In the News

TheAge.Com.au reports that Victoria's government schools will treat intelligent design as a religious faith, not science, Education Minister Lynne Kosky has ruled.

In her first statement on the subject, Ms. Kosky reaffirmed the principle that government schools were secular and did not promote any religion.

This ruling again shows where the strategy must focus: it's science vs science, and this message must be spread. Intelligent Design Theory scientifically seeks to find out whether something in the cosmos came to be from natural causation or intelligent agency. The causes of something could be natural or intelligence, or a combination.

Jodi Wilgoren of the New York Times reports that the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Teachers Association have denied the Kansas Board of Education permission to use their copyrighted materials as part of the state's proposed new science standards because of the standards' critical approach to evolution.

This move comes less than two weeks before the board's expected adoption of the controversial new standards, which will serve as a template for statewide tests and thus have great influence on what is taught.

Expert testimonies from the Dover trial are available for you viewing.

The testimony of Steven William Fuller, Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick, England can be viewed HERE.

The testimony of Roger T. Pennock, Professor of Science and Technological Studies at Michigan State University's Lyman Briggs School of Science and Associate Professor of Philosophy in the Philosophy Department can be viewed HERE.

As reported on EurekAlert!, a new book, The Plausibility of Life: Resolving Darwin's Dilemma, Harvard Medical School's Marc W. Kirschner and John C. Gerhart, of the University of California - Berkeley address a key problem in evolutionary theory that has puzzled scientists from Darwin on and which is now under intense scrutiny by proponents of intelligent design: where do the big jumps come from in evolution?

The example given reminds one of the beginning of a fairytale, "Once upon a time..." How did the living tissue develop these remarkable abilities to achieve these complex interactions through random mutation and natural selection? Let's see what discussion comes forth.

In a predictable move, USA Today reports that the AAAS head Alan Leshner announced that without better science standards, students would be unable to tell "intelligent design," which he called a religious viewpoint, from real science.

Looks like Leshner's scientific materialistic philosophy is driving this latest tactic.

John Hanna of AP reports that a retired law professor who's sometimes called the father of the intelligent design movement plans to speak Saturday, October 29th at Washburn University, amid an ongoing debate over how evolution is taught in Kansas' public schools.

Phillip Johnson's visit is sponsored by Christian Challenge, a student group on the Topeka campus. The event is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the university's union.

School Officials Must Answer in Court for Alleged Religious Discrimination

Sacramento, CA In an important legal victory for citizens seeking to improve how evolution is taught in public schools, a federal judge has ruled that California citizens have a Constitutional right under the First Amendment to put proposed evolution policies on the agenda of local school board meetings for public debate and potential adoption, and that school officials who refuse such a request are subject to potential civil rights remedies in federal court.

Said plaintiff Larry Caldwell, "The court's ruling is a vindication of the constitutional right of California citizens to initiate public debate in school board meetings on the question of how we should teach evolution to our children."

Added Caldwell, "This is a crucial educational policy issue that must be addressed if our children are to acquire the critical thinking skills they will need to compete in the Twenty-First Century."

School officials of the Roseville Joint Union High School District have maintained that they have the right to deny citizens the opportunity to have a proposed education policy placed on a school board agenda. The court ruled that such a policy, if proven, would constitute illegal "viewpoint discrimination" under the Free Speech Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The legal ruling came in a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by parent activist and attorney Larry Caldwell, arising out of his year-long effort to persuade the Roseville Joint Union High School District to adopt his Quality Science Education Policy.
The QSE Policy seeks to stimulate the critical thinking skills of students by including both scientific strengths and weaknesses of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in biology classes.

U.S. District Court Judge Frank C. Damrell, Jr. also ruled that school officials who base their refusal on the actual or perceived religious beliefs or affiliations of the citizen proposing the policy also run afoul of the protections against religious discrimination in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, and in the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In papers filed in the lawsuit, attorneys for school officials have admitted that their refusal for eight months to permit Caldwell's proposed QSE Policy to be debated and voted on at school board meetings was based in part on Caldwell's Christian religious beliefs.

