Religion & Law

Go Up Upon the Mountain

By John Pieret

Eric Rothschild is a prophet.

But before we get to that, let's hear from some people who have become experts in Intelligent Design Creationism about their take on the new Texas science standards:

Steve Stough was one of 11 parents who sued the Dover Area School District in 2004 after it required that ID be mentioned in high school biology class as "an explanation of the origin of life that differs from Darwin's view" and recommending the cdesign proponentsists "textbook," Of Pandas and People.

He had just heard a passage from Texas' new public school science standards, and was processing.

Then:

"Oh ----," he said. "That's intelligent design without using the nomenclature. It really, truly is."

"It just seems to be the next way to bring creationism back in, but they're not so blunt about it" ...

"It's definitely a backdoor approach. It's understated. It's re-worded. It's going to fly under the radar for a lot of people."

"But then you look at their critical set of arguments, it's the same thing they were saying about intelligent design."

The standard requiring students to critique "explanations concerning complexity of the cell," Miller said, parrots the concept of "irreducible complexity," one of intelligent design's main tenets.

Another standard says students must analyze scientific explanations concerning any data of "sudden appearance," which Miller called an element of intelligent design. In the Dover trial, the plaintiffs showed manuscripts for an unreleased textbook in which the phrase replaced "intelligent design."

When told of the new Texas standards, she had words of caution for the state board based on what happened in Dover.

"Look at the outcome," Yingling said. "Look at what happened. A whole bunch of taxpayer money spent and (they) lost."

During the trial, the plaintiffs showed manuscripts of two editions of the book, "Of People and Pandas," and a manuscript of a then unpublished book, "The Design of Life."

The first edition included the phrase: "Creation means that various forms of life began abruptly through the agency of an intelligent creator, with their distinctive features already intact -- fish with fins and scales, birds with feathers, beaks, wings, etc."

The second, published after a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court decision that forbade the teaching of creationism in public schools, included: "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."

The third, from "The Design of Life" included: "Sudden appearance 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, wings, and mammals with fur and mammary glands, etc."

After unveiling the evidence, Eric Rothschild, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers asked, "Will we be back in a couple of years for the 'sudden appearance' trial?"

The presiding judge, John E. Jones III, replied, "Not on my docket."

Full post as published by Thoughts in a Haystack on April 05, 2009 (boomark / email).