I’ve been out of pocket a few days to attend the deposition of Barbara Forrest in the Dover County ID Case (I’m an expert witness for the ID side and was advising the ID side’s deposing attorney; by the way, Forrest struck me as very nice in person). I expect I’ll be reporting more on this case at some point. Though seemingly insignificant (a tiny community’s school board enacts a seemingly trivial concession to ID), this case could well blow up with huge implications for ID in high school biology curricula.

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After cleaning house on Wednesday of this week by firing David Jeffrey as provost, Baylor’s interim president Bill Underwood called a pep rally of all Baylor faculty and staff on Thursday (see the story below). There he remarked: “Baylor University can be the most exciting university to study at, to teach at, to conduct research at, to work with students…. This can be the greatest of all universities. We can make that happen. All of us in this room today have the ability to make that happen. I challenge you to join together.” The response to this rousing appeal was a standing ovation. Read More ›

Just so there’s no doubt regarding the following story, to say that the provost was replaced is to say that he was fired. What does this portend for Baylor? The signs are not good if the aim is to see Baylor become a university that is Christian in more than just name. Sloan and Jeffrey — both gone within the space of less than 12 hours (Sloan’s resignation went into effect midnight, June 1; Jeffrey was fired later that morning). They should have done a “Bill Clinton” and installed me as a tenured professor before they left — I would have been their best gift to the people that have vexed them all these years. Read More ›

Smithsonian Distances Itself From Controversial Film
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/01/AR2005060101986.html

By Tommy Nguyen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 2, 2005; Page C01

The controversy over the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History’s decision to allow a documentary based on “intelligent design” — the theory that life is so meticulously complex that a divine intelligence must have designed it — to be played at one of its theaters ended in compromise yesterday: The film will be shown, but the screening fee required by the museum (in this case, $16,000) won’t be accepted and the museum will withdraw its customary co-sponsorship. Read More ›

The Center for Inquiry, a leading skeptic society, is putting together a “dream cruise” December 10-17, 2005. Imagine with me putting a dozen extremely bright, ID-enthusiastic, street-witnessing Jesus-freak undergrads on this boat and letting them pass out tracts, ask tough questions during lectures, and engage in assorted mayhem. Ah, if only I had millions…. I guess I’ll just have to go by myself.

Here is an email from one of my ID colleagues in the defense industry. Imagine this scenario, but with me instead of Bolton going not to the UN but to the NSF to head a new initiative on ID with lots and lots of tax dollars to back it up. Could this happen? Who would be choking back tears? Read More ›