In the News

Rob Crowther of The Discovery Institute points to a Human Events Online essay by Greg Frankey explaining how liberal organizations like the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State are working to keep any mention of intelligent design out of public school classes of any subject, let alone science classes.

In arguing so he shows how the teaching of evolution itself is nothing more than dogma, and points to some of the more pressing problems with the whole theory.

The Discovery Institute reports that the Seattle Times Talk of the Times at Town Hall Seattle featured a debate over evolution and intelligent design between CSC Director Stephen Meyer and US paleontologist Peter Ward.

David Postman of the Seattle Times did a fine job as the moderator of the debate.

Both ardent ID supporters and staunch Darwinists agreed that Meyer prevailed. Meyer was more substantive and thoughtful with his answers. Meyer above all successfully showed that there is a debate about evolution and intelligent design and he showed that it is based on science, regardless of political or religious implications.

The AP and then the York Dispatch has picked up on a release by The Discovery Institute. DI is finding some good in the December ruling by a federal judge that intelligent design could not be taught in a the Dover Area School District.

"The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) sued to keep a few students in Pennsylvania from hearing about intelligent design, and as a result, they made sure everyone in the world heard about it," said Stephen Meyer, director of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, which produces studies and reports about intelligent design.

DI said the lesson in Dover is that the school board hijacked intelligent-design terminology for its attempt to bring religion into school.

WLBT-TV reports that school officials cannot prohibit teachers and students from discussing how life began under a new state law signed by Gov. Haley Barbour.

"No local school board, school superintendent or school principal shall prohibit a public school classroom teacher from discussing and answering questions from individual students on the origin of life," the bill reads.

The new law is not as detailed as the initial version. The Senate had voted to prohibit schools from stifling classroom discussions about the "flaws or problems which may exist in Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution and the existence of other theories of evolution, including, but not limited to, the Intelligent Design explanation of the origin of life."

Local school officials say they've not had a problem and worry the new law is so vague that court challenges may loom.

Ekklesia reports that UK schools minister, Jacqui Smith, has declared categorically that the government is against the teaching of creationism and so-called "intelligent design" in science lessons in British schools.

She says that "Intelligent Design is sometimes erroneously advanced as a scientific theory but it has no underpinning scientific principles or explanations supporting it and is not accepted by the international scientific community."

We are glad she cleared that up for us. NO scientific principles or explanations. She sounds fairly dogmatic about her opinion.