Witness Defends Broad Definition of ScienceThe New York Times, Oct. 18 A leading architect of the intelligent-design movement defended his ideas in a federal courtroom on Tuesday and acknowledged that under his definition of a scientific theory, astrology would fit as neatly as intelligent design. Prof. Michael J. Behe, a biochemist at Lehigh University, is the first expert witness for the school board of Dover, Pa., which is requiring students to hear a statement about intelligent design in biology class.
… As opposed to on the bathroom walls, where it belongs. Behe likens the process to seeing the sphinx in Egypt, or the stone heads on Easter Island, and concluding that someone must have designed them. Actually, wouldn’t his logic dictate that some “intelligent agency” dropped them on Earth, intact? And with him as representative of man, that pretty much excludes humankind from likely candidates for “intelligent agency.”The following excerpt is from the intelligent-design textbook required by the board as a resource, “Of Pandas and People”:
“Intelligent design means that various forms of life began abruptly through an intelligent agency with their distinctive features already intact, fish with fins and scales, birds with feathers, beaks and wings, etc.”
Wow, that sure quacks like creationism, doesn’t it? I mean, like a duck, of course. Ooops.
Listening from the front row of the courtroom, a school board member said he found Professor Behe’s testimony reaffirming. “Doesn’t it sound like he knows what he’s talking about?” said the Rev. Ed Rowand, a board member and church pastor.
… If you are 6 years old, oh yes, absolutely.Teach children personal religious beliefs in the home, in places of worship, in places where we choose to hear it. Please keep dogma out of my children’s school — they are in biology class to learn about science, not to hear quacking that basically makes everyone within earshot a little more stupid.
