Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community
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Ed Brayton – Hypocrite Extraordinaire

Ed Brayton posts this seemingly virtuous opinion that anonymous ID proponents should not have their real names exposed. Yet among my first experiences with Ed Brayton was him exposing my real name in a public comment on Panda’s Thumb. Ed lifted my real name from a private email I sent to him. I don’t particularly try to hide my real name, which is why Ed got it in a private correspondence, but I don’t advertise it either. Now I ask you, when you catch a guy redhanded in such duplicity how far can you trust him in other matters? About as far as I can throw the Oskaloosa High School Football Team…

Jack Krebs Wanted To Present Alongside Bill Dembski

Jack Krebs at Panda’s Thumb is all bent out of shape because he wanted to present an opposing view alongside Bill Dembski. He then implies that Bill declined because Bill’s afraid of Jack or intimidated or something. Excuse me, Jack, but you demanding an opportunity to present alongside Bill Dembski and calling him chicken for refusing is like the Oskaloosa High School Football Team demanding to play the University of Texas Longhorns and saying the Longhorns are chickens for refusing. Sorry Jack, but you’re just not in the same league as Bill.

Secularists Once Again Call For The Suppression Of Knowledge

Secularists Once Again Call For The Suppression Of Knowledge

by Frederick Meekins

Since the 1920’s or thereabouts, secularists have invoked the imagery of the Scopes Monkey Trial as evidence that conservative Evangelicals are bent on suppressing knowledge in the realms of science and literature.

Most following the news are no doubt aware of the ongoing angst on the part of unbelievers and Modernists regarding the propriety of introducing Intelligent Design into the Biology classroom since in their eyes suggesting anything but the materialist hypothesis (itself a faith-based assumption) diminishes the rigor of so-called scientific education. Instead, they suggest such ideas should be considered as part of the Social Studies or Humanities curriculum.

Yet such gestures of enlightened magnanimous compromise are little more than a canard. For when it becomes time to examine the metaphysical issues within what liberals previously promoted as the appropriate venue for such a discussion, they then cry Separation of Church and State. Thus, what they really want is a monopoly on the perspective taught across all of public education. Read More ›

No Dembski on Nick?

Bill! This is a perfect opportunity for plush toy deployment! Get on the horn with Ellerbee and get on the show.

Nick News Explores Issues Surrounding the Teaching of Evolution and Intelligent Design in Schools

Nick News with Linda Ellerbee: God, Science, Politics and Your School – Sunday, Jan. 22, 8:30 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon

NEW YORK, Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ — In Nick News with Linda Ellerbee: God, Science, Politics and Your School, airing on Nickelodeon, Sunday, Jan. 22, 8:30 p.m. (ET/PT), award-winning journalist Linda Ellerbee and Nick News take a look at the on-going controversy surrounding the teaching of the theory of intelligent design alongside the theory of evolution in public school science classes.

“The goal of this show is not to debate the issues of evolution, intelligent design, or creationism,” said Ellerbee. “We just want to give kids a better understanding of what all the shouting is about, not to mention the court cases that have resulted already, and some that are shaping up. We also wanted to hear from kids affected by these disputes.” Read More ›

Will The Missing Pages Be Burned?

Broward County will be selecting a new biology book soon. One has a few paragraphs on Intelligent Design in it. We can have none of that! Critics say they don’t want intelligent design in schools because it’s based on faith, not science. So publishers of the second book, Biology: The Dynamics of Life, have offered to remove the page containing the passages. And Superintendent Frank Till has said he would cut the page to eliminate the controversy if teachers pick the book. Read The Whole Article Here

Jeb Bush Weighs In On ID (sort of)

I can’t quite decipher what Jeb Bush is really recommending here except that educators should make the ultimate decision. It seems he is greenlighting classroom discussion of ID in we should encourage the vigorous discussion of varying viewpoints in our classrooms but isn’t explicit about it. Clearly though, the topic of ID has risen to where the governor of yet another large state has come out with a statement mentioning it. This is very encouraging. ID isn’t fading away, it’s growing in stature in the public square. PRESS RELEASE December 30, 2005 Russell Schweiss (850) 488-5394 Statement by Governor Jeb Bush Regarding Sunshine State Standards for Science TALLAHASSEE — “A national debate is ensuing about whether evolution or intelligent design Read More ›

Reminder To Stay On Message

This applies to everyone writing articles as well as writing comments. Professor Dembski excepted of course. The topic and purpose of this weblog is to instruct and promote the intelligent design work of Bill Dembski in particular and the ID movement in general. We are trying to convince that world that ID is based on math, science, and logic. While the implications tend to attract religious devotees in large number ID is not about religion. I consider atheism to be a contrarian religion and ID offends them as one might expect of anything that pleases the faithful. If you want a soapbox for your favorite religion (including atheism) go somewhere else. I realize that it’s hard to divorce our innermost Read More ›

Why Darwin is still a lightning rod…

Adam Wolfson writes a fairly balanced piece on the evolution debate in The Weekly Standard. I take issue with his ending paragraphs saying ID is doomed in public teaching because proponents claim the designer must be God. This conclusion reflects a misunderstanding of ID which is about design detection not designer typecasting and a stereotyping of ID proponents into a mold they all do not fit into. Survival of the Evolution Debate Why Darwin is still a lightning rod. by Adam Wolfson 01/16/2006, Volume 011, Issue 17 WHAT IS IT ABOUT EVEN the slightest dissent from Darwin’s theory of natural selection that drives liberal elites (and even some conservative elites) bonkers? In the 1920s, in the days of the Scopes Read More ›

ACLU about to lose Cobb on appeal?

Brief History Cobb County, Georgia, adopted new biology texts which for the first time in Cobb County had a section on evolution. Concerned parents voiced their concern to the school board that the evolution section was presented in a manner that left no room for doubt, effectively presenting as fact something the parents did not believe was an accurate history of the evolution of life. The school board voted to put a sticker in the textbook stating that the textbook contained material about the evolution of life and that evolution was a theory, not a fact, and that it should be carefully studied and critically considered. A group of parents sued the school board saying the stickers were a law Read More ›

Engines of Creation Series (#1)

I’ve decided to write a series of articles touching upon ID-relevant portions of the seminal book describing the nanotechnology revolution “Engines of Creation” by K. Eric Drexler. The book was originally published in hardcover in 1986 and purchased/read by me that year. This year marks its 20th anniversary and is a good point to take a look at where its predictions on the path and nature of the nanotechnology revolution stand two decades later. It is now in the public domain in hypertext format here: Engines of Creation For this introductory article I want to skip up to the second to last chapter. EOC Chapter 14: The Network of Knowledge Chapter 14 discusses the (at the time: 1986) revolutionary new Read More ›