A reaction to ID

A friend sent me this. It appears to be from a Kansas City althernative
newspaper.

http://www.pitch.com/issues/2005-02-17/news/strip.html

 From pitch.com
Originally published by /The Pitch/ Feb 17, 2005
©2005 New Times, Inc. All rights reserved.
*Kansas City Strip*
Bible thumping is about to take on a new meaning in Kansas.
*AS TOLD TO TONY ORTEGA*

The Strip is outraged by the *intelligent-design* squabble going on in
the Kansas public schools.

So far, the local media have done a pathetic job of explaining the ideas
behind "ID," giving us no real clue what's actually at stake in the
effort to change science teaching standards.

Well, this meat patty will clue you in to the awful truth: The people
pushing intelligent design are *godless interlopers* who want our
children taught that *the Bible got things wrong*.

As far as they're concerned, the good book is just a bunch of *fairy
tales*.

The *Lord* creating the Earth in six days just a few thousand years ago?

Didn't happen.

*Adam* naming the animals?

Just a myth.

*Noah* saving Earth's creatures from the flood?

No more than a bedtime story.

Nope, these ID-olators don't have much respect for the holy word. They
suggest that the Earth is billions of years old and that animals have
evolved pretty much the way *Charles Darwin* described more than a
century ago.

For these folks of little faith, science answers most of the world's
mysteries, explaining the history of the universe and the proliferation
of life on Earth. The *girlie-man God* they worship steps in only to
fill in small gaps in scientific knowledge and to lend a gentle helping
hand in ways that cannot be measured, tested or debunked.

A couple of weeks ago, the Strip watched in dismay as intelligent design
backers put on a *pitiful display* at a *state board public hearing* at
a high school in Kansas City, Kansas.

The speakers took to a microphone, urging a board subcommittee to insert
intelligent-design wording into the state's public-school curriculum.
But did anyone cite the Bible? Did anyone stick up for God's version of
what happened thousands of years ago?

Oh, no. *ID wussies* stepped up one after another to talk about the
"weaknesses" in biological evolution, the "controversies" that they
wanted their children to hear about.

The complete surrender of religion to the onslaught of science was a
pathetic sight.

The utter defeat was not lost on *Celtie Johnson*, a God-fearing Johnson
County mom who was largely responsible for the last battle over
evolution in Kansas schools. Back in 1999, she led an honest fight for
biblical truth, attempting to get the *Genesis creation story* taught to
schoolchildren. She's back again, fighting evolution once more, but this
time she's standing up for the watered-down ID agenda.

We asked how she /really/ felt about intelligent design's *unbiblical
assault* on the schools.

"It's pitiful. But what can I do?" she told this curious cutlet. "It's
not that difficult to understand the Earth being 6,000 years old. But
they [the ID crowd] tell me it's an incremental program."

/An incremental program/. Johnson was referring to people such as lawyer
*John Calvert* and University of Missouri-Kansas City med-school
professor *William Harris*, who have spearheaded the Kansas school
effort with a Johnson County organization they call the *Intelligent
Design Network*. Johnson claimed that the ID bigwigs assured her they
have the same *ultimate goal* that she does -- to get religion into
science classes -- and that ID allows them to take small, less
controversial steps toward that goal.

"With media opposition, you can only go so far," she admitted. And for
people like her who still believe in the Bible's origin story, she said,
"It's a step back." But the ID people with whom she has allied herself
are deluding themselves if they think they're doing heaven a favor with
their "incremental" program. "They are not getting the whole picture,
and they are not pleasing *Jesus Christ*, who is God," Johnson reminded
us. "If you don't believe parts of the Bible, why are you calling
yourself a Christian?"

Well, we wondered the same thing. So we asked Harris why he was so down
on the Lord's story of life's origin.

"Some are lukewarm to the ID perspective because they feel that it does
not go far enough and hence gives aid and comfort to believers who only
want to believe halfway," Harris responded. "That's their privilege. It
does not weaken the ID argument for design, though, in my opinion."

OK, so Harris is convinced that there's a "designer" behind the
proliferation of life. But what's with the coy act? Isn't he really
talking about the *Christian God*?

"As a Christian, I would equate that designer with the God of the Bible,
but I know Muslims who equate that designer with *Allah*. I also know
nontheists who, although agreeing that the evidence points to an
intelligence behind nature, simply don't equate it with anybody."

Well, that's a relief. It's nice knowing that we could believe the
universe was designed by our pet cat *Whiskers* and still belong to the
ID club.

But, hey, here's what this rump roast really wanted to know. If ID folks
like Harris acknowledge that the Bible's *big, cinematic opening
chapter* gets things completely wrong, how can they be sure the rest of
it isn't a fairy tale as well? For example, how can Harris be sure the
Bible gets the whole "God" thing right?

"I think we get off on an unproductive rabbit trail when we start
debating what's true and what's not in the Bible," Harris answered.

Oh, /sure/ -- he wants to rake /evolution/ over the coals, but the Bible
is off limits?

ID folks, you see, really don't want to bring the Bible into the
equation. They're very careful not to mention Genesis in front of school
boards. And you won't find an ID adherent who attributes the vast
abundance of Earth's life forms to God's six-day plan.

Truth is, they know evolution has pretty good answers for that.

Instead, to support their ideas they point to tiny *flagella, *those
little* hairlike things *you find flopping around on *bacteria*.

In 1996, *Lehigh University* biochemistry professor *Michael Behe* gave
intelligent design its biggest boost when he made a big deal about the
lowly flagellum and how it's put together. He argued that the flagellum
is a wondrous structure of amazing complexity. In fact, Behe argued,
it's such a marvel of interlocking parts that it's *impossible to
imagine* a less complex version of the flagellum being useful to any
creature. Therefore, he concluded, there's no way evolution, through
random chance, could have produced a flagellum from simpler forms.
Instead, some intelligent agent (/wink, wink/) must have "designed" it.

Well, isn't that special? Evolution produced millions of species on
Earth, but God pitched in by making the flagellum.

Go, God!

If you're a biblical Christian, that's gotta be pretty underwhelming.

And if you're a scientist, it's just plain stupid.

Ask a biologist -- just because /Behe/ can't imagine how a flagellum
could have evolved doesn't necessarily mean someone smarter than Behe
couldn't come along and discover an evolution-based explanation that's
quite sufficient. (In fact, several scientists already have.)

Now, don't expect ID promoters like Harris to bring up the complex
structures of bacteria to the Kansas school board. He knows better.

Board members aren't likely to know a whole lot about science, and with
a *6-4 conservative majority* after last fall's elections, it won't take
much to convince them to go along with Harris' slick pitch for
"objectivity" in science standards.

Sometime in the next couple of months, the Strip imagines that the board
will approve Harris' suggested changes to the state's science
curriculum, allowing nonscientific attacks on evolution to become
standard fare in the public schools.

Not that anyone will be able to tell the difference.

*Al Frisby* just retired after teaching science for 30 years in the
*Blue Valley School District*, and he tells the Strip it's already
impossible to talk about evolution's concepts to today's Kansas
teenagers without getting a lot of eye-rolling in return. He's now
teaching across the state line in Liberty, and he says in recent years,
students' outright hostility to science has made it difficult to do his
job.

Well, this flank steak reckons that's only to be expected when so many
Midwest youngsters figure that *Jesus is wicked rad*.

But we wonder how our God-fearing youngsters will react when intelligent
design becomes a regular part of the curriculum.

We're just glad it won't be our job to teach ID and tell churchy
students that their favorite book is a joke.
Received on Sat Feb 26 11:09:32 2005