Said Karen England, Executive Director of Capitol Resource Institute, a California pro-family, public policy group, "We are pleased that the court has recognized the constitutional right of California parents to participate in local school board meetings in a pro-active way. It is unfortunate that it has taken a lawsuit to get the leadership of the Roseville high school district to honor the constitutional rights of Mr.
Caldwell and other citizens."

Pacific Justice Institute, the Sacramento-based public interest organization, is acting as co-counsel with Caldwell in the lawsuit.

Check out the link above for talks at the recent conference.

Despite the predictably disparaging reaction of the news media and some established scientists, Wells thought that the conference was a huge success.

The conference was organized by Charles Thaxton, co-author of the now classic *The Mystery of Life's Origin* (1984), and his hard-working wife, Carole. (The Thaxtons had originally planned to hold the conference several years ago, but their plan was put on hold when Charles lost his leg to
cancer.)

Held in the large hall where the Czech Communist Party used to meet, the conference featured seven speakers from five countries: Stephen C. Meyer (USA), Jonathan Wells (USA), Charles Thaxton (USA), David Berlinski (France), John C. Lennox (UK), Cees Dekker (The Netherlands), and Dalibor Krupka (Slovakia). The proceedings were chaired by Peter Verner, a Czech chemist. The talks (in English) were simultaneously translated into Czech for the audience, and the five main speakers (Meyer, Wells, Thaxton, Berlinski, and Lennox) had provided written summaries in advance that were available in English and Czech.

Stuart Pivar has asked Glenn Branch at NCSE to remove "or that natural selection is a major mechanism in its occurence" from the wording of the "Steve" declaration. Click the link above for more.

William Dembski, in Uncommon Descent comments on the equivocation of the late Dr. Stephen Jay Gould on the role of natural selection in the macroevolutionary process.

Would Gould have signed "Steve's List"? Maybe. Maybe not.

William Provine, Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, gave a lecture "Evolution and Intelligent Design" at Alpha Delta Phi fraternity at Cornell University.

The lecture came on the heels of Interim President Hunter R. Rawlings IIIs condemnation of the push to teach intelligent design in public schools during the his State of the University Address.

Provine is an avid defender of Darwinism, but believe the public debate should take place between Darwinism and ID, having debated Phil Johnson several times.

On Townhall.com, Monisha Bonsal gives a brief summary on the Washington, D.C. conference this past weekend. It seems it is only a matter of time before the phrase "intelligent design is not science" will wear thin as the public becomes more informed.

Mike Argento in the York Dispatch is good at "attacking the man" and being mildly humorous. We wonder what he really thinks of ID?

Denyse O'Leary blogs on Gould, and his supposed namesake, Steve's list. WWSHD...What would Steve have done?

One of the sessions in the upcoming AAAS Annual Meeting is Anti-Evolutionism in America, What's Ahead?

It is stated that the Dover, PA school board is declaring that teachers study ID in class. This is a total misrepresentation of reality. The biology teachers would be required to read a short statement, and tell students that there is a book in the library they can look at if they wish. That's it! In addition, did the school board state that their objective was to eliminate or restrict the teaching of evolution? We think not!

The Summary of the AAAS session...A Science Teacher's View of the Anti Evolutionary Movement
Recently, the school board in Dover, Pa., declared that teachers were to study intelligent design, a form of creationism characterized by frequent intervention by an unnamed Designer, rather than the all at once creationism of biblical literalism. With this statement, Dover joined a steadily growing U.S. movement at the state and local levels whose objective is to eliminate or restrict the teaching of evolution. The proponents of intelligent design are not attempting to carry out a legitimate scientific debate, rather they are using the teaching of biological and cosmological evolution as a mechanism to attain political objectives. While eliminating or severely restricting the teaching of biological evolution is a primary goal, all of the scientific disciplines, natural and physical, are being affected. Speakers will present an overview on the teaching of biological evolution and where it is headed, clarify the scientific issues; identify other fields, auxiliary to biology, that are directly affected, illustrate the effect of the antievolutionism movement on scientific textbooks and standards, and present the perspective of high school science teachers. The aim of this symposium is to initiate a discussion among science teachers, professional scientists, and people interested in all aspects of science designed to develop an understanding of our mutual interests in supporting the teaching of Darwinian evolution.

