Free Republic

Paul Mirecki -- the Kansas University religious studies professor who derided Christian fundamentalists as "fundies" -- is a strange man with strange tales of alleged persecution. Contrary to his knee-jerk defenders on the Left, it is not bigoted, hateful, or intolerant for me to scrutinize his story. It's rational. The professor first created controversy in November after penning an unhinged e-mail message expressing his desire to deliver a "slap" to the "big fat face" of the "fundies" by teaching an intelligent design course "as a religious studies class under the category 'mythology.'" The message was sent to the mailing list...

At the heart of the debate over intelligent design is this question: Can a scientific explanation of the history of life include the actions of an unseen higher being? The proponents of intelligent design, a school of thought that some have argued should be taught alongside evolution in the nation's schools, say that the complexity and diversity of life go beyond what evolution can explain. Biological marvels like the optical precision of an eye, the little spinning motors that propel bacteria and the cascade of proteins that cause blood to clot, they say, point to the hand of a higher...