Unintelligible design.

The following is one of my favorite songs, "The Science of Myth" by Screeching Weasel:


If you've ever questioned beliefs that you hold, you're not alone;
but you have to realize that every myth is a metaphor.
In the case of Christianity and Judaism there exists the belief
that spiritual matters are enslaved to history.
The Buddhists believe that the functional aspects override the myth,
while other religions use the literal core to build foundations with.

See, half the world sees the myth as fact,
while it's seen as a lie by the other half,
and the simple truth is that it's none of that.
And somehow no matter what the world keeps turning.
Somehow we get by without ever learning:
science and religion are not mutually exclusive.
In fact, for better understanding,
we take the facts of science and apply them.
And if both factors keep evolving
then we continue getting information;
but closing off possibilities
makes it hard to see the bigger picture.

Consider the case of the woman whose faith helped her make it through
when she was raped and cut up,
left for dead in a trunk,
her beliefs held true.
It doesn't matter if it's real or not
'cause some things are better left without a doubt.
And if it works then it gets the job done.
And somehow no matter what the world keeps turning.
Somehow we get by without ever learning:
science and religion are not mutually exclusive.


So, here's the wrap up on recent events in the evolution debate:

The VATICAN has announced that they agree with Screeching Weasel: evolution IS NOT incompatible with religion! (See especially paragraphs 62 - 70.)

Unimpressed, the idiots on the Kansas Board of Education took it upon themselves to "[rewrite] the definition of science, so that it is no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena."

Meanwhile, in Dover, PA, several parents sued the school board for forcing teachers to discuss intelligent design in their curriculum. The judge is not expected to issue a ruling until at least next year, but if it goes in favor of the parents, don't expect the school board to appeal because they were all voted out of office!

Now, the voting out of the school board in Dover is dangerously close to the removal of the polygamist judge I was recently talking about -- it verges on punishing folks for their religion. And that IS against the Constitution. The important difference is that these are elected positions, and while you can't require someone to be of a certain religion to hold office, if they want to make their religion a part of their policy making, then I think that voters have a right to vote against them.

But then idiocy reared its ugly head once again in one of its favorite guises: Pat Robertson. Yes, the master of mendacity has once again put his foot in his big fat mouth with a warning to the city of Dover that in rejecting intelligent design they had rejected God and they shouldn't look to him for help if any natural disasters strike their town. "I'm not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city." Really. That's what he said.

The upside of that last point is that Robertson has just undermined his own cause. The whole point of intelligent design was that they were trying to promote it as science.

You know, I don't want to tar all advocates of intelligent design with Pat Robertson's brush. Many of them are decent, intelligent people; and I don't necessarily think that intelligent design is a theory entirely without merit. The problem with it is that it proposes the supernatural as the natural. The basis of science is experiments that can be repeated. If you can show me an experiment that can be repeated which reveals the existence of an intelligent designer, then I will allow your theory to be taught in science class. If not, (and the underlying principle of intelligent design seems to simply be that certain experiments which can be repeated are not explainable by the theory of evolution) then you belong in another class. In fact, I don't think it would be a bad idea to offer a religion class in public schools that would explain to students the fundamental theories of ALL religions and could include intelligent design. Having a basic understanding of other ideas and cultures is always a positive, and especially in today's multicultural cities and global economy! This should not violate the separation of church and state because it would not be recommending any one religion over any other (ideally -- that would be a lot harder in practice than it sounds).

Whaddaya think?