Christina Kaufman, of the York Dispatch, reports on the lengthiness of the trial.

Former board member William Buckingham, who resigned to move to North Carolina about two months before the trial started, has been one of the key figures in the trial because of religious comments he reportedly made at school board meetings. He is scheduled to testify Thursday.

Ondrej Hejma, AP writer, appears in the Seattle Post-Intelligence, reporting on the recent ID Conference in the Czech Republic.

About 700 attended the conference, and guess what. There were protestors on hand too.

Carlin Romano of Knight Ridder gives his opinion on the recent book and thoughts of Michael Ruse.

The following is a press release from the Intelligent Design Evolution Awareness (IDEA) Club at Cornell concerning Cornell president Rawlings' state of the University address blasting Intelligent Design.

Contact: Hannah Maxson
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tel. 607-253-2803
Email: idea@cornell.edu

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, October 22, The Intelligent Design Evolution Awareness (IDEA) Club at Cornell is deeply concerned with President Hunter Rawlings' blatant disregard for the facts concerning Intelligent Design in Friday's State of the University Address. In a speech usually reserved for current university business, he spent over two thirds of his time blasting the emerging Intelligent Design theory as anti scientific and religious in an unscrupulous, unknowledgeable manner.

Intelligent Design (ID) is a scientific theory which holds that certain features of the universe and living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, and are not the result of an undirected, chance based process such as Darwinian evolution. It follows the principles of the scientific method, scorns the biases of either religion or naturalism, and attempts to follow all the available evidence to a valid conclusion. ID is testable and falsifiable, and so far its predictions have repeatedly been shown accurate.

The IDEA Club at Cornell holds that the problems with Neo Darwinian evolution can no longer be ignored, and it is time for true research and debate about the issues surrounding the beginnings of life to take place at universities across the country.

Attacking ID as a non scientist and without addressing its scientific claims, Rawlings states that it is religion masquerading as science and is a religious belief at its core. This gross misstatement is a disservice to unbiased discourse, besides being an insult to people of faith throughout America. Ad hominem attacks and confusing people's religious beliefs with their scientific research is not befitting a university president. We would hope Rawlings will instead follow Cornell's often lauded commitment to a free and open exchange of ideas.

Below is a collection of articles on the Dover trial.

For an editorial from the York Dispatch, click HERE.

For an article from MSNBC by AP, click HERE.

For an editorial in the Morning Call by a proponent of ID, Donald Hoffman, click HERE.

For an article from the Patriot-News by Bill Sulon, click HERE.

This article on the website Top Tech News delves into Michael Behe's academic sojourn at Lehigh University.

John Bright, a postgraduate humanities fellow at Lehigh, said, "frankly, just from a humanities point of view, it's considered good to challenge the conventional wisdom. It's inherently respectable." Bravo to Mr. Bright!

Alan Leshner, head of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, characterizes ID proponents as "mostly fringe players." We wonder if Leshner lived in the time of Galileo, would he have called Galileo a "fringe player". Too bad ad hominem remarks like Dr. Leshner's still seem to work.

An article by Ker Than goes a bit deeper than most on the website LiveScience.

It looks into the twin pillars of ID, irreducible complexity and specified complexity, and says both are wanting. Than buys into the co-option argument to "refute" irreducible complexity, and "refutes" specified complexity with the "nylon problem".

Both have been ably defended as not being examples of Darwinism.

For more on the "nylon solution", click HERE,

and HERE.

It is worth your while to read ID proponent Stephen Jones's replies to Austrailian science organizations against ID.

They pull out every old sound bite in the atheist/agnostic/freethinker playbook, including "dressed up in a cheap tuxedo"!

William Kates of the AP reports that Hunter Rawlings III, felt it imperative to use his state of the university address, usually a recitation of the school's progress over the last year, to speak out against intelligent design, which he said has put rational thought under attack.

Straight from the talking points of scientific materialists, Rawlings causes those who have delved deep into the subject to yawn, and to hope that the students at Cornell are intelligent enough to see past the rhetoric.

