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Professor, teachers to testify in intelligent-design trial [Dover, PA, 05 Oct]
Times Leader ^ | 05 October 2005 | MARTHA RAFFAELE

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.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; Philosophy; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: cnim; crevolist; dover; evolution
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To: connectthedots

More links are at the bottom of the page.


341 posted on 10/05/2005 3:46:55 PM PDT by BMCDA (Whereof we cannot speak, thereof we must be silent. -- L. Wittgenstein)
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To: b_sharp; PatrickHenry
I read your new tagline, and yet here I find you chatting with longshadow...curious.

Please be advised that a disiplinary memo has been placed in your permanent folder at DarwinCentral HQ's, and that you are now officially on "double-secret probationary" status.....

342 posted on 10/05/2005 3:47:00 PM PDT by longshadow
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To: js1138; Stultis; VadeRetro
You can bet that some inflict this deeply dishonest book on their children.

It also raises the eternal question, "if the creationist/ID case is actually a solid one, why do they keep using lies to artificially bolster their position?"

343 posted on 10/05/2005 3:48:40 PM PDT by Ichneumon
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To: MineralMan

A depressingly humorous placemarker.


344 posted on 10/05/2005 3:51:41 PM PDT by RightWingNilla
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To: microgood

So what's the methodology of ID? How is ID research conducted?


345 posted on 10/05/2005 4:07:44 PM PDT by js1138 (Great is the power of steady misrepresentation.)
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To: Oztrich Boy

Hmmmm. Howard Dean, leader of demoncrats, said: "From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people."

Funny. He said it from a religious view point. Funny, strange that is.. .... ... ... but you don't like the way I connected the ... ... ... ...

You think biotheology and Howard are not connected. Ok. Fine by me. You go on thinking that ... ... ... ... ...



346 posted on 10/05/2005 4:10:39 PM PDT by gobucks (http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/classics/students/Ribeiro/Laocoon.htm)
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To: microgood; Thatcherite; js1138
[Do tell, I am all agog to know what you, someone who patently knows almost nothing about biology, can bring to our attention that nullifies the work of the hundreds of thousands of biologists over the last 150 years who have found ToE logically and evidentially persuasive.]

Just a statement about consensus science

Now that you're done with your non sequitur, why don't you try actually answering the question? What, allegedly, does ID or its proponents have that nullifies 150 years of research and evidence in evolutionary biology? What, allegedly, do you have that would change the minds of hundreds of thousands of biologists who have been convinced by the existing evidence?

Someone's mumblings about how "consensus science" (a subject never broached in the question) *can* be wrong doesn't do squat to demonstrate that it *is* wrong in *this* case.

Is that the best you guys can muster when asked to actually present your case?

Pathetic.

347 posted on 10/05/2005 4:15:03 PM PDT by Ichneumon
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To: b_sharp

"Ah yes. The ubiquitous 'argument by calling the opponent a bad person' tactic. How could anyone ever refute such a devastating argument?"

I think this comment is rather .... flat sounding.

Look, we both know you folks have a serious problem: conservatives will not write the stuff and publish it in books any where NEAR the avalanch published by leftist sweethearts like Babs Forrest (and yep, I bet she owns every B. Streisand album).

It does not a whit of harm to our side to reveal just how synchronized the arguments of whacky leftists are with the FR 'lets save the GOP from them' contingent. But of course, I keep forgetting. Just b/c the arguments and tone match doesn't mean at all the true blue politics match.

But it quacks like a duck ... it walks like a duck ...


348 posted on 10/05/2005 4:16:33 PM PDT by gobucks (http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/classics/students/Ribeiro/Laocoon.htm)
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To: js1138
So what's the methodology of ID? How is ID research conducted?

Not being an IDer, I am not sure. I was just commenting on the dangers of groupthink in science.

