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Intelligent Design
versus Evolution > There is no design. [...] I agree. "intelligent design" http://tinyurl.com/intelligentdesignPHF - - - Taking aim at intelligent design Professor says classrooms must remain secular by Graeme Morton, Calgary Herald Published: Saturday, January 24, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/takingairmatintelligentdesign - - - Excerpts: ... Paul Myers, a biology professor ... [says] "Intelligent design is just a way for creationists to put a new face on their beliefs and agenda and to try and get around legislation on the separation of church and state." ... A number of lawsuits involving the promotion of intelligent design have been launched in recent years. The most prominent has been the 2005 Dover trial, where a group of Pennsylvania par- ents successfully challenged a school district's requirement that their Grade 9 biology teachers offer information on intelligent design as an alter- native to evolution. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has stated that, "creationism, intelligent design, and other claims of supernatural intervention in the origin of life or of species are not science be- cause they are not testable by the methods of science." Myers says the intelligent design movement has a strong ideological agenda "to saturate our chil- dren's education with religious belief. ... - - - end excerpts - - - - - - Jerry Coyne's new book 'Why Evolution is True' presents the science that coheres into fact by John Mangels/Plain Dealer Science Writer Wednesday January 28, 2009, 1:46 PM http://tinyurl.com/coyne-why-evolution-is-true - - - Excerpts: December 2005 should have marked the end of longstanding attempts to sneak biblical cre- ation tales into public school science classes. - - - Adversaries Clarence Darrow, left, and William Jennings Bryant confer in 1925 at the "Scopes Monkey Trial" in Dayton, Tenn. -- one chapter in America's long struggle with evolution. http://blog.cleveland.com/books_impact/2009/01/medium_monkey.jpg - - - That's when federal judge John E. Jones III ruled that creationism's latest incarnation, intelligent design -- the belief that a supernatural overseer, rather than evolutionary processes, brought about complex life -- is "a religious alternative masquer- ading as a scientific theory." Jones, a conservative, church-going judicial ap- pointee of former President George W. Bush, drove a stake into the heart of the creationist movement. The judge dismissed as "breathtak- ing inanity" the Dover, Pa., school board's policy of misrepresenting evolution and promoting intel- ligent design as a viable alternative. But creationism evolves. As Scientific American magazine reports this month, the movement's backers have shifted to a more subtle strategy by insisting schools subject evolution to "critical analysis." ... Coyne, an evolutionary geneticist who studies fruit flies, goes straight for the scientific proof. He draws on fresh findings from his own field, and from paleontology, molecular biology, geol- ogy and other disciplines to make the case that evolution is "far more than a theory, let alone a theory in crisis," but "a fact." Where's the evidence? You can find it practically anyplace, from fossil digs and genetics labs to doctor's offices, back yards, even your kitchen, where foods like bananas, broccoli, tomatoes and wheat were domesticated by growers mimick- ing evolutionary techniques. "We can directly witness natural selection leading to better adaptation," Coyne writes. "Insects have become resistant to DDT and other pesticides, plants have adapted to herbicides, and fungi, worms and algae have evolved resistance to heavy metals that have polluted their environment." Everyone knows about drug resistance, but few realize that it is a superb example of natural selec- tion in action. "We see fruit flies adapting to ex- treme temperature, honeybees adapting to com- petitors, and guppies becoming less colorful to escape the notice of predators. How many more examples do we need?" Coyne asks. There are plenty more, and Coyne uses them to torpedo the major claims of intelligent design: That "transitional" fossils don't exist, that there's no evidence of new species evolving, that evolu- tion is insufficient to explain "complex" organs such as the eye. Calmly, he addresses difficult topics like the origin of race, the rise of humans from our primate ancestors and whether our genes predestine behavior. "Why Evolution Is True" is not likely to sway avowed creationists, but it's invaluable, engross- ing reading for anyone who's uncertain of the facts or who has struggled with how to respond to anti-evolution arguments. Feb. 12 is the 200th anniversary of Charles Dar- win's birth. Jerry Coyne's book is a perfect birthday gift. - - - end excerpts - - -
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