Michael Powell of the Washington Post reports that there is little, if any, resemblance between the Scopes Trial and the Dover Trial.

Behe impressed! But, we knew he would.

The graphical header shows a man. he symbolizes the Essence of manifestation. He is admiring the starred sky upon him. The drawing on the right shows a woman. She symbolizes the Substance pole of manifestation. (Both drawings made by Leonardo da Vinci). In the middle, there is a glimpse on the universe, which stays between (and is composed of) Essence and Substance (photo of the Dark nebula Horsehead in Orion). The vibration on the photo symbolizes an echo of the Big Bang (Substance, matter and energy) and Big Installation (Essence, information) due to the initial Fiat Lux.
The Intelligent Design label stays on a clear background (it is near the truth). The Evolution text stays on a dark background (it is far from the truth). ID is correct, evolutionism is wrong.

The articles are a mix of English and Italian.

A most important and decisive book that defends a "non-evolutionist" position is back in print. Douglas Dewar's "The Transformist Illusion" exposes, scientifically, all the maneuvers undertaken by those that prop up Darwinism. Nobody ever demonstrated scientific evidences that a species "developed" from another, and Dewar shows this. The book is available from Barnes and Noble.

PRNewswire reports on the upcoming ID Conference in Europe this weekend which is expected to draw around 1000 people from around the world.

Continue to follow the Dover trial from the perspective of the Discovery Institute, which has three staff members attending the trial.

Transcripts of the Dover trial are available on the Pennsylvania ACLU website, including Dr. Michael Behe's expert testimony.

As we have said for quite some time..."junk" DNA is not junk.

Peter Andolfatto, an assistant professor of biology at UC-San Diego, says such DNA plays an important role in maintaining an organism's genetic integrity. Read about it on ScienceDaily.

The Philadelphia Enquirer op-ed page featured opinions on both sides of the trial issue. Read about it on the DI website.

We are wrong...Darwinism has been caught on tape. Not!

Dr. Michael Behe has been on the witness stand as the defense's star witness.

For a report from the York Dispatch by Christina Kauffman, click HERE.

For a report from AP on MSNBC, click HERE.

It is amazing that the American Physical Society (APS) can get it so wrong when it comes to ID and Biblical Creationism.

ID only states that something is designed because it exhibits certain characteristics. The identity of the designer doesn't even come up.

For their statement on the Kansas State Board decision written in 1999, click HERE.

Christiana Kauffman of the York Dispatch reports that the defense has begun to present its case supporting the Dover Area school board's decision to include intelligent design in biology classes. Attorneys will set out to undo the past three weeks of testimony from expert scientists, former board members and parents.

John Staver, a fellow of the AAAS, delivered a statement at the monthly meeting of the Kansas State Board of Education in Topeka. The board is expected to give final approval to the new standards, which greatly trouble AAAS, in a vote in October. Read the statement in the AAAS news archives in the link above.

NEWS RELEASE:
Contact: Intelligent Design network, inc.
John Calvert, Managing Director
913-268-0852

IDnet Announces Establishment of IDnet of Ohio

Shawnee Mission, KS. - IDnet announced that it had re-established its Ohio division through an office in Cincinnati. The new division will be managed under the direction of attorney Roddy M. Bullock. Mr. Bullock was also elected to the IDnet Board of Directors and IDnet Executive Committee at a special meeting of the Board on October 15.

IDnet currently has offices in Kansas City, Albuquerque, and Minneapolis. The reopening of its Ohio office reflects a renewed interest in furthering institutional objectivity in teaching origins science in Ohio schools.

In addition to practicing patent law with a Fortune 100 corporation in Cincinnati, Mr. Bullock is a degreed mechanical engineer (BSME and JD from The University of Texas, Austin) and an author. Married with four children raised in public schools, Mr. Bullock has a passion for excellence in science education in Ohio and around the nation.

