Intelligent Design Victory

By Daniel Miessler on November 8th, 2005: Tagged as Culture | Religion

So the Kansas board of “education” has ruled that it’s now ok to teach intelligent design along with evolution. This is so, so sad. It’s not just sad — it’s also funny (but not the kind you laugh at).

It’s just getting stupid, people — we’re being laughed at all over the globe. Here’s a country that’s supposed to be on top of the world, and we don’t even have the gumption to respect science anymore.

Here’s a great bit for you:

As part of the decision, the Board of Education also went so far as to redefine science itself, saying that it is ‘no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena.’

No longer limited to the search for natural explanations? Are you f#cking kidding me? That has to be a joke. Seriously, this is just embarassing.

(throws hands up and walks away)

  • Carl M

    This is the sort of idiocy that comes from local control of schools. It is an embarrassment. With any luck, someone will find a way to deny federal funding to schools that insist on teaching religion in this way. But, that seems unlikely under the current administration.

  • Carl M

    This is the sort of idiocy that comes from local control of schools. It is an embarrassment. With any luck, someone will find a way to deny federal funding to schools that insist on teaching religion in this way. But, that seems unlikely under the current administration.

  • Brian

    But sometimes the locals in control of the schools come out to fix things. The PA school board who endorsed ID got voted out yesterday – all of them.

    http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/11/09/evolution.showdown.ap/index.html

    It’s not so bad as it looks. Local involvement is key.

  • Brian

    But sometimes the locals in control of the schools come out to fix things. The PA school board who endorsed ID got voted out yesterday – all of them.

    http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/11/09/evolution.showdown.ap/index.html

    It’s not so bad as it looks. Local involvement is key.

  • Carl M

    Yeah, that result in PA was pretty amazing. It almost restores my faith in local control of school issues. Pretty amazing actually. Now if the people in Kansas do the same thing, I’ll be delighted.

    While I believe that education is the SINGLE most important issue in the nation (the world), I think that a problem in this country is the “majority rules” mindset. Thankfully, this is NOT a pure democracy. (I’d sure hate the uninformed masses to be voting on every issue.) But beyond the fact that we have a representational government, we also have a constitution. The rights outlined in the constitution OVERRIDE the whims of the majority. Those in power are duty bound to recognize this fact. Anyway, even if there was not a clause in the constitution that has been interpreted by the supreme court as making it illegal to teach creationism (by any name) in public school science classes, the decision by the Kansas school board would STILL be idiocy. Let’s hope it doesn’t last long.

  • Carl M

    Yeah, that result in PA was pretty amazing. It almost restores my faith in local control of school issues. Pretty amazing actually. Now if the people in Kansas do the same thing, I’ll be delighted.

    While I believe that education is the SINGLE most important issue in the nation (the world), I think that a problem in this country is the “majority rules” mindset. Thankfully, this is NOT a pure democracy. (I’d sure hate the uninformed masses to be voting on every issue.) But beyond the fact that we have a representational government, we also have a constitution. The rights outlined in the constitution OVERRIDE the whims of the majority. Those in power are duty bound to recognize this fact. Anyway, even if there was not a clause in the constitution that has been interpreted by the supreme court as making it illegal to teach creationism (by any name) in public school science classes, the decision by the Kansas school board would STILL be idiocy. Let’s hope it doesn’t last long.

  • Brian

    Yeah, it’s kind of a crap shoot, sometimes.

    In the long run, though, this kind of thing seems to work itself out. To the detriment of (in this case) the kids who have to go to school in the meantime…

    The other cool thing about how we do it here in the US is that it can be “just” Kansas that tries out the ID thing. The other 49 states can watch and see how it goes and take the lesson from it without having to be subjected to it.

    That said, I’m glad my kids don’t go to school in Kanasas…

  • Brian

    Yeah, it’s kind of a crap shoot, sometimes.

    In the long run, though, this kind of thing seems to work itself out. To the detriment of (in this case) the kids who have to go to school in the meantime…

    The other cool thing about how we do it here in the US is that it can be “just” Kansas that tries out the ID thing. The other 49 states can watch and see how it goes and take the lesson from it without having to be subjected to it.

    That said, I’m glad my kids don’t go to school in Kanasas…


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