I’m pleased to announce the IDEA Center’s new Executive Director has just rolled out her own website:
I met with Dr. Crocker recently at a screening of the movie Expelled. She will be featured prominently in the movie!
The Darwinists have framed the ID debate as being about what should and should not be taught in the public school science classroom. I speculate that the debate over the public school classroom is another example of Bulverism.
As I pointed out here, the real issue is whether life is designed. If so, most every other question pales in comparison. And also lost in the Darwinist Bulverism is whether individuals in universities will have the chance to answer the question of design for themselves, and whether these individuals will have the freedom to tell others what they discover.
The whole time I was a part of the GMU IDEA club, our club officially refrained from taking a position on what should or should not be taught in science classes both in the public schools and universities. Not that the issue was unimportant, but the issue was not to be the focus of IDEA at GMU. In fact, I personally have lobbied that for the time being, instead of the science classroom, ID and creation science could be discussed and studied elsewhere. [See: My correspondence with Eugenie Scott on ID in the universities.]
I always encouraged the pro-ID students to be at peace with their Darwinists professors. I told them being versant in Darwinian evolution is no more a profession of faith in Darwin than being versant in Greek mythology is a profession of faith in the Greek gods. I encouraged them to study Darwinism, to learn it better than their peers, but to always remember the evidences which showed them that Darwinism was false and ID was true…
Thus, the battle in the universities was not about what should be taught in the science classes. Much more important was the battle for pro-ID students having the chance to pursue their ambitions. Let’s take an extreme example: what if the student said, “I want to use my biology degree to work in healthcare, to help lead people to the Christian faith, and to teach them that God is the Creator and life is not the product of Darwinian evolution” ? Can a student be free to express such an ambition without fear of serious reprisal, especially at the graduate level? Not in today’s climate! Were there such students in my circle of comrades? Well, I think there could have been at least a few…:-)
But whether the university likes it or not, is it the university’s business to police whether biology degrees might be used for religious purposes? No! The Darwinists (like Barbara Forrest) have made a big deal about the religious motivations of various ID proponents. Well, are the Darwinists hinting that religious motivations and the intent to use advanced degrees to further the spread of one’s religious convictions are grounds for denying diplomas? Recall how (according to the linked report) Glen Branch of the NCSE hinted that universities should do exactly that! See: War in the making on pro-ID students?. But if schools follow Glen’s advice, such actions by a school might raise serious first amendment issues and violations of the establishment clause….
The real culture war is not over what should or should not be taught in the science classroom. The real culture war is whether individuals will be allowed to pursue their inalienable rights which were endowed to them by their Creator. Individuals have the right to investigate who the Creator is, they have the right to tell others who they think the Creator is. They have the right to acquire Bachelors, Masters Degrees, and PhDs in biology in order to help them achieve those ends.
Darwinists have no right to impede the acquisition of diplomas merely on the grounds that the biology student might use his scientific learning to further the spread of his personal faith and convictions. Whether an individual believes the Creator is a Deity or the Flying Spaghetti monster, that individual has the right to follow his convictions and not be punished academically for having such convictions….I expect the fight over students civil rights may only be beginning.
But in the mean time, individuals do not need to wait for an act of congress or a supreme court ruling to begin their honest search about ultimate questions. There are people like Dr. Crocker who are devoting themselves to giving individuals access to facts which the universities systematically suppress. Whatever happens in the courts or the houses of congress cannot stop the free flow of information. That’s where the action is. Visit http://intellectualhonesty.info to learn more.