The Indy Star is reporting GOP lawmakers want schools to teach ‘intelligent design’. The article isn’t particularly clear, but I believe they want to have intelligent design taught as science. That’s a bad idea because Intelligent Design isn’t science. It’s not based on observation or falsifiable theory, which are the very essence of the scientific method.
I’m sympathetic to the idea of Deism, which I understand to be sort of the “clockmaker” theory of creation. God wound up the universe like a clock, and let it go. On the other hand, I wouldn’t teach it or Intelligent Design in the science class. I’d put it in a humanities class along side any other creation stories. They are worthy of consideration, but not as science.
Update Jason over at Sneer.org makes an excellent connection that hadn’t occurred to me. This story about putting intelligent design in the science class comes hot on the heels of a report (pdf) that shows Indiana “fell behind or stayed the same against other states in 14 of 23 measurements, such as patents gained per worker and employment in high-tech services.” Prior blog entry here.
(Jason’s entry has a great photograph of Main Street Lafayette where the address hops from 664 Main Street to 666 1/3 Main Street, presumably in a superstitious effort to avoid the Sign of the Beast.)
If we’re willing to debase our science education to accomodate delicate religious sensibilities about creation and evolution, then it’s no wonder our technological and scientific infrastructure is lagging. Are we going to continue to embrace Enlightenment principles or not?
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