mich., that says its mission is to defend the religious freedom of Christians.
The trial began Sept. 26 and is expected to last as long as five weeks.
Your #95 says there is no positive evidence for ID. I agree.
And since evolution has not been falsified (only critiqued) by anti-evolutionists, and there is no evidence of a designer, then evolution is the best explanation for the species and it stands.
"The problem is that the same church where I was taught that Genesis and evolution did not conflict now teaches that it does."
Yes...that has happened, too. I think the following analysis is spot on. We appear to be moving toward a society split in two, primarily on an educational basis, with regard to this topic.
Sorry. I neglected to include the sarcasm switch. Please read my other remarks.
Thankfully, the age of the earth, as measured by a number of methods, is not subject to your opinion. No errors possible would change the 4.5by age to 7000 years.
"ID concludes, not assumes, that such complexity can only come via intelligent design.
ID admits that complexity can can be produced by nature but nature cannot produce 'specified' complexity. Specifically, no ID proponent - not just specific DI ID proponents - has specified how to differentiate specified complexity from unspecified complexity. How can they conclude anything from such a specifically false premise?
I have Illustrator. But a large psd would be nice.
Just out of curiosity, could you tell me whether even you believe this lame excuse for ignoring the vast amount of NON-speculatory evidence in that link (and in the vast amounts of primary literature it cites)? Do you *honestly* think that a little bit of speculation in a huge article justifies your ignoring absolutely everything else in it?
In short, are you really as confused and irrational as you appear, or are you just making wildly dishonest excuses for ignoring the actual real-world evidence in the hopes that someone might actually fall for it?
This is not a rhetorical question. Please respond.
Since some of this crowd claim pre-Fall vegitarianism, I entertain myself in the odd dull moment envisioning lions with moose teeth for munching on coarse savannah grasses.
Evolutionists have never established any proof that any species has been trnasformed into another. They can only offer 'possibilities'.
The only successful conspiracies are undetectable because all evidence is covered up, like the ET's removal of Kennedy's body.
You can't answer something you don't understand.
Ah, but cats still eat grass, and coughing up hairballs is vestigial rumination. Explain that away.
When I said estimates about the age of the Earth are largely speculative, that included both ends of the range.
ID admits that complexity can can be produced by nature but nature cannot produce 'specified' complexity.
Your comment is not clear.
To allow the pre-Copernican perfection to reign once more, restoring Earth to it's Rightful Throne at the Center of the Universe.....
< /anti-scientific lunacy mode>
"Since some of this crowd claim pre-Fall vegitarianism, I entertain myself in the odd dull moment envisioning lions with moose teeth for munching on coarse savannah grasses."
Ah, but you see, the grass was transubstantiated into flesh and blood the moment it entered the lion's mouth. There's an illogical explanation for everything. Just ask...
100
dang!
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