"I am excited about helping the citizens of Ohio capitalize on the outstanding work accomplished by others over the few years to permit teachers to open up the classroom discussion about origins," said Mr. Bullock. "Although great progress has been made by people dedicated to excellence in science education, a kind of scientific fundamentalism continues to hinder Ohio teachers from teaching Darwinism fully and honestly. That is not healthy for good science or good science education," continued Bullock. "We need to take fear out of the biology classroom and empower teachers to candidly discuss both sides of the current scientific controversy over evolution."

"The new science is generating an exciting new 21st century perspective on origins. 20st Century concepts of random mutation and natural selection are being replaced by new ways of looking at a genome that exhibits indescribably complex information processing systems," said John Calvert. "The old way of thinking about origins is going to need major revision as the new data is changing the way we think about both the operation and evolution of the genome."

*******

Intelligent Design network, inc. is a nonprofit national organization that seeks institutional objectivity in origins science. Intelligent design is a scientific disagreement with claims that the apparent design of certain natural phenomena is an illusion that can be adequately explained by random mutation and natural selection. Objectivity is necessary because many institutions systematically suppress any objective consideration of that disagreement.

It continues to amaze us how writers can keep on misrepresenting what ID actually is, conflating it with Biblical creationism. In a Yahoo News article by Lisa Anderson Tribune, it is reported that efforts continue by museums around the country to legitimize Darwinism at all costs.

Mentioning the Dover PA trial, the tired phrase that the school board wants to teach ID is restated. In that school district the proposal is for a short statement to be read in 9th grade biology classes saying that ID is another theory of origins, and the student can look at a book in the library if they wish to do so. That hardly constitutes "teaching" ID.

The spotlight in the Dover trial turned to Jonathan Well's book Icons of Evolution and the companion DVD. Learn more in this article in the York Dispatch by Lauri Lebo.

The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is hosting a conference in Washington, D.C. on Friday, October 21st. Heavyweights on both sides of the debate will be present.

Don Cicchetti, a musical artist and free-lance writer, has dialed into the ID movement, like many others around the world, by setting up a blog. Way to go, Don!

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have identified an elusive protein that performs a necessary step in the production of human chromosomes.

The new study appears in the most recent issue (Oct. 7) of the journal Cell.

The study found that a protein called CPSF73 acts like scissors to cut strands of histone messenger RNA (mRNA) in the cell nucleus. This cutting action produces the mRNA needed to create histone proteins that combine with DNA to form chromosomes.

Just another example of irreducible complexity rampant in biology.

Jonathan Well's response to The New Republic article by Jerry R. Coyne, evolutionary biology at the University of Chicago, is up on the Discovery Institute website.

Subject: Lawsuit: Federally-Funded Website Uses Religion to Sell Evolution to Students

News Release

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE on October 12, 2005

Contact: Larry Caldwell
Phone: 916-774-4667
lcaldwell@qsea.org

Lawsuit Alleges that Federally-Funded Evolution Website Violates Separation of Church and State by Using Religion to Promote Evolution

San Francisco, CA- A California parent, Jeanne Caldwell, is filing a federal lawsuit today against officials of the National Science Foundation and the University of California at Berkeley for spending more than $500,000 of federal money on a website that encourages teachers to use religion to promote evolution in violation of the First Amendment.

"In this stunning example of hypocrisy, the same people who so loudly proclaim that they oppose discussion of religion in science classes are clamoring for public school teachers to expressly use theology in order to convince students to support evolution," said Larry Caldwell, President of Quality Science Education for All, who is co-counsel in the suit with the Pacific Justice Institute.

Called "Understanding Evolution," the website identified in the lawsuit directs teachers to doctrinal statements by seventeen religious denominations and groups endorsing evolutionary theory. A statement by the United Church of Christ, for example, declares that evolution is consistent with "the revelation and presence of... God in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit."

The website further suggests classroom activities that explicitly use religion to promote evolution. In one suggested activity, teachers are supposed to share with students statements by religious leaders on evolution, but only those "stress[ing] the compatibility of theology with the science of evolution." In another activity, students are assigned to interview ministers about their views on evolution, with the purpose of showing students that "Evolution is OK!" Teachers are cautioned, however, that this particular activity may not work if they live in a community that is "conservative Christian."

