Let's not put too fine a point on it: the whole thing is a scam, this "intelligent design" business. Old wine, new bottles. And the practical ramifications of it all, as I've repeated here ad nauseam, is that we eventually lose our desire to innovate and progress, which after all requires a firm grounding in empirical reasoning and an understanding of the significance of scientific method. You want an idea how well theocracies work, just look over at Iran.
Scopes may have been a show trial, but the consequences are very real, and they should not be ignored. If these hucksters come to your town and try to infect your school board with their pernicious quackery, you know what to tell 'em.
[update: This Balloon Juice article outlines the high points of a "mega conference" (of, um, 2000 people, which is about what Loverboy could attract to your average Indian casino on a decent night -- not quite "mega"), and points to two useful posts from Panda's Thumb, who actually attended, so the rest of us didn't have to sit through the nonsense these idiots are blowing up each others' asses. Panda's Thumb in turn has a Reason post which presents these lunatic morons about as evenhandedly as possible -- which is to say, far more than they deserve:
In addition to his musical offerings, Davis is sculpting 40 different dinosaurs for AiG's Creation Museum which is slated to open in 2007. Dinosaurs play a surprisingly big role in modern creation science. For example, AiG's opening webpage features a graphic of Apatosaurus dinosaurs mingling with a herd of modern antelopes. Apparently, the comic strip featuring the prehistoric cave man Alley Oop chasing after dinosaurs was actually a precise look into humanity's past. In fact, AiG's president Ken Ham has written a lavishly illustrated children's book Dinosaurs of Eden (2001) which shows Adam and Eve and Noah and his kin frolicking with all manner of dinosaurs. One particularly charming illustration shows Flintstones-style ancient humans saddling up dinosaurs and camels as pack animals. Relying on local legends, the book even suggests that dinosaurs survived as "dragons" in England as late as 1405 AD.
....
In his welcoming remarks, the Reverend Jerry Falwell similarly declares, "If we don't understand the young earth and how God created it in six 24-hour days, then our values are skewed. If we believe that we evolved from a blob of protoplasm, we have zero values then... If we evolved, then there was no Fall in the Garden and there is no sin and no need for redemption and Christ's death was unnecessary and meaningless." [emphasis mine]
But there is hope according to Falwell, "I recall the election in 2004. Hollywood was against us. The media were against us. The universities were against us. And despite them all the church of Jesus Christ put George W. Bush back in the White House. We're on the winning side; we are going to win because we have the truth. We have the inerrant word of God. We have the Genesis account of Creation. The biblical account is the believable one. The creation debate is being won."
The most pernicious part of this nonsense is what I highlighted from Falwell -- these people genuinely and seriously believe that all morality and values can only be derived from strict, absolute belief in the literal interpretation of the Bible.
I don't know about you, but I'm about goddamned tired of these fuckers thinking they're soooo much better than me and you and everyone else who doesn't believe this Alley Oop/Flintstones bullshit, and reinforcing their stupidity by infesting school boards and city councils across the nation.
It's time to kick 'em back to their caves.
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