If I was going to focus on any area of evolutionary research, however, I would be looking at the random mutation issue, since I do not believe the large changes, going from a single cell to where we are today, and the increasing complexity could have happened via random mutation (even with natural selection). I would be looking for what triggered the mutation. That's where the secret, or a secret, lies, IMHO.
349 posted on 10/05/2005 4:16:39 PM PDT by microgood
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To: Ichneumon; microgood; Thatcherite

One indicator of the quality and quantity of ID research can be found in the failure of the Discovery Institute to participate in this case. They have nothing, and they know it.


350 posted on 10/05/2005 4:19:27 PM PDT by js1138 (Great is the power of steady misrepresentation.)
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To: King Prout

the vorpal blade went snicker-snack.

(sounds like the crevo wars)


351 posted on 10/05/2005 4:24:20 PM PDT by b_sharp (Free Modernman and SeaLion from purgatory)
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To: js1138
So what's the methodology of ID? How is ID research conducted?

I believe I already covered that topic in Post #180...

352 posted on 10/05/2005 4:24:27 PM PDT by Ichneumon
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To: King Prout; Stultis
PH, please alert the GM that Stultis' post on the necessity of death within living systems deserves archiving.

The Grand Master has noted the post, with approval. But he relies on us all to do our own archiving. No doubt, Stultis can produce the same argument when needed.

On behalf of the Grand Master, I am,
PatrickHenry

353 posted on 10/05/2005 4:24:46 PM PDT by PatrickHenry ( I won't respond to a troll, crackpot, half-wit, or incurable ignoramus.)
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To: longshadow
"Please be advised that a disiplinary memo has been placed in your permanent folder at DarwinCentral HQ's, and that you are now officially on "double-secret probationary" status.....

Again?

No wonder I can't get anywhere in the janitorial pool. Maybe I should be moved up to 'black ops'?

354 posted on 10/05/2005 4:32:37 PM PDT by b_sharp (Free Modernman and SeaLion from purgatory)
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To: BMCDA
In Siberia, two distinct forms of greenish warblers coexist, one in the west and one in the east, their distributions narrowly overlapping in central Siberia, where they do not interbreed. These forms differ in color patterns, the songs that males sing to attract mates, and genetic characteristics. Also, males of each form usually do not recognize the song of the other form, but respond strongly to their own.

That's like saying a woman and man from different continents, cultures, religions, and languages are different species. They are the same species, and have variations within the species. It does not mean they can't mate.

That is just one example of the faulty logic. Needless to say, I am unimpressed.

355 posted on 10/05/2005 4:32:49 PM PDT by connectthedots
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To: microgood
I would be looking for what triggered the mutation. That's where the secret, or a secret, lies, IMHO.

The answer is obvious. Micromiracles.

356 posted on 10/05/2005 4:32:52 PM PDT by js1138 (Great is the power of steady misrepresentation.)
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To: RunningWolf

Do you laugh at your own jokes?


357 posted on 10/05/2005 4:33:12 PM PDT by shuckmaster (Bring back SeaLion and ModernMan!)
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To: Ichneumon
Speaking of distortions...

Lab rats: Study discovers deception by researchers

A study recently reported in the journal Nature suggests that misconduct by scientists is more widespread than previously believed.

Most Published Research Findings May Be False

There is increasing concern that in modern research, false findings may be the majority or even the vast majority of published research claims," says researcher John Ioannidis in an analysis in the open access international medical journal PLoS Medicine.

Those wacky scientists: they can get away with almost anything nowadays.

These sort of things don't effect the ToE, though. It's constantly evolving...


358 posted on 10/05/2005 4:36:16 PM PDT by Michael_Michaelangelo (The best theory is not ipso facto a good theory. Lots of links on my homepage...)
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To: Ichneumon
Ichneumon,

About that jab, got to get out of that. The part of that msg I want heard is I appreciate all the material you bring here even if I do not agree with the conclusions or the greater answers drawn by your side.

Wolf
359 posted on 10/05/2005 4:36:21 PM PDT by RunningWolf (U.S. Army Veteran.....75-78)
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To: b_sharp

can't be... no matter how many heads we take, leaving it dead is a big mistake.


360 posted on 10/05/2005 4:37:28 PM PDT by King Prout (19sep05 - I want at least 2 Saiga-12 shotguns. If you have leads, let me know)
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