"While the government has a legitimate purpose in educating students about the science of evolution, it's outrageous that tax dollars would be spent to indoctrinate students into a particular religious view of evolution. There are many different religious views about evolution. How dare the government tell students which religious view is correct!" said plaintiff Jeanne Caldwell. "This is propaganda, not education."

The lawsuit alleges that the state and federal government are promoting religious beliefs to minor school children through the website in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The suit seeks injunctive relief to remove these government endorsed religious beliefs from
the website.

The lawsuit also alleges that the website is being used to further the religious agenda of a private organization, the National Center for Science Education (NSCE), which has a "long history of religious advocacy" on the evolution issue. According to the suit, the NCSE, which helped design the website, provides religious "outreach" programs and "preaching" on evolution to churches, all aimed at convincing people of faith that there is no
conflict between their religious beliefs and evolution.

"It turns out that the NCSE and its allies in the scientific and educational establishments don't mind having religious beliefs discussed in science class, as long as those discussions are aimed at convincing students to convert to the religious beliefs favored by the NCSE", added attorney Caldwell. "Their willingness to flagrantly violate students'
constitutionally protected religious freedoms in order to sell evolution to our children is the height of hypocrisy."

Dave Dentel, copy editor for the York (PA) Dispatch, is a clear thinker who gets it absolutely right when describing the tactics of the Darwinists on trial. He shows their disingenuousness and wrongheaded thinking.

Cristina Bautista of UC Berkeley's Daily Californian reports on the UC Berekely's involvement in the ID controversy.

UC Berkeley integrative biology professor Kevin Padian is currently working as an expert witness in Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District, where he is assisting 11 parents from Dover, Penn. who argue that the school district is violating their First Amendment rights by imposing religious beliefs through the inclusion of intelligent design in their children's science curriculum.

The pro-ID side is fairly well represented in the article, mentioning Phil Johnson, and senior Tom Kim, who started up the UC Berkeley chapter of Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness this fall to provide a forum for like-minded students on campus to openly discuss their views without fear of insult.

Jeff Jacoby, op-ed writer for the Boston Globe, recently gave his pro-ID take on the controversy. He basically says what we have been saying all along. You will need to register with the Boston Globe to read the piece.

Discovery Institute has set up a resource page for the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District federal court trial that began Sept 26, 2005. The page includes transcripts from the case, press release summaries and amicus briefs.

According to lawyer Douglas Kern the future belongs to ID. The only remaining question is whether Darwinism will exit gracefully, or whether it will go down biting, screaming, censoring, and denouncing to the bitter end.

He expounds on the following five reasons in his article at Tech Central Station:

1) ID will win because it's a religion-friendly, conservative-friendly, red-state kind of theory, and no one will lose money betting on the success of red-state theories in the next fifty to one hundred years.

2) ID will win because the pro-Darwin crowd is acting like a bunch of losers.

3) ID will win because it can be reconciled with any advance that takes place in biology, whereas Darwinism cannot yield even an inch of ground to ID.

4) ID will win because it can piggyback on the growth of information theory, which will attract the best minds in the world over the next fifty years.

5) ID will win because ID assumes that man will find design in life -- and, as the mind of man is hard-wired to detect design, man will likely find what he seeks.

Could it be that the theory of evoltuion's judicially sanctioned monopoly in the classroom has backfired? That is the question asked by science writer Michael Balter in his commentary in the October 2, 2005 issue of the Los Angeles Times. He concludes that the most effective way to convince students that the theory is correct is to confront the challengers, not avoid them. We agree. So let the rumble begin. Let's teach the controversy and may the best theory win.

Academic freedom is a cherished value in our institutions of higher learning--that is until the cherished ideas of the university gatekeepers come under attack. Here are a few examples of the persecution suffered by those who have dared to challenge the Darwinian worldview in our universities:

University of Idaho

San Francisco State University

Mississippi University for Women

Geogre Mason University

Baylor University

Ohio State University

Iowa State University (faculty)

Texas Tech and Iowa State (students)

Research by ophthalmologists has clearly shown why the human retina must employ what is called the "inverted" design. An inverted retina is where the photoreceptors face away from the light, forcing the incoming light to travel through the front of the retina to reach the photoreceptors. Read this report by Jerry Bergman and Joseph Calkins. Jerry Bergman is on the Biology faculty at Northwest State College in Ohio. Joseph Calkins is an Ophthalmologist in private practice, formerly Professor of Ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins University.

"This week, the case of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District opened in federal court. The ACLU is suing the school board of Dover, Pennsylvania for adopting a policy which requires that teachers read to students a three-paragraph statement about the theory of intelligent design. In his opening statement, Eric Rothschild, the attorney for Kitzmiller, argued against the legitimacy of intelligent design (ID). Unfortunately for Rothschild, the testimony of Kenneth Miller-a Roman Catholic biology professor from Brown University who staunchly defends evolution-has already refuted his argument. And even more unfortunately, Miller was his expert witness."

Read the rest of Joe Manzari's report on highlights from the first few days of the trial.

Paul Nussbaum writing in the Philadelpia Inquirer sees the Dover trial as a test of values between the likes of William Dembski:

"Naturalism is the disease. Intelligent design is the cure," William Dembski, director of the Center for Science and Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., wrote in his book Intelligent Design. "... Darwin gave us a creation story in which God was absent, and undirected natural processes did all the work. That creation story... is now on the way out. When it goes, so will all the edifices that have been built on its foundation."

and Dover plaintiff Frederick Callahan:

"One of the Dover plaintiffs, Frederick Callahan, made the link between belief in evolution and support for separation of church and state on the witness stand.

'I've come to accept that we [believers in evolution] are in the minority. I've seen the polls,' he said. 'And we've been called intolerant.'

'What am I supposed to tolerate? A small encroachment of my First Amendment rights? I will not.'"

Transcripts for the federal court case filed against the Dover Area School District and its school board over mention of intelligent design in biology classes are now available.

The parents, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, were expected to argue that the school board had religious motives in requiring a statement about intelligent design to be read in biology classes. They also contend intelligent design is based on religion.

Since the time of Darwin, scholars have resisted design in nature, but throughout the twentieth century new discoveries have forced a reappraisal and revived an interest in design. The aim of this international science conference is to review evidence for intelligent design, drawing upon results in astronomy, physics, mathematics, biochemistry, biology, genetics, and paleontology.

Prague Congress Centre, Prague, Czech Republic
October 22, 2005

8:30 Registration and Welcome
9:00 Jonathan Wells, Ph.D.Icons of Evolution (genetics)
10:00 John C. Lennox, Ph.D., D.Sc.Design Features of the Universe (mathematics)
11:00 Coffee Break
11:45 Charles B. Thaxton, Ph.D., FAIC Origin of Life (biochemistry)
12:45 Lunch
2:15 Stephen C. Meyer, Ph.D. Information and the Cambrian Explosion (paleontology)
3:15 Responses
Panel Discussion
5:30 Snack
6:30 Michael J. Behe, Ph.D. Molecular Machines (molecular biology)
7:30 Closing

Popular Mechanics BREAKTHROUGH AWARDS 2005 salute the innovators who are shaping the world's future through science and technology-and new products that represent benchmarks of engineering. The Young Achiever Award went to Sarah Mims, an amateur scientist who is a sophomore in college, and an advocate of intelligent design, for her discovery that living fungal spores and bacteria are found in abundance in the smoke from distant biomass fires.

Conventional wisdom had always indicated that burning crops was a good way to kill disease. Not so fast, said this student who demonstrated that smoke can carry living organisms. The formal paper about Sarah's discovery is: Sarah A. Mims and Forrest M. Mims III, Fungal spores are transported long distances in smoke from biomass fires, Atmospheric Environment 38, 651-655, 2004.

In a October 4, 2005 Letter to the University of Idaho Faculty, Staff and Students, University President, Timothy P. White legislates that only evolution will be taught:

"Because of recent national media attention to the issue, I write to articulate the University of Idaho's position with respect to evolution: This is the only curriculum that is appropriate to be taught in our bio-physical sciences."